“All censorships exist to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions. All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently, the first condition of progress is the removal of censorship.” ― George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warren’s Profession
The goal of this blog, and of ReadFreeNC, is to provide library workers with resources that will help them when facing censorship attempts and threats to the First Amendment. We feature stories on this blog about what libraries are facing in NC to shed light on paths being taken and how situations might be mitigated.
I would also venture to say that we also want to provide something that is desperately needed right now by many: hope.
Fear is a common emotion these days. Whether it is coming from staff or patrons, fear of what may happen, or where things are currently leading, is affecting many. With Georgia becoming the latest state to adopt legislation that strips libraries and librarians of protections against prosecution, that fear is only growing.
There are those who fight against these legislations. Those who stand up for the Right to Read and the First Amendment. Those who oppose silencing the voices of the marginalized communities these book bans tend to target.
We, as library workers, are very much a part of that fight.
We provide materials for people to educate themselves on any and all topics. We provide the materials that people can use to better their understanding of the world around them. We provide materials our patrons might otherwise not be able to access.
For our blog today, we are headed over to Wake County and a story that is resolved now, but should spread some much needed hope for those of us who feel that anxiety and fear.
Wake County is the largest county in our state. It covers Raleigh and several smaller towns and communities. Due to its location and the city it covers, the county leans Democratic. We have looked at several instances of censorship in School Libraries, so now we turn back to Public Libraries for today’s post.
There is a timeline of events that led to our topic today, so I shall strive to provide the appropriate backstory to paint a full picture.
We begin with the publishing of a book…
In 2019, the book Gender Queer was published. The author, Maia Kobabe, uses pronouns e, em, and eir. It depicts the story of Maia’s struggle to come to terms with being nonbinary and asexual. The book is a graphic novel with depictions of the author’s experiences that helped em come to an understanding of who e is.
The book won the Alex Award in 2020 from the American Library Association.
Unfortunately, the book gained a reputation and became one of the most challenged books rather quickly. In 2021 it won the title of most challenged book due to it’s graphic depictions of sexual acts.
Across the country, book challenges were rolling in. Parents were speaking out at school board meetings about the content and asking for the book to be removed from school libraries. As these things tend to do, it gained the attention of conservative groups and grew even more notoriety.
The conservative groups, such as our old friends Moms for Liberty, began sending their local chapters out to the school boards and commissioners meetings to complain about the book and demand its removal from circulation.
These groups took the less than 10 pages that show graphic content and showed them to audiences at these meetings. The book in total has 239 pages and only 9 pages show what is considered “graphic content”. According to the author, they were included to fully explain how e came to understand emselves as asexual.
Yet, because of those few pages, the book was banned in numerous counties and cities nationwide.
Then, in October 2021, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson spoke out against it.
In an inflammatory video, Mark Robinson spoke out against the LGBTQ community. In a sermon he was delivering at his church, he called homosexuality and transgenderism “filth” and made reference to books in schools that teach the concept to children. One of the books he was referencing was Gender Queer.
Robinson later backtracked and “apologized” to the LGBTQ community by saying he was “sorry if they took it wrong” but that he stood by his comments. Check out this video to learn more. Robinson later claimed that he could keep his personal feelings separate from his duty as Lieutenant Governor, but continued to speak out against books such as Gender Queer.
This added additional fuel to a raging fire and caused more conservatives to share their displeasure about LGBTQ themed books.
In December 2021, a patron sent an email to the library stating they wanted the books Gender Queer and Lawn Boy removed. The patron was told to fill out a Reconsideration of Materials request and submit it for appraisal, which they did (Jenson, 2021). These same books had been challenged in the Wake County Schools system and the complainant said that both books were at the Sheriff’s department.
At the time the request was submitted, Wake County did not have an airtight Reconsideration Policy. The complaint would go to the Senior Library Manager for Collection Development Services to review. That person would read the book and would make a decision with consultation from the Deputy Library Director and Library Director (Reeves, 2021).
The decision was made to remove Gender Queer from the library shelves, but leave Lawn Boy. The explanation given was that due to being a graphic novel, Gender Queer had graphic depictions of sexual acts, where Lawn Boy did not. The Deputy Director was also quoted in an email saying that she “knows it [pornography] when she sees it” in reference to banning Gender Queer (Daneil, 2021).
Before continuing I think it is important I mention that Gender Queer was cataloged as an Adult Graphic Novel and shelved in the Adult section. I also think I should mention that at the time both complaints were made to the public and school libraries, the decision was made to keep Gender Queer in the school libraries, but was pulled from the public libraries…
To continue…
There was an almost immediate outcry when the decision was made public. Librarians were furious and were asking their administration why they had not been involved in the decision. 55 Librarians banded together and wrote a letter to administration demanding the book be returned to shelves (ACLU, 2022).
Librarians were not the only ones outraged by the lack of transparency in regard to removing Gender Queer. Citizens of Wake County shared their displeasure with the library, which led to the library sharing a statement on their reasoning for the removal (AskWCPL).
