EXCLUSIVE
A controversial book that has been criticised around the world for exposing children to “gay porn” has been removed from library shelves in an Australian city for the first time.
The Bundaberg Regional Council on the Queensland coast this week removed Maia Kobabe’s divisive coming out memoir, ‘Gender Queer’, following a public outcry.
On Thursday, Christian lobbyist Lyle Shelton praised the council for being “brave” enough to act on the concerns of outraged lobbyists.
He said the graphic novel, which features illustrations of masturbation, sex toys and oral sex, had proliferated on library shelves in children’s sections across the country for too long.
“Well done to the council for getting rid of him,” the ADH TV presenter told Daily Mail Australia.
‘This book is totally unsuitable for a public library and the children’s section.
“Just because it flies under the political rainbow flag doesn’t mean it’s good for children.”
Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer is the most banned book in the US, with critics claiming its graphic depictions of teenage sex (censored here by Daily Mail Australia) are aimed at children.
Maia Kobabe (pictured), a nonbinary author from California who uses e/em/eir pronouns, has received multiple awards for her controversial memoir since it was first published in 2019.
She added: ‘Because LGBTQIA+ activists complain that they are ‘bigoted’ if their agenda is ever questioned, politicians and bureaucrats are too afraid to properly vet the material with which they seek to indoctrinate our children.
‘In the case of Gender Queer, they have allowed illegal material into the children’s section of public libraries.’
The decision will outrage supporters of the LGBTQIA+ community who believe the award-winning book has become a vital resource for many teenagers.
But Gender Queer was ranked the most divisive book in the United States this year by the American Library Association after receiving more complaints than any other title.
Critics have pounced on a selection of explicit images in the book that depict Kobabe’s evolution. understanding gender and sexuality as an adolescent and young adult.
Cartoons show Kobabe and a girlfriend experimenting with a strap-on sex toy, and another of Kobabe fantasizing about two men having sex.
The content has led to the book being banned in dozens of US school districts and removed from libraries across the country in states including Alaska, Iowa, Texas and Pennsylvania.
Some schools even preemptively removed the book before any formal complaints were filed.
Conservative activist Bernard Gaynor (pictured) hopes Bundaberg’s book ban will inspire other towns to follow suit and remove controversial memoirs from their libraries too.
Kobabe, a nonbinary author from California, insists the novel can help confused “older teens” identify by providing language for the trans and nonbinary community and discussing feelings young people may be experiencing.
But conservative critics have called its graphic, gender-diverse depictions of teen sex harmful and “pornographic.”
Bundaberg Regional Council declined to comment on the apparent ban, saying only that “the book is not currently on library shelves”.
A review of the council’s libraries website catalogue revealed it had also been removed from its online booking system.
Although the book has since disappeared from the Queensland city’s libraries, the 239-page graphic memoir remains on the shelves of other libraries around Australia.
Brisbane City Council has 17 copies of the novel available for loan in its library collection, with three copies available at Ashgrove Library and two copies each at Carindale, Indooroopilly and Stone Corner libraries.
In Sydney, readers can find it on the shelves of Green Square, Glebe and Newtown libraries, while borrowers in the Victorian capital can borrow a copy from the Kathleen Syme Carlton Library, East Melbourne Library and the Dock Library.
The Bundaberg ban comes a year after the presence of the 239-page graphic memoir in Logan City Council libraries in south-east Queensland sparked a public backlash.
The award-winning book was eventually pulled from shelves following a formal complaint by conservative Catholic activist Bernard Gaynor.
However, it remains publicly available to anyone who has requested it, and a search of the library’s website reveals that it can still be reserved online.
Mr Gaynor, who considers the graphic novel “pornographic”, last year called on the Australian Classification Board to ban the book entirely in Australia.
Instead, the ACB board issued the 2019 novel with an “unrestricted” rating, with a consumer advisory of “M (Mature): not recommended for readers under 15.”
Bundaberg Regional Council removed the graphic novel from its libraries this week
He said he hoped Bundaberg’s decision would inspire other cities to follow suit.
“This is the first council in Australia to really look at this book seriously and pull it from the shelves,” he said on Shelton’s online news show ADH TV on Thursday.
“This is great news because there will be more news. This book has to come out. Under Australian law, it is illegal.”
‘The Australian Classification Board and Classification Review Board failed to address the reality that an LGBTQI book featured a scene with an image of a child.
“They said the image was actually of an adult. It’s ridiculous. Anyone looking at that image knows instantly that they’re looking at a child. You don’t have to be an expert to say that.”
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