Introduction

2SLGBTQ+ (2-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, “plus”)^[1] people are a vulnerable population in a library’s community. They are subject to discrimination and experience particular health and safety concerns; due to social isolation, they often also have limited access to authoritative sources that meet their information needs. It is increasingly important to understand this population in our current sociopolitical climate, one in which book bans and challenges disproportionately target 2SLGBTQ+ content. 2SLGBTQ+ materials are disproportionately censored or challenged within libraries; the most challenged books of 2021 place Maia’s Kobabe’s Gender Queer at most challenged, and the rest of this challenged list includes at least four other works with the same themes (American Library Association [ALA], 2021).

The ALA reported 729 attempts to censor library resources in 2021, targeting 1,597 books; this is a crisis (2022c). Additionally, around 70% of these challenges targeted multiple titles (ALA, 2022c), which was not commonplace before 2021. This trend continued the following year with the ALA reporting 1,269 attempts to censor in 2022, targeting 2,571 books (2023). There has not been a higher number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling these lists more than 20 years ago. Also, the percentage of challenges targeting multiple titles increased from 70% to 90% (ALA, 2023). The sharp increase in challenges has been identified by the ALA as having a concentrated focus on suppressing certain types of information, namely that which concerns the lives and rights of marginalized people. ALA President, Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, said of these trends: “The unprecedented number of challenges we’re seeing already [in 2022] reflects coordinated, national efforts to silence marginalized or historically underrepresented voices and deprive all of us – young people, in particular – of the chance to explore a world beyond the confines of personal experience” (ALA, 2022c).

In 2005, the ALA adopted policy B.2.12, “Threats to Library Materials Related to Sex, Gender Identity, or Sexual Orientation,” to respond to concerns about the targeting of 2SLGBTQ+ materials. The policy reads as follows:

ALA encourages all ALA chapters to take active stands against all legislative or other government attempts to proscribe materials related to sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression; and encourages all libraries to acquire and make available materials representative of all the people in our society (ALA, 2010).

In other words, librarians are encouraged by the ALA to be advocates for 2SLGBTQ+ materials. When libraries take up the call to defend these materials against challenges and calls for censorship, however, library workers and administrators may face public protests, defunding, and even threats to staff and patrons. Librarians are thus caught between the duty to provide free and unbiased information access and the need to keep their libraries safe and open for the public.

In this chapter, we therefore hope to respond to the conflict libraries face by providing librarians with:

• context and information about historic 2SLGBTQ+ censorship that will help in understanding these challenges;
• arguments for defending 2SLGBTQ+ materials based on population needs;
• examples of patterns that occur among 2SLGBTQ+ material challenges, both in rhetoric and response;
• potential outcomes and examples of how to respond to challenges, with an understanding of how they may affect public relations.

After briefly addressing the terminologies and scope used, this guide will first address the historical background of 2SLGBTQ+ challenges, including the two main themes identified in association with these materials, obscenity and politicization. These themes are connected to our current context, where 2SLGBTQ+ people face the legacy of this history and as a result struggle with public inclusion and particular health needs. Next, the challenges of supporting 2SLGBTQ+ collections will be outlined, such as the public discourse involved in advocacy and potential threats that may result from it. Lastly, the guide will suggest several response strategies libraries can adopt to manage this issue, including resisting censorship, complying with censorship, and implementing supportive programming.

Note on Terminology

The particular configuration of the phrase “2SLGBTQ+” places at the forefront the inclusion of “Two-Spirit (2S)”^[2]—a culturally exclusive^[3] term used by many Indigenous people^[4]—in what is often simply known as “LGBT” history. Much of what is called LGBT history took place on Indigenous lands, where Indigenous people and cultures had expressions of gender and sexuality that fell outside Western cultural norms; “LGBT” does not always adequately or accurately describe these expressions. The same colonial hetero- and cisnormativity that harmed/harms LGBTQ+ settlers was and is harmful to Two-Spirit people, whose own cultures which affirmed their expressions were denied through cultural genocide.^[5] As settlers writing this guide in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan on Treaty 6 territory, we use the term 2SLGBTQ+ in continued witness of Two-Spirit identity. This is one way we and other settlers who write about 2SLGBTQ+ histories can truthfully acknowledge their colonial context.

In every local 2SLGBTQ+ community, there is inevitably some level of discussion about which term or acronym is best to use; some words and terms may carry positive or negative connotations depending on a library’s public. Additionally, this chapter will sometimes use the terms “queer” or “LGBT” to be more historically or specifically descriptive. Descriptive terms, historical events, and aspects of 2SLGBTQ+ experience are incredibly expansive and cannot all be fully explained in this chapter; librarians (and allies as a whole) should familiarize themselves with queer terminologies and their histories at a local level. Library resources should also be used to make these terms and identities more known to the public; see the “Sources for Further Reading” section at the conclusion of the guide for some places to begin this work.

Note on Scope

It should be clarified that this chapter is not meant to instruct librarians on how to create a 2SLGBTQ+ collection, but rather on how to manage the challenges and discourse that surround defense of those collection materials. It should also be noted that this chapter:

• Focuses on the geographical-political context of Canada and the United States, and is based in Canada;
• Emphasizes mostly public libraries, with some mention of school libraries, and;
• Is not “neutral” on this issue; it is written out of a commitment to 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion and advocacy, and an opposition to anti-2SLGBTQ+ discrimination and hate-based attacks.

