Kalona library won’t ban ‘Gender Queer’

KALONA — The Kalona Public Library board of trustees voted 5-2 on Tuesday to keep “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe on shelves despite substantial public pressure to have it removed. The book drew complaints from some for at least six illustrations of nudity or sex, and from others for the pro-LGTBQ views of its author, who — as the title suggests — does not conform to conventional gender or sexuality norms.

The decision followed a dozen and a half public comments from community members and library patrons, one of whom compared the debate to the plot of the 1984 musical “Footloose.” Those remarks were preceded by seven formal requests for reconsideration and countless emails from impassioned advocates since March.

The motion to keep the book was made by Trustee Karen Stalter, and seconded by Trustee Kyle Askling. They said the book was enlightening, and rebuked critics’ argument that it constituted pornography.

“I don’t know, I missed all the obscenity,” Stalter said. “I’ve read the book, and I saw the pictures, and nothing struck me. They’re very tiny, they’re very muted. They’re very quiet pictures to me.”

Askling said it was unlikely that the community or board could reach a consensus defining “Gender Queer,” or perhaps any other book, as obscene.

“It’s sold on Amazon, Amazon is not going to be selling child pornography … they would be sued immediately,” Askling said. “The state has not banned this book. We have members in the community that do not want to ban this book. You trying to ban a book from someone else’s opinion is a form of censorship … if you don’t want it, don’t pick it up.”

Plenty of attendees left the meeting pleased with that outcome, including Kalona resident Wendy Mayer, who said she grew up in an Illinois town whose school library banned most works by author Judy Blume, only to find kids widely circulating their own copies between friends.

Anna Mayer — Wendy Mayer’s daughter — agreed.

“I just read it last night,” she said. “I laughed, I cried, I loved it. I’m really happy other people can read it too.”

Community’s opinions are split

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The board spent nearly 40 minutes hearing out public comments before starting its own deliberation. Each of those 18 remarks fell into one of three camps.

The first claimed that “Gender Queer” was pornography, if not child pornography, because the graphic novel contained illustrations of sex acts, some of them depicting minors.

"There already is a definition of what child pornography is, this is from the United States Department of Justice … it defines any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor,“ Wellman resident Shelby Graber said. ”You are showing pictures of oral and anal sex. Would we allow someone to say, ‘I have a series of Playboy magazines, and they are for educational or artistic reasons,’ are we going to allow books like that?“

Those critics formed something of a coalition with community members who opposed the book on religious grounds.

One such person, Kalona area resident Gerry Redlinger, claimed the author’s experience of gender dysphoria would encourage self-harm for children who might read it. He cited a part of the narrative where a seventh grade Kobabe daydreams about medical excuses to justify breast removal.

“Your decision today is a moral action that is seen by God, and will be judged by God, both in this life and the next life,” Redlinger said. “This book is degenerate, it’s evil, and it has no positive value. It should not be in the library, it should not have been written. And nobody with any sort of half a conscience views it positively.”

A third group spoke in favor of the book, voicing hesitation about removing the only entry in KPL’s catalog with a subject heading of “Gender-nonconforming people.”

Library cardholder Karalee Smith said “Gender Queer’s“ call for LGBTQ acceptance would help welcome and protect members of the demographic. She cited findings from the Trevor Project, which states that LGBTQ teens are at least four times as likely as their peers to attempt suicide, with doubled rates for those who are rejected by their family members.

"There are other people like Maia in this very community,“ Smith said. ”If a teenager is experiencing doubt about their sexuality or gender identity, gender-affirming support is lifesaving … literature is a great way to experience things unfamiliar to us, and ‘Gender Queer’ would help an unsure, or uncertain parent or adult to understand something new.“

Limited policy changes expected soon

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While library Board Member Jim Miller and Board President Frank Slabaugh said they found the book’s content obscene, they acknowledged that their opinions were as subjective as those who disagreed.

Library policy offers little to no guidance governing its non-fiction content. While the board plans to revisit its public forum rules in June and its request for reconsideration procedures in July, Slabaugh said he wasn’t sure about a future for content guidelines themselves.

“Honestly, I can’t say that the board as a whole would like to address those issues, so I don’t even know if it would gain enough traction,” he said. “I don’t know that we’re all in agreement about obscenity and even making any changes to collection. In fact, I’m probably thinking that we’re not.“

One board member floated the possibility of drafting written display case guidelines during the meeting, but plans to do so are not yet scheduled.

The inclusion of “Gender Queer” in some monthly displays — including one for banned books and one for LGBTQ authors — was a tipping point, according to many of the parents who called for its removal.

“If the book had stayed where people are saying that it was, parents would not be taking responsibility for doing something about it,” said area resident Shane Schwartz. “Unfortunately, the only options are ban it or keep it. There’s no way to say, ‘How about you don’t display it.’”

In the meantime, critics of “Gender Queer” said they were frustrated with the lack of objective criteria guiding library reconsideration and collection decisions.

In a reference to landmark Supreme Court case Miller v. California, Iowa law defines obscenity based on “contemporary community standards.” Library patron Jordan Linscheid said that wording was a point against Kobabe’s book in the largely Mennonite town of 2,630.

"There is a request for reconsideration form that the library makes available to the public, and then tells us that they can’t use that,“ said Kalona resident Jordan Linscheid. ”I don’t want to live in Amazon, Iowa. I want to live in Kalona, Iowa. Our community has unique concerns and interests, that we intend to protect and maintain.“

Kalona resident David Miller — who attended Tuesday night’s meeting in a hat that read “Keep the books, ban the fascists,” — pushed back on that rhetoric, however.

"I’m a native of Kalona, I live in this community and I have a trans grandson,“ he said during the public comment period. ”This book reflects my values. And if it doesn’t reflect yours, I’m sorry, but you don’t represent everybody in this community. This is a diverse community, whether people like it or not, and we need to have a diverse selection of books.“

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com