GLR July-August 2025

Some frequently banned books.

erasure of diverse literature can have real consequences. Ac cording to the Trevor Project’s survey on LGBT mental health in 2023, 45 percent of young people have seriously considered suicide. For transgender and nonbinary youth, that number soars even higher—54 percent. But when LGBT youth are supported by their environments, including having access to inclusive media, their risk of self-harm and suicide drops. But resistance to these efforts is growing across the country. Teachers, librarians, students, authors, and readers are speak ing out—both to their local school boards and at meetings with a wider reach, such as the Senate hearing previously mentioned. In school districts where titles have been pulled, students have staged walkouts, spoken at board meetings, distributed banned books to one another, and formed book clubs in protest. These efforts are often grassroots, driven by local advocates and supported by independent bookstores, libraries, and non

aimed at the same age group. Students, educators, and state of ficials testified about how bans on books—especially those dealing with race, gender, and LGBT themes—pose a direct threat to personal freedom. In Texas, the state legislature has passed legislation restrict ing classroom content, and districts like the Keller Independent School District have removed dozens of books from their school libraries or curricula, including Gender Queer and All Boys Aren’t Blue . In South Carolina, school officials pulled Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You , by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds, after complaints that it promoted critical race theory. The 20th-century classic The Bluest Eye , by Toni Morrison, has frequently been targeted, often due to its depiction of racialized violence and trauma. While these portrayals are vital to Morri son’s examination of systemic discrimination, censors argued that the material is inappropriate for students, despite its accu rate reflection of historical realities—similar to the ways in which queer texts are often targeted for bringing attention to discrimination against queer and trans people. In some districts, librarians have been threatened with ter mination or even felony charges for distributing unapproved materials. In 2022, school librarians in Missouri scrambled to comply with SB 775, a law that criminalizes the distribution of “explicit sexual material” to students—language left intention ally vague to allow everything from classic literature to con temporary queer fiction to be included. The efforts to restrict content, and thus ideas, extend from the page to the computer screen. Shortly after Trump began his first term, his administration began scrubbing federal websites of references to the LGBT community, and in his current term, the administration is picking up where it left off. In 2017, the White House website, which under Obama had hosted a dedicated page on LGBT civil rights, removed the page entirely within hours of Trump’s inauguration. Soon thereafter, the Department of Health and Human Services followed suit, eliminating information on health services for LGBT Americans, including resources for transgender people seeking gender-affirming care. The State De partment also deleted content related to marriage equality for people going abroad and guidance for LGBT travelers. The same form of erasure has returned now that Trump is back in the Oval Office. Reuters reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Con trol and Prevention is removing content related to “gender ide ology extremism” and has taken down statistics on HIV testing and data on health disparities among LGBT youth. The administration’s strategic censorship during both of his terms has set a precedent that’s operating at the local level. The

July–August 2025

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