Background

The public challenge and censorship of materials related to 2SLGBTQ+ experience has a long history, both inside and outside of the library. These materials have always been censored by governments in the United States and Canada (Cossman 2013, p.45), but were under particularly harsh scrutiny in the 1970s and 80s. This time period bore witness to the Stonewall Riots (1969), the HIV/AIDS epidemic (1981 onwards), and the responsive Gay Liberation movement (p.45).^[6] These historical events all had a common theme of state and public institutions repressing 2SLGBTQ+ people: at the Stonewall Inn, gender nonconformity was criminalized,^[7] and HIV/AIDS’ label as a “gay disease” made its public health response rife with shame and neglect.^[8]

Crucially, amidst this cultural environment opposed to the sight or acknowledgment of 2SLGBTQ+ people, there was also a public objection to printed depictions of homosexuality and gender nonconformity. Publications and artistic works were met with police and public violence, running parallel to the hate crimes operating on a larger scale. By taking the time to learn this history, librarians can better understand the anti-2SLGBTQ+ rhetoric operating behind many challenges, and why it is so important to address such challenges firmly and thoughtfully. We hope to demonstrate that challenges to 2SLGBTQ+ materials come out of a history of both legal discrimination and hate-based violence, and are part of a struggle for human rights.

Legal Censorship: The Issue of “Obscenity”

On a government level, the Canadian history of 2SLGBTQ+ material censorship is largely centered on obscenity, and the obscenity laws through which materials were censored. This terminology itself bears examination—the idea that same-gender relationships and gender nonconformity are in themselves “obscene,” while heterosexuality and normative gender expression are “natural,” has been a point of protest for much of the “gay rights” movement as it is historically called. The first Canadian obscenity law in 1892 defined illegally explicit materials only as “obscene and disgusting,” and this was left up to the courts to interpret and prescribe (Cossman, 2013, p.50). When such a judgment is made, then, it is because of the personal, emotional, and often culturally-informed values of legal institutions operating behind the decision.

But where does this definition of “obscene” or “inappropriate” come from? In the essay “When Obscenity Discriminates,” Elizabeth M. Glazer (2008) demonstrates a precedent in the American context: obscenity in literature is connected by case law to historical laws against the loaded construction of “sodomy,” rooted in Christian cultural hegemony.^[9] Glazer (2008) shows that, despite the decision in the Lawrence v. Texas case invalidating criminalization of sodomy in the United States, there was nonetheless another case, United States v. Extreme Associates, where “obscene” material depicting sodomy was prohibited (p.1381). In other words, despite the fact that the United States deemed criminalizing sodomy unconstitutional, those acts which we call “sodomy” can still mark a material as being “obscene.” Glazer (2008) notes that “the Lawrence decision has much to offer the obscenity doctrine” (p. 1383), but courts fail to acknowledge the contradiction and their application of moral values in each case.

Glazer’s observations about the United States resonate in the Canadian context of obscenity legislation as well. Cossman (2013) summarizes that prohibition of obscene materials in Canada can either be “customs” or “criminal” (p.47); materials are either seized at the border for obscenity or criminalized when in the possession of Canadians. Both types of prohibition have targeted 2SLGBTQ+ publications historically, and both led to activist calls against discrimination. At the border, “depictions or descriptions” of acts like anal penetration (p.49) were explicitly prohibited from entering Canada, notably informed by sexual morality laws.

Censorship led to a long struggle with the Little Sisters bookstore in Vancouver, beginning with the border seizure of the gay magazine The Advocate in 1987. Little Sisters filed a lawsuit for discrimination in 1997, another in 1990 (which went to the Supreme Court), and a third in 2002 which they ultimately abandoned due to legal fees (p.57). Ultimately, while there was acknowledgment that Customs Canada discriminated against gays and lesbians (p.56), there was no recourse for Little Sisters and they were still told to “just trust Canada Customs” or file yet another suit (p.57). This legal expectation of “trust” ignores a precedent of legal discrimination: thirty years earlier, inside the border, a queer publication called The Body Politic (TBP)^[10] was raided by police on a charge of obscenity (p.52). All officers of TPB were acquitted of charges, only to experience another raid in 1982 that put the entire TBP collective on trial. Largely because of a public uproar, coinciding with the parallel raids on gay bath houses and bars at the time, TBP was again acquitted (p.53).

Cossman rightly mentions the connection here between the censorship of publications like TBP and The Advocate and the raiding and policing of bars (p.54)—both are matters of repression, and both are rooted in ideas about sexual morality which are inherited from the British 1500s. Even when laws rooted in sexual morality are no longer enforced, these values are inherited and applied to obscenity, and even when the government no longer censors “obscene” materials, these values can still exist in the minds of the publics which libraries serve. Obscenity therefore must still be studied, as in the library context it can become a socially enforced value judgment even when it ceases to also be a legal one.

