The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library nonprofit in the world, claimed that the \u2018censorship\u2019 of sexually explicit books in children\u2019s libraries is discriminatory to the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n
\u2018In looking at the titles of the most challenged books from last year, it\u2019s obvious that the pressure groups are targeting books about LGBTQIA+ people and people of color,\u2019 ALA President Emily Drabinski said in a statement Monday. \u2018At ALA, we are fighting for the freedom to choose what you want to read. Shining a light on the harmful workings of these pressure groups is one of the actions we must take to protect our right to read.\u2019<\/p>\n
The group, which sponsors National Library Week in the second week of April every year, identified the top 10 most \u2018banned\u2019 books from children\u2019s libraries \u2014 all of which were removed for purportedly some sort of sexually explicit content. The association also pioneered the Unite Against Book Bans\u2019 Book R\u00e9sum\u00e9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to ALA, the number of books \u2018targeted for censorship\u2019 rose 65% in 2023 compared to the year before, making it the highest recorded number of bans, the group claims.<\/p>\n
\u2018Gender Queer,\u2019 by Maia Kobabe, \u2018All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue,\u2019 by George M. Johnson, \u2018This Book is Gay,\u2019 by Juno Dawson and \u2018The Perks of Being a Wallflower,\u2019 by Stephen Chbosky were among the list of most-banned books in public libraries last year for having LGBTQIA+ and sexually explicit content.<\/p>\n
\u2018These are books that contain the ideas, the opinions, and the voices that censors want to silence \u2013 stories by and about LGBTQ+ persons and people of color,\u2019 ALA\u2019s Office for Intellectual Freedom director Deborah Caldwell-Stone said. \u2018Each challenge, each demand to censor these books is an attack on our freedom to read, our right to live the life we choose, and an attack on libraries as community institutions that reflect the rich diversity of our nation.\u2019<\/p>\n
Last year, during a Senate Judiciary Hearing on book bans last year, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., read an excerpt from Johnson\u2019s \u2018All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue,\u2019 which has been banned in more than two dozen school districts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I put some lube on and got him on his knees, and I began to slide into him from behind,\u2019 Kennedy read from the book, which is a memoir of Johnson\u2019s life. \u2018I pulled out of him and kissed him while he masturbated.\u2019<\/p>\n
At the time, a college activist defended the book, arguing that if students cannot read books like \u2018All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue,\u2019 then \u2018they cannot learn about abuse.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Gender Queer\u2019 has also been banned in school districts in a few states, including Florida and Texas. The author previously told the Washington Post in an interview that she \u2018originally wrote it for my parents, and then for older teens who were already asking these questions about themselves.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018I don\u2019t recommend this book for kids!\u2019 Kobabe told the outlet.<\/p>\n
In July 2021, ALA adopted a new code of ethics built upon \u2018racial and social justice\u2019 \u2018to foster cultural understanding by providing library professionals with a professional framework that supports equity, diversity, and inclusion.\u2019 The association also has an advocacy arm that lobbies in Congress to advance \u2018key policies\u2019 and represents \u2018the voice for libraries in Washington, D.C.\u2019<\/p>\n
Last year, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill making it the first state in the nation to outlaw book bans.<\/p>\n\n
The American Library Association (ALA), the oldest and largest library nonprofit in the world, claimed that the \u2018censorship\u2019 of sexually explicit books in children\u2019s libraries is discriminatory to the LGBTQ+ community. \u2018In looking at the titles of the most challenged books from last year, it\u2019s obvious that the pressure groups are targeting books about LGBTQIA+ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":17802,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}