LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Over the last few years, books containing LGBTQ+ themes and characters have been increasingly challenged in public schools and libraries. But many continue to argue the importance of keeping these titles accessible.
“Over here in our graphic novel section, we have Gender Queer,” Sam Miller, store manager of Carmichael’s Bookstore on Frankfort Avenue, said as she explains where in the store you might find these so-called banned books.
Gender Queer is listed as the 2022 American Library Association’s most challenged book nationwide and in Kentucky. The top ten books on that list center on LGBTQ+ topics.
Contrary to the concerns of some parents and organizations about its content, Miller says it’s been hard to keep books like Gender Queer in stock.
“It’s had a whole life separate from its whole life on the shelf,” Miller said.
Miller calls attempts to remove these books “harmful,” especially for gay and trans youth, who are over four times as likely to attempt suicide as their peers, according to the Trevor Project.
“If you want to say as a parent, this is not a book I want my child to read, that’s parenting,” Miller said. “But in my opinion, if you want to say ‘I want no child to read [this book],’ that’s censorship and I think that’s wrong.”
Carmichael’s has been a Louisville staple for decades. Since its opening, Miller says the store has also been a safe and welcoming space for people identifying as something besides straight since its founding. Part of that mission includes carrying titles catered to those groups.
The Louisville Free Public Library shares concerns about books being challenged. Lee Burchfield, the library’s director, explains it goes against the role of public libraries.
“We want people to have the liberty to decide for themselves what they want to read, and for financial causes not to be a barrier to them, which is why public libraries exist,” Burchfield said.
While book challenges have always happened, Burchfield said over the last few years, they’ve become more organized—often targeting books related to LGBTQ+ topics.
“It is that act of making those decisions about what other people should have access to that is really completely counter to the ideals of public libraries,” Burchfield said.
While most challenges against books like Gender Queer have happened in public school libraries, public libraries have not been exempt. Last November, a town in Michigan voted to defund their library for carrying LGBTQ+ books.
For both Burchfield and Miller, their response to these kinds of actions is simple.
“I think you need to remember that your belief system and the place that you’re coming from is not necessarily shared by everyone. And just because you don’t like the book doesn’t mean that somebody else won’t, and that doesn’t mean you should say it doesn’t belong,” Miller said.
And for some, the people they relate to the most are the characters found between the pages of a book.
Senate Bill 5, a new law in Kentucky, requires school districts to create a process to address complaints from parents about materials that could be harmful to minors. This includes depictions of male or female genitals, sexual acts or explicit written descriptions of sexual acts. Districts must have a complaint process in place no later than July first of this year.