Eight of 10 most-banned books challenged for LGBTQ content

"Drama,” “Beyond Magenta” and "George" were among the top 10, along with "The Handmaid's Tale" and the "Harry Potter" series.

April 20, 2020, 4:35 PM EDT
By Gwen Aviles

Nearly 600 books spanning a variety of genres and reading levels were the target of censorship attempts at libraries, schools and universities last year, and 8 out of the 10 that made the American Library Association’s “Most Challenged Books” of 2019 list shared a common denominator: LGBTQ content.

This latest ranking marks the fourth consecutive year that books with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer storylines composed at least half of the list, which is included in the association's annual “State of America’s Libraries” report.

“Books with LGBTQ characters and themes have regularly been among the most challenged,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, told NBC News. “The trend dates back to the ‘90s, when Nancy Garden’s ‘Annie on my Mind’ was banned by a school board in Texas, and we’ve seen an increase in organized efforts to pull these books from school and community libraries in recent years, especially books that include transgender characters.”

The library association reported a 17 percent increase in the number of books challenged in 2019 compared to the year prior, and noted its report is just a "snapshot of book challenges," adding that surveys indicate 82-97 percent of book challenges "remain unreported and receive no media."

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