LGBTQ+ librarians grapple with attacks on books - and on themselves

Worldwide Pride Month events are underway but they are coming at a time when many people who identify as LGBTQ+ say they are facing increasing difficulties at work, ranging from being repeatedly misgendered to physically assaulted. For gender nonconforming library workers in particular, they are also grappling with growing calls for book bans across the U.S., with books about gender identity, sexual orientation and race topping the list of most criticized titles and making the attacks all the more personal. The American Library Association documented the highest-ever number of titles targeted for censorship in 2023 in more than 20 years of tracking. Maia Kobabe’s coming-of-age story ‘Gender Queer’ was the most criticized library book for the third straight year.