Book ban

A **book ban** is when an objection to a book results in restricting access to it or completely removing its availability. Books by or about LGBTQIA+ people are frequent targets of book bans, at times based upon stereotypes that any LGBTQ+ content is automatically "obscene," "sexual," or "pornographic". A review by *The Washington Post* of nearly 1000 book challenges in school United States districts during the 2021-2022 school year found that in nearly 20 percent of the challenges, petitioners "wanted texts pulled from shelves because the titles depict lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual, homosexual, transgender or nonbinary lives. Many challengers wrote that reading books about LGBTQ people could cause children to alter their sexuality or gender." This is another negative stereotype of LGBTQ+ people.

The American Library Association (ALA) distinguishes a ban from a challenge: "A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials." When a challenged book remains in circulation and accessible while it is reviewed and stays available after a challenge, that is not a ban. According to PEN America, limiting or removing access to a challenged book until its review is complete is effectively a book ban.

Challenges to books often allege that they must be banned because they are offensive or inappropriate for those who have access to them. The stated intent of a challenge may be protecting others, especially children, from certain content, but the ALA continues: "Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing a point of view; rather, they are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others." Since book bans limit or prevent anyone from accessing those materials instead of a specific person, they suppress differing beliefs and opinions.

## Parents' Rights and Politics

In the 21st century, book bans in the United States of America are often based upon challenges by parents to materials in schools and libraries who may cite the phrase "parents' rights" as their reason; specific ideologies are shared by these parents. However, their actions impact every parent's child rather than just their own. Other book ban campaigns are motivated by particular religious or conservative viewpoints. According to research by PEN America, school book ban campaigns in the USA since 2021 have been driven by at least 50 advocacy groups and by government officials.

In the bans tracked by PEN America from July 2021 to June 2022, 41% of the banned titles addressed LGBTQ+ themes or had a protagonist or prominent secondary character who was LGBTQ+. Of the four states with the most bans—Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee—the top three accepted objections from individuals who did not have children attending public schools. The high number of book bans in Florida is reportedly due to that state's passage in 2022 of a "Don't Say Gay" law (officially named "Parental Rights in Education") and HB 1467, which modified how public schools select school library and classroom instructional materials and made it easier for members of the public to examine and challenge them.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 ALA American Library Association: "Banned Books Q&A". *Banned & Challenged Books*. (Archived on March 4, 2023).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 "Book Bans: Frequently Asked Question". *PEN America*. (Archived on March 15, 2023).
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Friedman, Jonathan and Johnson, Nadine Farid: "Banned in the USA: The Growing Movement to Censor Books in Schools" (2022-09-19). pen.org. (Archived on March 18, 2023).
4. ↑ Natanson, Hannah: "Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges" (2023-05-23). *The Washington Post*. (Archived on July 25, 2023).