3 activist groups also joined the movement to reach out and demand the return of the book. The American Civil Liberties Union, Equality NC, and the LGBT Center of Raleigh, all sent separate messages to the commissioners and the library requesting the book be returned. They then banded together to create a joint statement issued in late December 2021 (ACLU, 2022). The statement makes clear that they saw this as an attack on the LGBTQIA+ community and that libraries should support everyone.
The outpouring of support for the book, and requests for it to be returned, ultimately led to the book being returned to the libraries within a month of them being removed. It also led to the formation of newer, more firm policies on the Reconsideration of Materials (Gallup, 2022).
The new policy outlines procedures for submitting Reconsideration requests. It also speaks of the creation of a committee to review all requests (Leslie, 2022).
The fact that the book was returned to shelves is a win for Intellectual Freedom, but the creation of a stronger, more in depth Reconsideration of Materials Policy is cause for even greater celebration. Having policies in place, especially those that are backed by the library’s governing body, helps mitigate potential backlash in decision making. It creates checks and balances and gives it more gravitas with the general public.
In this case, the outrage for removing the book was due to a couple of different factors:
First, the person who made the decision to remove the book did so using their own opinion instead of facts. The Deputy Director, in her email to the Director, stated that she knew pornography when she saw it and quoted NC General Statute 14-190.1 in regards to the transfer of obscene materials to minors (Jensen, 2021). Since the material was in the Adult section and cataloged as Adult material, this is irrelevant.
Second, as several of the articles referenced in this blog pointed out, because Adult Graphic Novels are categorized as “Adult”, they often contain graphic images that depict various sexual acts. Some are more, shall we say, colorful than others, but it is incredibly common to find at least one in an Adult GN. Yet, one that contained LGBTQ content was banned, while others that depicted Heterosexual situations, were not.
The statement the library put out that was mentioned above spoke about how the decision was not made because the book was LGBTQ and listed the number of other books they had that supported the community. But that doesn’t negate that you removed a book depicting LGBTQ sexual acts while keeping others that had Heterosexual acts in them.
As library workers, we must keep our own opinions and bias out of Collection Development. In the fight for Intellectual Freedom and the Right to Read, we offer materials on a wide range of topics and viewpoints that we, as people, may not necessarily agree with. But in the interest of making sure we offer our patrons as much information as we can that appeals to them, and allows them to make their own choices on what they want to read, we must continue in the way we are meant to.
Wake County Public Library took a step forward from this situation and created a policy that will hopefully move them toward a more equitable future.
If your library does not have a strong Reconsideration of Materials Policy, I encourage you to reach out to your administration and ask about creating one. Even if your library has not had many challenges up to this point, it is better to be prepared so as to avoid these kinds of situations.
If you have a story you would like to share for the blog, please reach out to us! If you have any situation currently unfolding in your library and need advice, we are here for you!
If you have not heard it today, thank you for everything you are doing for your community!
Resources:
American Civil Liberties Union. (2022, January 11). “Update: Previously Censored LGBTQIA+ Book Returning to Wake County Public Library”. ACLU. https://www.acluofnorthcarolina.org/en/news/update-previously-censored-lgbtqia-book-returning-wake-county-public-library
Daniel, Nyamekye. (2021, December 21). “Wake County library removes book, sparking debate over censorship, obscenity”. The Center Square. https://www.thecentersquare.com/north_carolina/article_46e1b850-62a1-11ec-bdb8-13f2dae3ceb9.html
Duncan, Charles. (2021, December 15). “Wake County libraries pull LGBTQ book from shelves after complaint”. Spectrum News. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/triangle-sandhills/politics/2021/12/15/wake-county-libraries-pull-lgbtq-book-from-shelves-after-complaint
Gallup, Jasmine. (2022, March 16). “Wake County Library Makes It Harder to Ban Books”. Indy Week. https://indyweek.com/news/wake/wake-libraries-new-banned-book-policy/
Jensen, Kelly. (2021, December 20). ““I Know It When I See It”: Who Pulled Gender Queer from Wake County Library Shelves?” Book Riot. https://bookriot.com/gender-queer-wake-county-library/
Leslie, Laura. (2022, March 1). “Process to file book complaints changing at Wake County Public Libraries”. WRAL News. https://www.wral.com/story/process-file-book-complaints-changing-wake-county-public-libraries/20162856/
Pequeño, Sara. (2021, December 18). “Wake County Library ban of LGBTQ+ book may be unconstitutional”. The News & Observer. https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article256650767.html
Reeves, Jeff & Melamed, Gilat. (2021, December 15). “Book that drew ire from Lt. Gov. Robinson removed from Wake County Public Libraries”. CBS 17 News. https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/book-that-drew-ire-from-lt-gov-robinson-removed-from-wake-county-public-libraries/
Wake County Public Libraries. (2023, May 22). “Why was Gender Queer removed from the WCPL Collection?” WCPL FAQ. https://askwcpl.wake.gov/faq/360612