Censorship and Its Resistance in Library Contexts

In addition to the broader history of the Gay Liberation movement, there is a history of 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy specific to library contexts, one that namely resisted the social imposition of particular sexual values. Much of inclusivity in libraries today was won by the still-existing ALA Rainbow Round Table (ALA, 2022b), founded originally as the ALA Task Force on Gay Liberation (RRT, n.d.). As its name suggests, the Task Force was connected to the liberation movement of the time, and worked to embrace the presence of gays and lesbians in libraries at a time when they were not welcome. Historical member Anne Moore attests that being a lesbian librarian in the 70s “wasn’t welcoming at all…it was like your life didn’t have meaning” (Ford, 2020). Projects like the 1971 “Hug-A-Homosexual Booth” at the ALA Annual Conference attempted to lessen the stigma of homosexuality as a part of public life (Ford, 2020); information was shared among librarians about how to successfully be out at work.

Challenges to 2SLGBTQ+ materials, from the public and even fellow librarians, were always a part of this library history. In 1990, the children’s book Daddy’s Roommate featuring a gay couple was explosive for the Round Table’s mission of gay visibility in literature. The feeling was that having a gay couple in such a resource would do wonders for diversity, directing hatred away from individual 2SLGBTQ+ librarians and normalizing gay life—“this is how we’re gonna do it,” as one member said (Ford, 2020). However, the mere existence of the Task Force/Round Table in itself still upset many people in the world of librarianship. In 1992, the cover of American Libraries featured a photo of the Task Force in the San Francisco Pride Parade, which attracted many hateful letters: American Libraries was accused of “glorifying homosexuality” (Ford, 2020). The argument by one such letter that “the gay and lesbian issue…has nothing whatsoever to do with the library profession” is emblematic of the way 2SLGBTQ+ presence in libraries is automatically presumed to be subversive; it is politicized (Ford, 2020). The heritage of this politicization—the assumption that any material including 2SLGBTQ+ experience is a “statement” or controversial issue—continues today, and is at the root of many challenges to materials. Once informed of the legal history of 2SLGBTQ+ discrimination, we might consider whether this politicization has to do with a view of 2SLGBTQ+ people as oppositional to social order—the value-based “phobia” in homophobia.

Current Context

Gay Representation and Anti-Transgender Fervor

Much has changed for 2SLGBTQ+ people since the 1970s and 80s, although the legacy of historical discrimination remains. Same-gender marriage legalization defined the beginning of the 21st century,^[11] and representation of sexuality and gender diversity steadily increased in media, particularly on television.^[12] The legal discrimination of 2SLGBTQ+ people became more widely understood, and in 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a public apology to 2SLGBTQ+ Canadians for “Canada’s role in the systemic oppression, criminalization, and violence against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and two-spirit communities” (Trudeau, 2017).^[13] As the Rainbow Round Table says, however, these positive steps forward have not eliminated anti-2SLGBTQ+ bias in society: “maybe five years ago we might’ve been able to envision [the Round Table’s mission] becoming redundant…[but] homophobia is creeping up in all kinds of ways” (Ford, 2020). In the contemporary climate, it is primarily social and not legal forces that are at play, and new language is often used; however, obscenity and politicization are still very much concerns.

Concerns about 2SLGBTQ+ materials being obscene, in the contemporary context, often come in the form of public concerns about “children’s exposure” to 2SLGBTQ+ people. Echoing the rhetoric of valuing “natural” over “immoral” sexualities, the words “pornographic” and “explicit” may be used to describe material that contains little to no sexual content but that depicts same-gender relationships. These words are, crucially, not as often used to describe materials that depict heterosexuality or normative gender expression—they instead emphasize that it is shocking or inappropriate for a child to be aware of 2SLGBTQ+ people. Librarians should pay particular attention to the way 2SLGBTQ+ content for children is challenged because of its supposed “inappropriateness,” and also to the way challengers may defend their bias against 2SLGBTQ+ materials by saying it is the “explicit nature” of the content they disagree with, not the sexual or gender identity portrayed.^[14]

Contemporary politicization of 2SLGBTQ+ materials further compounds the emotional nature of challenges, and is today most prominently reflected in the “gender critical” discourse which frames transgender people as political objects. Accusations of “glorifying homosexuality,” like that of American Libraries in 1992, are no longer so much the “hot issue” of today; while objections to homosexuality on a religious or political basis still exist, legal victories for same-gender couples have, as Cossman (2013) said, made homosexuality “legitimate speech” (p.52). Trans identity and the processes of medical transition, however, are still rife with legal and legislative issues, and this has resulted in a saturation of public debate on the “legitimacy” of being transgender. The existence of gender diversity, or the presence of any trans person in a public space, is often labelled with “the trans debate” or “trans ideology”—trans people are framed as a political force in opposition to the rights of women, to the family, or to an essentialized “biology.”^[15] It is crucial, then, in the current political climate, for librarians not to neglect materials related to transgender people in their collections. Particularly in light of the Rainbow Round Table’s history, where Gay Liberation was waved away as a “political issue” not affecting libraries, this generation of librarians must know better than to say as much for its trans staff and public.^[16]

2SLGBTQ+ Collections’ Impact on Information Needs and Access

Librarians can be empowered, in their dealing with 2SLGBTQ+ material challenges, with an understanding of why these materials matter and how a 2SLGBTQ+ positive library is good for their public. Firstly, the ALA explicitly encourages librarians to act in its policy of “Diverse Collections”—B.2.12 attests that “library collections must represent the diversity of people and ideas in our society” (ALA, 2010). This policy statement alone can justify collecting and defending as many depictions as possible of 2SLGBTQ+ life, history, and experience. But there are even greater impacts than reflecting diversity: the ALA also argues that diverse library collections is one way libraries can “serve” 2SLGBTQ+ people (ALA, 2019b). 2SLGBTQ+ populations, like all populations that make up a library’s public, have certain special information needs and information access concerns. These needs and concerns are summarized as issues with public inclusion and issues with health education. When addressing a challenge to 2SLGBTQ+ materials, librarians might consider how removing or keeping the material would affect either concern.

