The current story of book bans is interwoven with the story of the skyrocketing number of legislative proposals targeting LGBTQ people and especially, transgender and nonbinary youth.
Like bills targeting health care, drag performance, pronouns and public spaces, book bans baselessly and disingenuously purport to be about protecting children and parents’ rights, when their true intent is aimed at limiting the rising visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ youth, and removing parents’ rights to make private health care decisions for their families, or determine what their own children can read.
According to the American Library Association, 2022 saw 1,269 documented demands to pull titles from library shelves, nearly doubling the 729 challenges in 2021, an astounding 713% increase from the previous year. The vast majority of these bans target books by and about LGBTQ people and all people of color.
Now is the time for action. GLAAD created this guide for communities to defeat book ban attempts, and send a powerful signal of welcome and acceptance.