Banned Books Week
This week October 4th-10th is Banned Books Week. Banned Books Week started in 1982 after a wave of book challenges in schools, libraries, and bookstores. That same year, the Supreme Court ruled that books could not be removed from public school libraries because people disagreed with the content of the book because minors have rights and they do not stop at the school entrance.
Books are most often challenged for LGBTQ+ characters and themes and the 2nd category is characters of color, followed by sexual content, discussions of race and racism, and themes around rights and activism. Books bans are another attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion in our public schools.
When we think about book bans, we often think the challenges are coming from a student’s parents, but the reality is that less than 3% of book challenges originate from a parent. The American Library Association found that in “2025, 92% of all book challenges were initiated by pressure groups, government officials and decision makers, up from 72% in 2024.”
In 2018, when I lived in Loudoun County, VA, I was an educator for a day as an elementary school librarian. I asked the library if they had books with LGBTQ+ characters. The librarian was able to recall one book that briefly mentioned a character with same sex parents. I was disappointed in the lack of representation, but at the time LCPS did not have any policies protecting LGBTQ people. Parents, students, and community members like me had been pressuring LCPS to add sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) to their nondiscrimination policy since they voted against it in January 2017. In February 2019, LCPS added SOGI to its policy.
After SOGI was added to LCPS policy, I wondered how we could make this policy change feel tangible to students. I initiated the #BigGayBookDrive with Equality Loudoun. We contacted every librarian across the school district to ask if they wanted free, diverse, inclusive, and affirming books. We had 33 schools out of 100 requests over 800 books. I partnered with an independent bookstore to host our book drive, and they donated a book for every book sold. We collected and distributed over 600 books before COVID-19 ceased our operations.
After distributing books and before the shutdown, we immediately heard from librarians who said their students were seeing themselves reflected in literature for the first time. I imagine these books helped students find the language to express issues they have been struggling with. I hope all students will read these books to help understand the struggles of their LGBTQ peers.
Not every member of the Loudon community celebrated this book drive. We had to defend, fight, and rally to keep these books in LCPS libraries. We successfully fought to keep challenged books in our libraries, but it is an ongoing battle. Here is the Washington Post article about the backlash. Some Northern Virginia parents wanted two books with LGBTQ characters removed from schools. Officials said no. - The Washington Post
After all, teaching students to read is a foundation of our public schools and developing a love of reading is a key factor in creating successful students. If students cannot relate to the reading materials available to them in their schools, it’s much harder to motivate them to read. Margaret J Wheatley said, “You can’t hate someone whose story you know.” Schools are perfectly situated to teach students empathy and compassion. They need to be given windows into the lives of people from different walks of life and mirrors to see themselves reflected in literature. We need to take every opportunity to instill empathy and compassion in people. Reading is a great way to do that.
To learn more about book bans, visit
The National Coalition Against Censorship https://ncac.org/
PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) America https://pen.org/
The American Library Association https://www.ala.org/bbooks/book-ban-data
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