Public inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ people, specifically their inclusion in the physical shared space of the library, is impacted by collections management. The ALA’s acknowledges that “access to libraries may be limited or prohibited by…collections which do not present [2SLGBTQ+] content or perspectives” (ALA, 2019b). It is easy to see why a potential user might stop using a library if that library does not offer any acknowledgment of the user’s perspective. While multiple perspectives are valuable, a user who (for example) enjoyed reading romance novels might eventually feel isolated and alienated if only opposite-gender relationships were represented in the library’s collection. A heterosexual user, for that matter, might also feel alienated if a collection only offered same-gender romances—but due to the nature of 2SLGBTQ+ exclusion, this is an implausible scenario. In nonfiction, social and political commentary that argues against homosexuality in a collection might by various justifications be retained, but those materials are especially harmful to gay users who can only find such commentary, without any offer of a gay-positive or liberationist perspective.

The impact of “actions by staff or other patrons” is also mentioned by the ALA (ALA, 2019b); this is relevant because the way staff and other users react to challenges can either welcome and empower or intimidate and threaten 2SLGBTQ+ users. If Gender Queer (Kobabe, 2019) is challenged on the basis that (according to a user) transgender people are threatening to society, a transgender user will understandably feel unwelcome—especially if this sentiment receives little to no pushback. If a library does not affirm that 2SLGBTQ+ people are free to exist in the collection as fictional or hypothetical subjects, then real and living 2SLGBTQ+ people might gather that they are not free to exist in the physical library or at its events. On the other hand, if a challenge to Gender Queer is managed with a firm, public statement that transgender experiences are a valued and normal part of human diversity, a transgender user can be reassured they are a valued part of the library’s public. This can make the difference between keeping or losing a person as a library user, which in turn decides whether that person can satisfy their information needs. The assumption that there is a passive, “neutral” response to a challenge (Ferretti, 2018), where librarians say nothing about such rhetoric, often only serves to enable hateful rhetoric while letting it go unchallenged.

It is particularly important for 2SLGBTQ+ people to feel welcome in libraries, and to have access to information, because they are a population with significant health education needs. Information about gender and sexuality can help 2SLGBTQ+ users discover, understand, and navigate their own identities; the “coming-out” process where one’s own gender and sexuality are identified is particularly important for the health of youth (National LGBT Health Education Center, 2016). Additionally, general health information which includes 2SLGBTQ+ people makes public health accessible to this population. This is crucial, as there may be neglect and discrimination present elsewhere.

In a feature for Public Libraries, Youth Service Librarian Meagan Albright (2006) argues that libraries have a role in creating a “safe haven” for 2SLGBTQ+ youth, “providing both a tolerant atmosphere and access to information” (p.55). If collections do not reflect 2SLGBTQ+ experience, and if an environment is unwelcoming, it can create isolation. One gay man expressed such an isolating childhood experience in Hearing Us Out,^[17] saying: “I simply knew nobody who was gay…I truly felt that I was the only gay person” (Sutton 1997, qtd. Albright 2006, p.68). Transgender people have similar and often more significant lack of access to relatable experiences; one study found that while trans youth often seek information about their own gender identity, they frequently do not know where to begin their search for information due to common misunderstandings about transgender people (Huttunen et al., 2020). Like sexually diverse youth, they “may feel like being ‘the only one’” (p.712); this belief that one has a unique, unsolvable problem with themselves can stop one from seeking social, mental, and physical health services.^[18]

Health issues that have been identified for 2SLGBTQ+ people include:

• Higher rates of STIs, particularly HIV/AIDS;

• Higher rates of depression and anxiety, and suicide;

• Greater likelihood to smoke, abuse substances, or experience domestic violence;

• A lower rate of medical tests such as cancer screenings and Pap smears, and;

• Higher rates of unhealthy weight control and eating disorders (National LGBT Health Education Center, 2016, p.4).

If materials that involve research and depictions of 2SLGBTQ+ health issues are part of collections, users can inform themselves about their symptoms, conditions, and safe sex practices. If such materials are removed because of challenges or oversight, however, 2SLGBTQ+ users lose the library as a source of reliable and safe health information and the discrepancies in their health outcomes will continue to intensify. Lastly, libraries are crucial resources for health information because of their confidentiality and privacy—the risk of anti-queer violence both in the home and in medical settings for “out” (openly queer) people means that often, the safest way to access 2SLGBTQ+ information is secretly.

