Kalona library book ban decision delayed

KALONA — Decision-makers at the Kalona Public Library held off on discussions about removing a bestselling memoir after receiving a flood of additional last-minute requests for its removal.

Some concerned patrons have called Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” obscene and “pornographic,” citing at least six pages where it depicts nudity or sex acts with illustrations. Others, however, say the book’s story of its nonbinary, non-heterosexual author’s self-discovery made it a key source of representation for members of the LGBTQ community.

In the weeks since an initial request for reconsideration from an anonymous Kalona-area pastor, library staff said they’d received seven more forms asking to take the book off shelves, some of them containing statements that were verbatim copies of one another, with different signatures. Some of the forms had multiple signatures attached, according to Library Director Trevor Sherping, although those signatures were omitted from public copies of the complaints which are anonymized per library policy.

“We had a couple of requests for reconsideration for ‘Gender Queer’ over the last couple weeks, but we got five in the last 48 hours before the board meeting,” Sherping said. “And one of the board members was on vacation, and didn’t have time to review the most recent ones.”

The board will reconvene for a work session April 25 at 6 p.m. to discuss the requests, but cannot take action during that meeting under Iowa code. Sherping said decisions would likely be made at the next regular meeting.

Many of the written complaints said the book would be sought out by children, despite its placement in the adult non-fiction section of the library.

While library policy says the checkout materials of children are a parent’s responsibility, one request for reconsideration said the work’s graphic design would encourage minors to seek it out.

“This book is made to look like a fun graphic children’s/teens novel,” they said. “The front cover is even displayed with ‘Teen Readers and Adult Books,’ … If we don’t draw the line at this book, what stops other books with more graphic information from coming into our library, being sold as a ‘bestseller?’”

Every written complaints said the title presented children with harmful ideas and claimed it would cause gender dysphoria.

“Reading ‘Gender Queer’ and expecting to be edified by the contents is like reading Playboy for the articles,” wrote one of the complainants, who said they had read the entire book. “Both publications use a veneer of acceptability to deliver debased pornographic material to the reader. Under the guise of learning about an individual’s life, the reader is presented with all kinds of perverse ideas that do not better the reader’s life.”

Most of the forms said Kobabe’s book should be removed from the collection, and replaced with a book by Marty Machowski called “God made Boys and Girls,” a 32-page hardcover title recommended for children ages 4-8, according to a Barnes & Noble website listing.

Some went a step further than calling for its removal from library shelves.

“Books exploring personal sexual proclivities should not be published or purchased,” wrote the same complaint that compared the book to explicit magazines. “There is no reason for adults or children to read such material.”

While library board members did not discuss the book’s removal at their April 11 meeting, they did accept public comments about it from patrons most — but not all — of whom said the book should remain on the library catalog.

Kalona resident Colleen Sheely said the requests for reconsideration did not follow objective criteria.

“It becomes a slippery slope, and there’s no end to the consequences,” she said. “I know that we have a lot of transgender, LGBTQ people in the school now. And it’s up to them to discuss with their parents, and their parents to discuss with them, about what they deem appropriate … some people say that these images are pornographic. That is an opinion, that is not necessarily a fact.”

Several of those speakers said they were uncomfortable the notion that a book could contain harmful ideas, a notion the library’s book removal policy also rebukes.

“Most attempts at suppression rest on a denial of the fundamental premise of democracy: that the ordinary individual, by exercising critical judgment, will select the good and reject the bad,” the library’s policy reads, under a section titled “Freedom to Read,” which goes on to say, “We do not believe (Americans) are prepared to sacrifice their heritage of a free press in order to be ‘protected’ against what others think may be bad for them.”

Riverside resident Brown Rencher said the book gave nonbinary and gay readers a rare narrative about struggles they faced, and that mental health challenges disproportionately affecting LGBTQ teens were a result of their societal treatment, not their identities themselves.

“Those LGBTQ adults that have reviewed this book say, overwhelmingly, that they wish that would have been available during those confusing years when they were trying to understand their feelings,” he said. “Last year, 50% of LGBTQ people 13-17 contemplated suicide … So, the bullying that’s being carried on in this country now, against those weakest members of our society, that’s a result of that.”

Others suggested a middle ground that would keep the book available, but require patrons to ask front desk staff for it by name, rather than potentially finding it on shelves.

Alaynna Schwartz, a resident of Hills, said that approach would keep minors from stumbling into the content.

“I don’t have a problem with children reading this book, however … I do think it needs to be behind somewhere, where we can check it out as a parent,” she said. “Instead of having it readily on the floor. That bothers me, because my son is right in that age range of, like, ‘I want to see the things.’ That’s where I have a problem.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com