In 2022, the American Library Association documented 1,269 attempts to ban or restrict books in libraries. Nearly half — over 45% — of the unique titles challenged were written by or about LGBTQ+ people.
And Maia Kobabe’s book “Gender Queer: A Memoir” was the most challenged of them all.
“Gender Queer” is a graphic memoir that was published in 2019 and documents Kobabe’s journey with gender identity and sexuality from adolescence to adulthood.
The book won an Alex Award and a Stonewall Honor from the American Library Association, but because of its straightforward depictions of sex and sexuality, the title has been banned from shelves in more states than any other book.
Kobabe (who uses the pronouns e/em/eir) has navigated the experience of being an author of a banned book the way many others have: by continuing to write.
Eir next book is a nonfiction comic titled “Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding,” and was written alongside Sarah Peitzmeier to tell researched, meaningful stories about chest binding as gender-affirming care.
Kobabe’s third book is coming in 2026 and is a middle-grade graphic novel called “Saachi’s Stories.” It was co-created with Lucky Srikumar and explores themes of gender, identity, sexuality, coming out, and more.
Ahead of Banned Books Week, Good Good Good spoke with Kobabe to more deeply explore the impact of book banning on the LGBTQ+ community — especially those who create and distribute resources they know to be life-saving.
“Gender Queer” has been the most banned book in America — can you tell me more about that experience and how harmful book bans are, both to authors and their audiences?
Maia Kobabe: Yes, “Gender Queer” was the most challenged book in the U.S. for the past three years.
Book bans and challenges especially impact the readers in a community who are already marginalized; readers who are young, readers who can't afford to buy books, queer readers who can't safely come out at home, and any reader who doesn't regularly see their identity well-represented in mainstream media.
When a community removes books from its libraries, or threatens librarian's jobs, or the very funding of a library itself, it's cutting off vital resources often from those who need them most.
My book has been the target of a huge number of attacks over the past three years, but I often watch them unfold at a few steps removed. I live in the Bay Area, California; the majority of the challenges are taking place in other states, other cities.
But I constantly hear how these challenges negatively impact teachers, students, and librarians. Librarians are being threatened and harassed at work, and several teachers have lost their jobs simply for providing access to books or online library resources to students.
How will you be honoring Banned Books Week in 2024?
MK: This Banned Book week I will participate in a panel with San Francisco's LitQuake festival to raise money and awareness for Fabulosa Books’ program that sends boxes of queer books to community centers in the most affected states.
You can find their Books Not Bans page online and donate to the effort. If you work with an LGBTQ+ organization in a state that's been affected by censorship, you can also apply to receive free queer books!
Additionally, I am also happily working on several more creative projects centering queer, trans, and nonbinary voices.
Clearly, book bans harm us all, but what is the impact of a majority of those restrictions targeting the LGBTQ+ community?
MK: A huge portion of the book challenges [we see today] are targeted at LGBTQ+ books. This is particularly upsetting because many times young queer people do not have an adult queer mentor to look up to in their immediate family, school, or other communities.
Queer people almost always have to turn to outside sources to find information about their identities, bodies, health, and futures.
Can you tell me more about the importance of young LGBTQ+ people having access to reading materials and media that reflect their experiences?
MK: As a queer young person I was absolutely desperate for queer stories of any kind, and I searched the library constantly for any title that might have a queer, trans, or non-binary character I could relate to.
The library was such a haven for me as a teen. I started volunteering at my local library just so I could spend more time there. I had so many questions, including what kind of relationships I might have in the future, and I searched for those answers in books.
I was very lucky to grow up in a very liberal and accepting area. In my library, the librarians left out bookmarks with suggestions of queer titles on them and I coveted those lists.
I also knew it was safe to bring queer books home and read them openly in front of my parents.
What can the average person do to make sure that reading materials like “Gender Queer” are accessible to all members of their community?
MK: If you hear about a book challenge at your local library or in your school district, speak up about it!
Write to your local representatives, show up to school and library board meetings if you can. It's so important to have folks show up to speak out against censorship, in defense of the freedom to read, the freedom of information, freedom of speech.
You can follow or email Authors Against Book Bans to get help with what to say when speaking up against book challenges, or to request an author show up at your local meetings to speak.
Make sure you pay attention to school board and library board members in local elections.
And if you heard about a book challenge, please report it to the American Library Association and PEN America, who track annual data and respond to book challenges across the U.S.
