In honor of Banned Book Week last year, we drafted this roundup of LGBT titles that are often challenged by reactionaries who try to pull them from public libraries, schools and even bookstores. Sadly, it’s still current.
And Tango Makes Three
(Justin Richardson and Henry Cole, Simon and Schuster).
About two male penguins who raise a chick in the Central Park Zoo, this is one of the American Library Association’s most challenged titles. It especially dangerous in the eyes of homophobes because its based on a true story.
Baby Be Bop
(Francesca Lia Block, HarperCollins)
Among the various provincial groups demanding the the recall of this teen-lit coming-out story for its “graphic language” and for “promoting a homosexual agenda” was the Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) who filed suit against West Bend, Wisconsin for carrying the book in public libraries. But they didn’t just want the book reshelved in the adult section, as others had requested. Saying elderly librarygoers had been “damaged me
ntally and emotionally” by Baby Be Bop’s presence, they claimed “it’s inappropriate to have it in the library, and we want it out or destroyed.”
Geography Club
(Brent Hartinger, HarperCollins)
The American Booksellers Association named this oft-banned title one of their favorites, so you know it just has to be soul-damaging. Community members from Tacoma, WA (Hartiger’s hometown) to West Bend, WI complained about its “immoral”gay content.
Coming Out in College: The Struggle for a Queer Identity
(Robert A. Rhoades, Bergin & Garvey)
Parents in Fayetteville, AR petitioned to have this fairly stuffy primer removed this from school libraries. Because “The John Birch Society” was already taken, they formed Parents Protecting the Minds of Children and objected to the profane language and depictions of sexuality in the book. They also said anyone who disagreed with their stance was, naturally, promoting a homosexual agenda.
King & King
(Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland, Tricycle Press)
Another children’s book, this fairy tale fell into the crosshairs of North Carolina and Pennsylvania conservatives for two reasons: It presented the story of a young prince who, when forced to marry by his mother, chose another prince. And two, it’s originally from the Netherlands—and nothing decent comes from Europe.
Daddy’s Roommate
(Michael Willhoite, Alyson Books)
Sarah Palin got her panties in a bunch over this children’s book being available in public libraries in her old stomping ground of Wasilla, AK, even thought she admitted she had never read it. So to be clear: Daddy being gay and having a longtime partner = bad. Daughter having child out of wedlock and everyone in the family trying to make a buck on reality television = good.
The Education of Harriet Hatfield
(By May Sarton, Norton & Co)
Not only was this book—about a lesbian who faces bigotry and discrimination when she opens a bookstore in a blue-collar neighborhood—taken off the shelves at a New Hampshire high school, an English teacher was fired for refusing to comply.
Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin
(John D’Emilio, University of Chicago Press)
Homophobes don’t just want to prevent positive depictions of the LGBT community in schools—they want to delete our very existence from the history books. When gay activists in Oklahoma City donated copies of this biography of Rustin, a major player in the civil-rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the haters cried bloody murder. (The school board voted to keep the books). Lets hope no one proves Abraham Lincoln was definitely gay or else kids will never know who signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
Rainbow High
(Alex Sanchez, Simon & Schuster)
Bigots in Arkansas must have a lot of time on their hands: Parents Protecting the Minds of Children, the same cabal that wanted Coming Out in College banned, cried foul over this young-adult book series, which featured gay-teen protagonists and the kind of language most teens use. But they were just some of the titles on the list of 55 books PPMC petitioned to be removed from school libraries. You gotta wonder if The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was on that list—Jim and Huck spend an awful lot of time together rafting down the river. We’re just saying.
Stuck Rubber Baby
(Howard Cruse, DC Comics)
A groundbreaking graphic novel that addressed growing up queer in the South, gay liberation and the advent of the AIDS crisis, Stuck Rubber Baby won Cruse worldwide acclaim and numerous awards. Naturally, the Library Patrons of Texas weren’t having it and demanded it be pulled from local libraries. The book was moved to the adult section of the library, but not banned. Score one for us!
magsmagenta
I’ll take this list in to my local library to request them when I go in to donate my spare Adam Lambert CD.
The Real Mike in Asheville
Are you kidding?
“You gotta wonder if The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was on that list—Jim and Huck spend an awful lot of time together rafting down the river. We’re just saying.”
The with “We’re just saying” add-on, I guess, alas, is that you are not kidding. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” has been on various banned book lists since it was first published, and, a century and a half later, still shows up on banned book lists, mostly now, though, because the shifting political nature of language — for Huck to use the “N” word was an everyday life, not a hurtful slur.
tdx3fan
I think the biggest issue with And Tango Makes Three is that it is about nature. At its core, it is still about the animal kingdom. One of the biggest arguments about homosexuality is that it is unnatural, so the fact that multiple species have same gendered relationships built into them simply invalidates that argument.
tdx3fan
@The Real Mike in Asheville: Its funny because the original reason they wanted it banned was because Huck was friends with a fugitive slave, and that switched to Huck using the “N” word. Kind of tells you how times have changed for the better!
Dumdum
When someone wants to ban or burn a book or books, my first response is run right out and buy them and yes even read them. I seem to recall something similar occurring with the Harry Potter books. Didn’t they burn them in South Carolina ? And over the centuries many religious texts have been banned and or burned. Build a bonfire with bibles though and those bigots scream bloody murder. These knuckle dragging mouth breathers beat their chests and scream about religious freedom. But what about personal freedom ? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, free speech and all that rot ?
Cam
They are trying to put the genie back in the bottle with people knowing about homosexuality.
As an example of what knowledge can do…the Mormon church had around a 7% growth rate before 1996, however, when the internet came into wide usage and kids stuck in isolated areas could actually read things online outside of what they were told was true the membership numbers started to plunge. Now they are having large losses even among people raised in the church and their conversion numbers are almost at zero.
That is why these people want these gay books banned. If a gay teen never gets to read them, maybe they will never come out of the closet.
ibernard
Sadly, they forgot the most important, and pivotal, book of my generation: THE FRONT RUNNER.
If you haven’t read that book, you know nothing about gay lit.
And I read it when it first came out.
Changed my life.
offbeatoh86
These are the exact same books from the Banned Books Week article you posted last year. Surely there has to be some other LGBT lit. that deserves writing about.