Challenges

Collection Challenges as Public Discourse

Challenges in collections that involve 2SLGBTQ+ issues, like the complex historical challenges discussed in the Background section, are unlikely to be isolated. Rather, they are connected to larger societal and ideological discourses which present 2SLGBTQ+ people as a “social other.” Because of this complexity, librarians should be familiar not only with their collections but with the wider social discourse that circulates about and around them. Data from the ALA shows an increasingly concerted effort to ban entire categories of books rather than select titles in challenges. This data suggests that many material challenges may be a political move rather than a singular concern about one book—the claim of “protecting” children and the public may also be a claim to detract from the political aims of the challenge (ALA, 2022c). Political challenges regularly coincide with, or are followed by: boycotts; campaigns against libraries or members of their public; and physical-space protests and demonstrations. In response, the ALA has released multiple statements in opposition to the censorship of materials, standing by its commitment to intellectual freedom, urging libraries to uphold this commitment, and asking individuals and communities to get involved and actively support intellectual freedom in libraries (ALA, 2021). Intellectual freedom is one defence that may be used to protect 2SLGBTQ+ materials in collections, and it is a robust one as it is a core value of librarianship (ALA, 2019a).^[19]

School libraries, in particular, are frequently the targets of political groups, which seek censorship of 2SLGBTQ+ titles by labelling them as “age-inappropriate” for students—an echo of obscenity discourse. Martha Hickson, a school librarian and one of the 2020 recipients of the American Association of School Librarians’ Intellectual Freedom Award, shared her experience in battling book bans in a New Jersey high school. In what Hickson observed and described as a “nationwide,” “coordinated, conservative censorship campaign,” several titles were targeted by conservative lawmakers and their place on the school library bookshelves was challenged (Hickson, 2022).

Individual challenges like this tend to stoke and then catch fire. In a public letter to the state’s Superintendent of Education, South Carolina Governor, Henry McMaster, referred to 2SLGBTQ+-themed books as “obscene and pornographic materials” and demanded a comprehensive investigation into said materials in public schools (Levesque, 2021). In a subsequent tweet, he even characterized them as “sexually explicit materials” (Levesque, 2021). Similarly, a statement issued by Texas lawmaker, Jeff Cason, described 2SLGBTQ+-related books as “pornography” (Paget & Chavez, 2021); Kobabe’s Gender Queer was among the titles targeted, receiving a mention in both statements (Paget & Chavez, 2021). To clarify, pornography is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “books, magazines, films, etc. with no artistic value that describe or show sexual acts or naked people in a way that is intended to be sexually exciting” (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.). It is questionable how a memoir of an adolescent discovering their own gender identity could be seen as intentionally sexually exciting or explicit and of no artistic value, and also worth examining that it suddenly became a target more than two years after it was first published. This case is a clear reverberation of obscenity discourse, but as Kobabe pointed out in an interview, libraries should resist these calls—libraries must continue to serve as “a safe space for someone trying to find out about themselves, especially if it’s a topic they don’t feel comfortable about” (Levesque, 2021).

Challenges from the “Other Side”: Irreversible Damage, Public Damage

Adding 2SLGBTQ+ materials to a collection, and defending them to keep them there, is a vital gesture. Unfortunately, this is not the end of the work; the struggle for Queer Liberation is fought on two fronts, for visibility and pride but against repression and violence. 2SLGBTQ+ people must certainly be visible in the collection, but even this can fail to be supportive if the collection also emphasizes resources that spread misinformation or hateful rhetoric. Librarians must develop strategies for addressing challenges to this “other side” of the battle, for instances when 2SLGBTQ+ members of the public object to resources or the way they are promoted by the library. To be clear, this guide does not encourage or advocate for ideological censorship of resources, as this undermines the free exchange of information. It is, in fact, often important for members of the public to be able to access examples of homophobic, transphobic literature, especially historically, in order to understand how these systems of oppression operate. However, some materials in collections are embroiled in a great deal of public discourse, and they may in fact be collected for this very reason. When that discourse, then, spills over into the library itself, librarians must take care to remember the history and forces of power at play in their response. Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage is a prime example of how materials about 2SLGBTQ+ people can also have an enormous impact, and how collection challenges from 2SLGBTQ+ people must at the very least not be ignored.

Irreversible Damage (hereafter ID),^[20] simply by its inclusion in library collections, has caused multiple schisms in libraries across Canada.^[21] In Halifax most significantly, a collections challenge in the form of a change.org online petition called to remove the book, garnering 2,500 signatures (Mullin, 2021). When Halifax Public Libraries (HPL) declined to do so, Halifax Pride responded by cutting ties with the library entirely, while 2SLGBTQ+ members of the public declared they would not be participating in library events and services (Mullin, 2021). HPL certainly behaved as librarians are regularly expected to do in this instance: the item was kept in the collection in the interest of information access and freedom, and in the interest of neutral collections that do not privilege one viewpoint over another even if that view is controversial. CEO Åsa Kachan of HPL also cited public demand and interest as a reason to collect ID (Mullin, 2021). However, in the context of librarians as advocates for 2SLGBTQ+ members of their public, a crucial consideration is the degree to which the library can be trusted as an institution. Both HPL’s response and the subsequent response of the Canadian Federation of Library Associations ([CFLA-FCAB], 2021) did not adequately address, ironically, the damage done to the 2SLGBTQ+ public with circulation of this book. The mere presence of the book in the library alone is not the whole of the damage; it combines with the discourse surrounding it and the history of similar transphobia in public spaces to create a deeply uncomfortable environment for 2SLGBTQ+ users. “Intellectual freedom” and a “neutral” standpoint is an incomplete explanation for a community that is used to harm at the hands of institutions.

