Reflections on Contending Queer Joy and Censorship in LGBTQ+ History Month
Written by Leah Higgins, CILIPS Digital Assistant
It’s a funny thing, the questions fighting each other in my brain as I write this. LGBTQ+ history is history worth celebrating, and it deserves to have its own spotlight, celebrated in the month of February. We should pedestal queer joy, creativity, freedom of expression and self identity.
But – not for the first time in history – how can we focus on this when LGBTQ+ stories are being censored and stripped from library shelves?
The figurative re-closeting and re-traumatisation of queer authors, creatives and users is something which we need to seriously consider. It doesn’t always feel right to dampen celebrations with constant reminders of how bad things are for queer folk, because trust me, we’re aware. The queer existence and experience isn’t just about trauma. But equally, this feels like the opportune time to use queer joy and celebration to illustrate how censorship threatens all that we cherish. Even if people who are not queer are exposed to the lived experiences and reflections of LGBTQ+ individuals, it allows for a more compassionate and empathetic society. A community’s struggles are not their entire existence, but the only way to learn to celebrate others is by unhindered, embodied representation from those communities.
One of the worst things we can do for the future of any child is remove their access to books. In the USA, the Department of Defense Education Activity is a federal school system which oversees the activity and strategy of pre-kindergarten through to 12th Grade. In a statement about censorship and political interference, EveryLibrary shares that reports from these schools include:
- Entire school libraries have been temporarily closed while books are removed and reviewed for compliance
- Books about immigration, LGBTQ+ identities, and racial justice have been marked for removal
- Educators have been told to remove books from their personal classroom collections if they reference gender identity, race, or “discriminatory equity ideology,” without clear guidelines on what constitutes a violation
As the world watches book banning at a scale probably no one has witnessed in our lifetime, libraries and their staff are the ones on the frontline. Interestingly, this article from The Guardian suggests that book banning can slide under the radar as something less nefarious, with implications that institutions are ‘withdrawing’ or ‘removing’ inappropriate material rather than calling a spade a spade.
This sort of ideology is something which reaches all of us. CILIP has released a statement about the lack of access to research and data in the US which was flagged by some of our dedicated special interest groups, impacting their ability to effectively research and gather accurate data sets. Their statement says,
“The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, is concerned that the removal, hiding, and modification of data, research and other information resources by authorities in the USA is already starting to impede the vital work of UK library and other information professionals, as well as researchers and educators.”
Now for the technical part, the CILIP Ethical Framework, which is something that every member abides by. In the clarifying notes of the framework under section A1, it maintains that all of our members are signing up to “uphold, promote and defend human rights, equalities and diversity in all aspects of [your] work and the equitable treatment of users.” The notes further clarify that
“Library and information professionals should stand for diversity and challenge prejudice wherever it is found in the information, knowledge and library sector. We should uphold, promote and defend the contribution of a diverse workforce across and at all levels of the profession. All members of our society should have equitable and ready access to knowledge, information, data and works of imagination appropriate to their needs, wants and aspirations.”
Transparently, this means that both sides of this debate should be entitled to access knowledge, information and literature which pertains to their views, so long as it doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s human rights. But that is precisely the point: no one person should be able to strip another’s right to access knowledge and information. The entire profession will fall to its knees if this is allowed to happen on one side or another, because the very premise by which fairness and equity abide is being unethically stripped by political regimes riddled with disinformation.
We recently gave an interview to two Journalism students and former pupil librarians about the importance of School Libraries for lots of different things. And as I often do, which isn’t always ideal for interviews, I was thinking out loud, hampered by my fear of saying something ever so slightly daft on record. However, on this occasion, I stumbled across something that was fairly obvious to me, but that I’d never been able to capture in words before. We know the library is a quiet space, and a safe space, where other places in the school might be sensory overload or hallways may be truncated with people you’d rather avoid. But it doesn’t stop there. Inspired by the photographs of book displays in photos submitted to us by school librarians, and in particular an LGBTQ+ pride display, I realised that the library is a place for its users to be celebrated. To a person who may never feel accepted or normal outside of those walls, this cannot be underestimated.
Equally, I was watching an Instagram Reel the other day where a young woman rightly declares that everyone always says that your teens (13-19) are the most formative years. But she’d recently heard someone for the first time acknowledge how equally important and formative our mid-twenties and beyond are, and how comforting, illuminating and affirming that felt for me to hear. Libraries facilitate people finding who they are, and this is important at all ages and stages in life. You’re never done growing and becoming who you are, and libraries provide trusted access to the information and stories which comfort, illuminate and affirm. More now than ever we’re seeing people transition later in life, or fully come out to their families (chosen or born), and live what has always been authentically them.
Just a reminder that people are who they are regardless of what they have access to: a book never made someone gay or trans. With an instant click of a button, children are exposed to the entire world, and so having access to a trusted professional with whom to navigate this is absolutely crucial. Therefore the argument for doing any of this safely and effectively is to have funded and properly maintained libraries, not by stripping them of all of the people and resources that have been evidenced to protect their users.
As children we learn not to judge a book by its cover, but I personally feel it goes deeper than that. If we pigeonhole content as ‘just LGBTQ+ Books’ it allows certain factions of people to automatically disengage from the subject matter. Don’t get me wrong, I wholeheartedly believe that books written by or about queer people should be emphatically celebrated and labelled, so that people who do want to read them can clearly locate them, and they should not be hidden away. But LGBTQ+ books can also be about the most mundane and ordinary things, and they can teach us about more than just identity and self-expression: they can be about grief, love, nature and any other wonderful thing that literature can be about. The library can be loud and bold, and become host to flamboyant drag queen story times, but it can also catalyse important reflections and quiet individual celebrations. I believe that all of these elements should be allowed to co-exist and can all be powerful in their own right. Censorship deprives us of all of these nuances.
One of the best ways you can be an ally right now is to support an author of a banned book list, by borrowing it from your local library and engaging with its themes and content. Shhhhhh, here’s a link to PEN America’s updated Banned Books list for 2025.
There are a lot of conflicting feelings around this topic, and these are just my musings on what we’re watching and in some cases experiencing in the world today. I hope people will continue to celebrate LGBTQ+ History as loudly and proudly as they always have, and that it breeds more compassion, empathy and kindness in the world, regardless of what political interference threatens it. I leave you not only with some hope that queer joy will outlast and outshine these challenges have brought the library and information sector, but also some book recommendations from the CILIPS team. Ultimately, upon my reflections here today, the LGBTQ+ community illuminates and enlivens the sector greatly, and those functioning in any capacity in and around it should be celebrated!
Kirsten shares anything by Lillian Faderman but especially “Scotch Verdict”
Sean suggests to you, “Maggie and Me” by library champion, Damian Barr
And I, Leah would implore you to read “Orlando,” by Virginia Woolf
Other Resources for LGBTQ+ History Month
The CILIP LGBTQ+ Network which is open for members to join, click here to see more.
I Love Libraries Fight Against Banned Books website can be accessed here.