Officials censored about 6,588 books from public and school libraries last year, an all-time high since 1990, according to a recent report from the American Library Association (ALA). The report revealed that — among the 11 books the most frequently challenged by pressure groups, government officials, and decision makers — at least three were frequently banned LGBTQ+ books for teens and young adults.
Censors have claimed that these books include explicit, age-inappropriate content, but these titles reveal complicated social and emotional dynamics that are both real and challenging. Rather than hiding them from developing readers, we recommend the following banned LGBTQ+ books for teens and young adults to expand their concept of personal identity and their views of themselves and the world around them.
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All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (2020)
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In his “memoir-manifesto”, Johnson writes personal essays about navigating homophobia, their supportive family, and their first sexual experiences while growing up Black and queer in the South. Johnson ultimately encourages readers to shed society’s toxic masculinity and embrace themselves fully. This book has become one of the most frequently banned LGBTQ+ books for teens since it was published; two Missouri students even sued their school after educators banned it for its queer themes.
Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings (2016)
The real-life trans activist writes about the challenges she has faced from schools, adults, and classmates while she fights for the right to use girls’ restrooms and play on girls’ sports teams at school; but she also recounts the joys of growing up, attending a gender-affirming day camp, going on first dates, and becoming a reality TV star.
The Katy Independent School District of Texas put this book on a list of titles to remove from school libraries and classrooms after the Texas state legislature signed a bill banning school books with “indecent” or “profane content.”
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin (2014)
The author interviewed six people – two trans feminine people, two trans masculine people, and two nonbinary people (all from different socioeconomic and familial backgrounds) – about their experiences coming to terms with their gender identities. Kuklin retells their stories through portraits, family photographs, and candid images that show the emotional and physical journeys each person went through.
In 2022, the free speech organization PEN America said Beyond Magenta was one of the four most frequently banned LGBTQ+ books for teens and young adults, having been banned in 11 school districts nationwide.
Flamer by Mike Curato (2020)
In this semi-autobiographical graphic novel, a 14-year-old overweight, queer, and bullied Filipino American boy unsuccessfully tries to fit in with the other kids at his Boy Scouts summer camp while navigating Catholic guilt over his sexuality and developing romantic feelings for another male camper.
Flamer was among the five most challenged or banned books in the country in 2022 and 2023. In addition to being removed from a Maryland school district, the book has also been banned in school districts in Oregon and Alberta, Canada.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Allison Bechdel (2006)
In this renowned graphic novel, the famed lesbian comic artist recounts growing up in her family’s funeral home (nicknamed the “Fun Home”) amid her complex relationship with her closeted gay father and her own coming of age as a young queer person.
The ACLU of Missouri sued the Wentzville School District on behalf of the students when district officials banned this book around 2022.
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (2019)
Kobabe’s deeply honest graphic novel covers their experience of discovering and accepting that they are both nonbinary and asexual, and their journey toward a less gendered world where they feel freer from social gender expectations and more confident in expressing their unique identity.
The book is one of the four most frequently banned LGBTQ+ books for teens and young adults, banned in 30 districts nationwide, according to PEN America.
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (2021)
A 17-year-old Chinese American girl named Lily Hu lives with her family in San Francisco’s Chinatown in 1954, navigating the repressive and xenophobic climate of the McCarthy Red Scare era while also finding a sense of community, self-discovery, and new love at a local lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.
Lo’s books have been banned, challenged, or restricted in 44 cases in 40 communities across 16 states. Her most-targeted book is Last Night at the Telegraph Club, with the anti-LGBTQ+ “parents’ rights” group Moms for Liberty putting it on their list of books to ban in May 2022.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker (1982)
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning epistolary novel, the bisexual protagonist Celie, a poor Black woman living in rural Georgia in the early 1900s, develops a sapphic romance with a confident Black jazz singer named Shug Avery. The book is about women breaking free from oppression and finding their own paths to self-determination. The ALA has placed it on its list of the top 100 most frequently banned and challenged books since the early 1990s.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999)
This complex and introspective semi-autobiographical novel follows an introverted and mentally ill 15-year-old boy named Charlie as he navigates romance and interpersonal relationships with closeted and abused classmates during his freshman year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb. Though the book received a 2012 film adaptation, it has been banned for its LGBTQ+ content and matter-of-fact depictions of rape and drug use.
This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson (2014)
The updated and revised version of Juno Dawson’s book isn’t just an explainer for gay/lesbian cisgender people and their allies that offeres a starting place for questions about sex, culture, and politics; it also looks more at transgender identity, with practical advice on connecting with others, flirting, dating, stereotypes, and other topics. Dawson ultimately encourages readers to focus on being true to themselves and not stick too closely to any labels that feel wrong.
In 2023, Sarah Bonner, an award-winning 8th-grade English teacher in Illinois, quit her job after parents reported her to the police for offering the book to her students.
It’s important to defend LGBTQ+-inclusive books
In February, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) introduced a resolution withholding federal funds from institutions that offer “sexually oriented material,” such as anything that “includes any depiction, description or simulation of sexually explicit conduct” or “involves gender dysphoria or transgenderism.” If passed, it would effectively ban LGBTQ+ books from public schools as well as federally funded sex education programs, clubs, and support groups.
“This targeted censorship amounts to a harmful assault on historically marginalized and underrepresented populations – a dangerous effort to erase their stories, achievements, and history from schools,” said Sabrina Baêta, senior manager of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program. That is, it’s worth standing up for banned LGBTQ+ books for teens and young adults, not only because they offer a place for young queer people to see themselves represented in literature but also because they provide an accurate picture of the complex human experience in our richly diverse world.
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