While ID is one of the most difficult cases of collections management in the contemporary context, a hopeful way forward is possible if librarians begin to consider building trust with their 2SLGBTQ+ public. A library does not necessarily need to censor or remove books like ID to be clear that its brand of transphobia is not acceptable in library spaces. Library workers could, for example, moderate the comments on their websites; the Edmonton Public Library’s (EPL’s) online catalogue record for ID includes a whopping 134 comments from users (EPL 2020), many of them transphobic in nature.^[22]

If a commitment to 2SLGBTQ+ people is otherwise demonstrated by the library and its collections, ID’s impact in the “battle” can be lessened. This, however, does require a great deal of courage from librarians in our political landscape.

Potential Threats in a Commitment to Diversity

In many instances, libraries who have committed to diversity in their collections and programming become themselves targets of hate speech, threats, and protests. Not all library workers are prepared or adequately compensated for managing this backlash. One public library in Montreal received spam calls and threats from conservative groups when a local drag performer was invited for a “Drag Story Hour” event.^[23] The library staff faced personal attacks, accusations of “assisting pedophiles,” and had their personal information exposed on the internet (Montpetit, 2022). The situation escalated to a point where the Montreal police opened investigations into the threats and patrolled the area to ensure safety. Two months later, due to a similar event hosted by the Edmonton Public Library, protesters with signs that read “Freedom” and “Shame on the library” gathered around. The protesters briefly entered the Stanley A. Milner Library, accusing the library of “‘grooming’ and ‘sexualizing’ children” (Lachacz, 2022). The protest was then met with a larger group of counter-protesters in support of the library and the event (Lachacz, 2022), creating a chaotic scene for users and staff. The backlash and threats of violence toward some libraries and library workers have become so intense that, in some circumstances, workers have chosen to leave their jobs (Harris & Alter, 2022). In 2022, the ALA released a statement condemning the threats of violence against libraries and librarians, where these threats were directly related to librarians refusing to censor materials about marginalized communities. Librarians who are themselves part of marginalized groups have also received threats on this basis (ALA, 2022a).

Although some disputes over libraries’ 2SLGBTQ+ positivity were ultimately resolved, in other cases libraries faced dire consequences. In their defense of 2SLGBTQ+ titles including Kobabe’s Gender Queer, two directors of the town library in Jamestown, Michigan were forced to resign after being harassed and accused of “indoctrinating kids” (Cantor, 2022). Moreover, the directors’ resignation did not stop the group—the Jamestown Conservatives instead further escalated the issue. They distributed flyers in the neighbourhood which criticized Gender Queer for containing “extremely graphic sexual illustrations of two people of the same gender,” and which shamed the library for failing to be “a safe and neutral place” with censorship of the memoir (Cantor, 2022). The Jamestown library compromised by taking Kobabe’s book from the shelves and putting copies behind the counter instead. The controversy continued, however, and eventually culminated when Jamestown residents voted against the measure through which the library was funded, meaning the library is now facing closure (Cantor, 2022). When facing potential threats such as the ones discussed above, it would be prudent for libraries to plan their potential response in advance, though as this example shows it often seems like no response will be received with satisfaction.

Responses

When facing such intense pressure to censor, advocating to include 2SLGBTQ+ materials in collections can seem daunting and sometimes impossible. This issue has been so politicized, it seems, that libraries can expect backlash no matter what their responses are. The subsequent sections discuss different approaches libraries have taken in responding to book challenges and the pressure to censor materials in their collection. If libraries completely resist challenges to their collections, they can face public backlash—calls for external reviews, funding cuts, and harassment and threats of violence towards libraries and their workers. If they instead choose to censor some challenged materials, in an attempt to remain neutral or appease both sides of the censorship argument, it often results in dissatisfaction from both sides. People from both sides in a library’s “neutral” stance can argue that not enough is being done to address the issue. It can also be argued that in trying to remain neutral, one is also making a political choice, one where those who are trying to censor and oppress 2SLGBTQ+ people are not challenged. Some other libraries may also choose to simply comply with censorship due to intense pressure from their community, in the hopes that this will keep their library open and their patrons happy. In doing so, however, they go against the long-held ideology that libraries should be places of intellectual freedom and free information access, as well as places which operate for social good. Compliance also crucially alienates libraries’ 2SLGBTQ+ public. Librarians should, then, be careful when considering what is the best response to challenges to their collections, and also consider programming that can supplement their response.

Resisting Censorship

Resisting censorship within a library encompasses more than refusing to remove 2SLGBTQ+ materials that have been challenged. Resistance can take various shapes. For instance, libraries can center 2SLGBTQ+ issues while participating in Banned Books Week, an annual event in the United States and Canada shedding light on challenged or censored books and celebrating the freedom to read (Banned Books Week, 2022). A similar event is Freedom to Read Week, a Canadian-specific initiative that “encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms” (Book and Periodical Council, 2022). These events can be easily celebrated in libraries through creative displays or programming, and offer an opportunity to highlight and defend those 2SLGBTQ+ materials which are so frequently challenged each year.

