“Gender Queer,” one of at least three sexually explicit books found in high school libraries across Iowa, is being officially challenged in the Johnston Library.
A resident is asking the library remove the grotesque book from circulation.
“Gender Queer is written in graphic novel format, which would naturally appeal to younger readers,” the objector wrote. “Younger readers (even very young adults into their twenties) lack the discernment to see the potential negative consequences of this character’s journey. It is those impressionable younger readers that are my concern, and why it should not be in our library.”
The objector writes that the book is “casual” and “conversational” in style to normalize gender fluidity, gender dysphoria and presents the individual’s journey as an “equally valid lifestyle.”
“It is a how-to manual of how to morph from a girl into a laundry list of gender identities,” the objector wrote. “Including ‘genderless person’ (page 85) and heteroflexible (page 117). Gender Queer teaches girls to hate their female bodies and to fear heterosexual intercourse and health care exams.”
