It was an assault

A recent vote by our county school board puts me in mind of a friend I once had who told me his most haunting memory. He witnessed a murder; a man he knew was stabbed. When it happened, he told me, he thought the perpetrator had just shoved his fist against the victim. It wasn’t until later it became clear the fist had been holding a small knife.

Similarly, someone witnessing this school board vote might see nothing hostile or harmful.The question was whether a particular book being reviewed for eligibility to be included in county school library collections should be examined by the school system legal counsel to ensure it doesn’t represent child pornography. Listening to the discussion, one might naively conclude that the board members were being admirably diligent, making extra sure the school system didn’t face legal troubles.

However, once you become aware of three pieces of background information, the vote is revealed to be something far darker.

The first of the three facts, is that the book in question, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, is not seriously thought by anyone to have the potential to be considered child pornography. It is a well-known, widely read graphic novel (meaning it is told in comic book form) available in a variety of libraries nationwide. It won two awards from the American Library Association for its outstanding content and it has been on sale on Amazon for more than two years.

Like many young adult books in our school libraries, it deals with, among other themes, a teenager learning about and trying to understand what it means to be a sexual human being. It contains a single line drawing of the protagonist’s mental image of what intimacy between two men might look like, that shows the bare back of one of the men and a small portion of his posterior. Hardly a pin-up.

Knowing that our school board members tend on the well-informed side, I expect that at least some of those who voted in favor of having a lawyer review the book knew full well that there is basically zero chance that the book’s inclusion would cause legal problems for the school system.

Yes, they had concerns about the book, but they weren’t about its legality. They were about what a student might learn by reading it.

Some parents hostile to LGBTQ+ identities may look upon a child’s coming out as their worst nightmare, worse maybe than death or estrangement.

The second pertinent fact is that the book is autobiographical and tells how the author, who is non-binary gender, learns about what it means to be someone of that gender.

If you’ve ever gotten to know a non-binary young person, you’re probably aware how alienated and separate from their peers they may feel as they figure out who they are. It wasn’t until a few years ago that western culture even had the vocabulary to describe someone who wasn’t completely male or completely female, though many other cultures have long had such words. A sizeable chunk of the population still believes there’s no such thing as a non-binary gender, and there are organizations, including some mainstream religions, that are actively spreading lies about their non-existence. Many believe it to be a new-age phenomenon, not realizing that such individuals have been around since the dawn of time, but only recently has our culture allowed such identities to be expressed. The non-binary young person’s own famly may have limited knowledge or understanding. Unsuprisingly, that level of loneliness can take a toll on their mental health, which explains the substantially elevated suicide rate among LGBTQ+ teens, including non-binary ones.

That’s why Gender Queer is important. For some of the non-binary and transgender members of my school’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance, the book was the first time they ever read about someone like them. It helped them recognize feelings they were struggling to explain and give a name to the way they saw themselves. Finally, they knew they weren’t alone and that their relationship with their gender was a perfectly acceptable way to be a gendered human.

This book saves lives.

However, its presence makes it just a little bit easier for a non-binary or transgender young person to come out and to claim their identity with pride. Some parents hostile to LGBTQ+ identities may look upon a child’s coming out as their worst nightmare, worse maybe than death or estrangement. (As evidenced by stories of queer young people cast out of their houses or driven to suicide by their family’s non-acceptance.) Anything they can do to make this book harder for young people to get is fair game. If someone’s mental health suffers as a result, well that’s acceptable damage.

The resolution introduced at that school board meeting was not intended to protect the school system from an imagined court challenge. It was aimed at generating artificial outrage.

Which brings us to the 3rd pertinent fact. Anti-LGBTQ+ groups are spearheading a nationwide effort to get the book off school media center shelves and out of reach of their kids. But how do you do that? In some places, the queer theme might be enough to get it banned, but that won’t fly in our progressive county.

So they modify their playbook somewhat. Instead of calling for its exclusion on the basis of its LGBTQ+ content, they “request” a “review” under the pretense of concern that the school system might face legal problems.

Regardless of the absurdity of the charge, the words “child pornography” when used in conjunction with a school library’s book collection will get people to stand up and notice. They will ask questions, and among those asking questions, it is inevitable that some will call for it to be expunged.

So the resolution introduced at that school board meeting was not intended to protect the school system from an imagined court challenge. It was aimed at generating artificial outrage toward a book that has served as a lifeline to countless young people. They’re not targeting any of the other myriad works with sexual coming of age themes. Only this book.

It is conceivable that at least some of the board members that supported the resolution were unaware of this history and background. They certainly were aware of the impact on LGBTQ+ students — several made a careful point to say how much they supported that community. But given how closely the effort cleaves to the national playbook for attacking this book, it is highly likely that at least the board member who introduced it was aware of the larger context.

Let’s be clear: This was an assault.

It was an assault not only on the well-being of non-binary and transgender students who will derive comfort and knowledge from finally seeing someone like themselves on the pages of a book, but also on sacred principles our school system claims to be devoting itself to. In recent years, the board and superintendent have bent over backward to articulate their support for all students and that we have the biggest obligation and commitment to lift up those who face the strongest challenges. 

The recent actions of the school board members who voted for this resolution serve as a gut punch to that commitment.