Another way libraries can take a more active role in supporting 2SLGBTQ+ members of their community, instead of reactively resisting censorship, is to create 2SLGBTQ+ specific collections or sections in their library. Western University in London, Ontario, for example, created the Pride Library in 1997 to support 2SLGBTQ+ research and the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Canada (Western University, n.d.). Public and school libraries may not have the resources to create something on the same scale as the Pride Library, but they can still create smaller collections of 2SLGBTQ+ materials that are tailored to their community. Toronto Public Library (TPL) has one such special 2SLGBTQ+ collection full of materials for community members of various ages and backgrounds (n.d.). TPL even created various 2SLGBTQ+ reading lists, tailored for different age, language, or interest groups.

Libraries and library staff do not need to combat censorship alone; community-led activism against censorship as a whole can also be helpful in pushing back against anti-2SLGBTQ+ challenges. There is a variety of activism happening outside of the library on this subject. A number of non-profit organizations have been created to document and raise awareness about challenges in libraries, such as Unite Against Book Bans and the National Coalition Against Censorship (2022). Members of the public are also stepping up: a group of US-based mothers created Book Ban Busters (2022), a database that tracks book bans and helps educate people about what they can do to help. Other anti-censorship efforts are more grassroots or creative; the Uncensored Library, for example, is an excellent resource located within a Minecraft game server. This in-game library ingeniously uses Minecraft to provide access to a collection of materials censored or banned in many countries, as well as sharing information about why and how materials are censored around the world (Peet, 2022). Lastly, GLAAD^[24] offers resources for those reporting on censorship and book challenges in an 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy context. Library workers can help provide information about this external activism to users, and make available these resources related to challenges and bans. Librarians might also be able to use these resources to guide patrons to materials not available at their library.

Complying with Censorship

Libraries that comply with politically pressured censorship and remove books from the shelves often face backlash, as they fail to provide equitable resources and service to all their community members. In one example, the Smithtown Library Board in Long Island, New York voted to remove all pride material displays from the children’s section in their four branches, and to ban any 2SLGBTQ+ titles from the children’s room. (Ebrahimji, 2022). In response, the New York Library Association (NYLA) issued a dissenting statement that reaffirmed its commitment to intellectual freedom (NYLA, 2021). In the statement, the NYLA condemns the Smithtown Library Board’s decision, which they say “sets a dangerous precedent for libraries across the state” and fails to provide “the only safe, affirmative, and welcoming space” for 2SLGBTQ+ youth to discover themselves without the fear of judgment (NYLA, 2021). The Governor of New York also stepped in, iterating their support of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and that public spaces should be welcoming and accepting, not rejecting. A day later, the Smithtown Library Board decided to reverse their decision; the materials were back on display until July 15, 2022, as originally intended (Ebrahimji, 2022). In another example, the Lincoln Parish Library in Ruston, Louisiana removed a number of 2SLGBTQ+ themed materials from displays in the children’s section following numerous complaints from the community. All written in similar language, these complaints criticized those titles for being inappropriate for children to view without their parents’ consent; their view was that these titles did not align with the values of community members (Smith, 2020). The materials were only accessible upon request by adults for a few days, and the board then held an open meeting where they voted to reshelve them elsewhere. Vivian McCain, the library director, said the removal of materials “goes against every grain in [her] body as a public librarian” (Jensen, 2020).

Community Engagement and Programming

In light of what can go wrong for the library, tensions are high in responding to challenges. Additionally, with the Irreversible Damage conflict as a prime example, there is also an extreme pressure to manage and respond to the backlash of those challenges. Amidst these pressures, there may even be a temptation for library workers to “preempt a challenge by avoiding purchasing [2SLGBTQ+] materials,” (Andrasik et al., n.d., p.6).^[25] but this will simply lead to more censorship and bring the problem back to its origins. Instead, librarians might “regroup” in their strategy and remember that, because 2SLGBTQ+ issues are so politicized, some challenges may actually be based on a misunderstanding of the materials rather than the materials themselves. Libraries can actually take advantage of the connection between a library’s collections and public discourse, by connecting with patrons directly through 2SLGBTQ+ supportive programming. While programming is not an official part of collections work, it is an underdiscussed part of librarianship which is certainly connected to collections. Programming might include workshops, book displays, speaker series, or guests—all things that call attention to what resources the library has available. By making use of programming strategies, librarians can work to both dispel hateful myths and to manage the public discourse that accompanies many collections challenges.

Libraries have a great deal of information at their disposal which can be used to create informational and research guides on 2SLGBTQ+ topics, and some places to begin finding these information may be found in the “Sources for Further Reading” section. Librarians might also host workshops, or invite lecturers that work to dispel harmful ideas; they might create prominent displays and booklists that highlight the 2SLGBTQ+ experience. On an even broader scale, librarians can use their knowledge of information literacy to help the public understand hate speech, and to identify some of the misinformation that anti-2SLGBTQ+ resources and groups deploy. While these programs and physical moves, with Drag Storytimes as a prime example, often themselves become targets, implementing them in the first place is a gesture that shows 2SLGBTQ+ people they have a place in libraries. As with the Irreversible Damage conflict, using programming lessens the pressure on librarians to demonstrate diversity entirely through collections alone. Even if a collection contains books like Irreversible Damage which contain anti-transgender rhetoric, a library that collects the book could still be welcoming to transgender users if it also, for example, offered informational pamphlets about transition and what it entails.

