The book Gender Queer: A Memoir and graphic novel by author Maia Kobabe, has become some symbol of what's at stake in the educational culture battles both in the Virginia gubernatorial election and beyond.
Distributed by Simon and Schuster, the book has won various prizes. Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin called the book into question, and it was extracted from school libraries in Fairfax County, Virginia. Still, Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe condemned Youngkin for wanting books like this out of school libraries.
The images in the book have provoked the parents' anger up and down the eastern seaboard, especially one mom in Rhode Island, who posted not only explicit images from the book, but correspondence she had with the school wherein administrators maintained the validity of providing this work to high school students.
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When images from the Gender Queer were uploaded to Instagram and Facebook, they were removed by the site.
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Yet, they are entirely acceptable in the libraries of public schools.
Author Kobabe, who goes by the vague pronouns "e/em/eir", supported the book in the Washington Post, saying that "queer kids need queer stories." Kobabe wrote about how unpleasant it was to hear parents criticize the book at school board meetings and defame it online. The publisher spoke out in favor of the book.
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Others came to its defense, saying they wish the ban on the book in some schools is "temporary."
Some said that the removal of the book from school libraries is "nonsensical."
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Executive Director Executive editor at Dutton Books for Young Readers Andrew Karre also came in to back Kobabe.
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Kobabe wrote in the defensive op-ed that "One of the charges thrown against the book was that it promoted pedophilia — based on a single panel depicting an erotic ancient Greek vase. Others simply called it pornography, a common accusation against work with themes of queer sexuality."
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It was the graphic sexual content describing oral sex, not Greek vases, that had irritated parents. Kobabe said the book was written for "High school and above," though the author went on to say that often it was a way of explaining "eir" nonbinariness to "eir" parents and family.
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Many adults on Twitter said that they enjoyed the book, and it gave them deeper insight into the feelings of those in the nonbinary community, and it's a read that seems better suited to an adult audience than a high school one.
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