For ideas on programs that will uplift 2SLGBTQ+ people in the library environment, the Rainbow Round Table (then called the GLBTRT) released an Open To All Toolkit that can serve as inspiration in the “Sources for Further Reading” Section. Many libraries offer Pride programming—unfortunately, much of it is most visible because of the challenges it garners from anti-2SLGBTQ+ members of the public. Such negative attention and focus makes it only more important to normalize this programming’s presence. Libraries must also not forget the importance of forging bonds with local 2SLGBTQ+ community groups such as Pride Centers, which themselves often have excellent examples of programming for public education.

Conclusion

Despite the weight of so many challenges, continuing to advocate for 2SLGBTQ+ materials and against hateful rhetoric is a powerful choice librarians can make for their publics. Actress and trans rights activist Laverne Cox has said, “it is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen…in a world that tells us we should not exist” (VERVE Team, 2018). To ally themselves with 2SLGBTQ+ people, libraries must have this same revolutionary courage, recognizing that the heritage of denying queer people existence must not follow us into the future.

Sources for Further Reading

American Library Association. (2022b, September 14). Rainbow Round Table (RRT). Rainbow.
https://www.ala.org/rt/rrt.

ALA’s Rainbow Round Table, with its heritage as the Gay Liberation Task Force, offers resources that support the information needs of the 2SLGBTQ+ community and information professionals. Its Open to All toolkit (in the educational resources section of the website) provides practical tips for libraries to better understand and serve the information needs of the community. These tips cover several dimensions of librarianship, such as cataloguing, programming, and collection development.

Baumann, J., & New York Public Library (Eds.). (2019). The Stonewall reader. Penguin Publishing Group.

This book gathers primary sources from the New York Public Library’s archives (one excellent example of a 2SLGBTQ+ collection) about the Stonewall uprising. Stonewall is largely regarded as the most significant event in the Gay Liberation movement, providing an impetus for the contemporary LGBTQ movements in North America. Through the lens of critical activists, it chronicles the events prior and subsequent to the uprising. Studying this book may help librarians understand the sociopolitical roots of anti-2SLGBTQ+ speech and violence.

Scott, D. & Saunders, L.. (2021). Neutrality in public libraries: How are we defining one of our core values? Journal of Librarianship and Information Science, 53(1), 153–166.

This study is useful when considering the discourses of intellectual freedom, social justice, and the value of “neutrality,” if librarians find it useful to employ them. Over 500 library workers of different positions in the U.S. were surveyed in this study about their views on neutrality. The majority of respondents (68%) agreed with the definition of neutrality as “being objective in providing information,” while only a few defined neutrality as “not taking sides on an issue” (12%) and “not expressing opinions” (5%). The survey also found that library workers considered neutrality most often when developing collections (82%). The resource offers a fresh perspective on neutrality and prompts criticism in how it affects the library’s operations in practice.

Stryker, S. (2008). Transgender history. Seal Press.

Written by historian and University of Arizona professor Susan Stryker, who is also a trans woman, Transgender History covers the history of trans communities and trans activism from the mid-1900s to present. This is a good resource for those wanting to learn more about the key figures, movements, and ideological issues related to trans rights; readers can gain insight into a history of trans life that goes beyond the contemporary mainstream media discourse. Stryker herself has also written several other resources on 2SLGBTQ+ History for readers to continue their study.

Trans PULSE Canada. (2019, June 27). Home. Trans PULSE Canada. https://transpulsecanada.ca/

TransPulse Canada is “a community-based survey of the health and well-being of trans and non-binary people in Canada” (TransPulse), conducted in 2019. It reveals the trends and issues in healthcare access for trans people, and also the common experiences in the trans community of violence and discrimination. Librarians can adjust their understanding of public health needs using this important information, which is not captured by regular censuses due to the invisibility of many trans Canadians. Another survey was also conducted in 2020 on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on trans and non-binary people.

QMUNITY. (n.d.). Resources. QMUNITY. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://qmunity.ca/education-training/resources/

A link to the educational resources page of Qmunity, which describes itself as “BC’s Queer, Trans, and Two-Spirited Resource Center” (Qmunity). There are many articles and graphic resources here which make it easy to share information about 2SLGBTQ+ experience and issues with the public, and for librarians to be further educated. The September 2013 pdf linked on this page, “Queer Glossary: A to Q Terminology,” is particularly useful for anyone unfamiliar with the myriad of terms used throughout history to describe 2SLGBTQ+ identity.

Grande-Sherbert, M., Ip, A., Pope, N. (2023, April 21). Censorship of 2SLGBTQ+ materials: A call to action for LIS. Politics of Libraries V: Intellectual Freedom and Democracy. https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-q6ex-1r92

Adapted from this chapter, this presentation was given at the Politics of Libraries Conference. In our presentation, we outlined some of the main points of the paper in the forthcoming Contemporary Issues in Collection Management, including the historical background necessary for understanding how 2SLGBTQ+ materials have been censored by authorities and the relationship between intellectual freedom discourse and hate speech. We also stressed the importance of challenging passive or neutral stances in libraries when it comes to homophobic and transphobic violence, and what is at stake for a library’s 2SLGBTQ+ populations when their needs are ignored.

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