A unknown number LGBTQ+ books such as This Book is Gay are being removed from UK schools if just one parent complains about a single similar title, librarians have revealed.

An investigation carried out by Index on Censorship, an organisation that campaigns for freedom of expression, found 53 per cent of staff working in school libraries had been asked to remove books from shelves, with more than half of the requests coming from parents who disagree with a work’s content.

In more than half of the cases, the book or books were subsequently removed.

Among the titles targeted are This Book Is Gay, by Juno Dawson, Jessica Love’s Julián is a Mermaid, and ABC Pride by Louie Stowell, Elly Barnes and Amy Phelps, as well as mangas because of a perceived sexualisation of characters.

The investigation was prompted by a comment made by Dawson. Her works are some of the most censored in the US, prompting her to say she did not know if books were being banned in UK schools as well.

Book bans in schools – particularly because of queer content – have been increasing in the US, resulting in some bookstores posting boxes of censored books to areas where they were still legal, so youngsters had the chance to read them.

Between July 2021 and June 2023, PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans found 5,894 instances, across 41 states and 247 public school districts. The “offending” works overwhelmingly included those with LGBTQ+ characters, and discussions of sexual orientation, gender identity and sexual experiences. 

Earlier this month, Utah became the first state to ban an entire list of books from schools.

Speaking anonymously to Index on Censorship, one school librarian said she was asked to remove every book which contained LGBTQ+ content after a parent complained about just one title.

“I can scarcely believe that because one book was challenged, the whole collection was removed,” she said.

She went on to say the situation left her feeling “frightened” and “intimidated” and wary about buying books which feature LGBTQ+ themes or characters, such as the latest volume of Heartstopper and Sarah Hagger-Holt’s The Fights That Make Us.

‘This is more of an issue than it was five years ago

Another librarian, Alice Leggatt, and children’s author Simon James Green told Index on Censorship about their experience after she invited him to give a talk at her Catholic school.

Leggatt sent a letter home with pupils about the event with information on how they could buy Green’s books. The letter ended up on a right-wing Catholic blog which referred to the event as a “blatant promotion of the LGBT+ lifestyle” and as “tantamount to child abuse”.

The event was cancelled and deemed “outside the scope of what is permissible”.

Leggatt told The Independent: “Pretty much every librarian I’ve spoken with says this is more of an issue than it was five years ago, and they’re concerned about it in a way they never had to think about before. We don’t have anything with teeth to help defend school librarians, their collections and their students when these things happen.

“We are about different perspectives, that’s our whole ethos. I worry about that being curtailed. Now it’s LGBTQ+ books, next week it could be something else.”

A spokesperson for Stonewall told The Independent that the findings were “troubling” because queer youngsters “find great importance and reassurance in seeing themselves reflected in books and media”.

They continued: “Preventing LGBTQ+ young people from seeing themselves represented in inclusive resources and books at school can often make them feel ashamed and feel the need to hide who they are.

“Schools [must] ensure that all young people have access to inclusive educational materials and books that represent the world we live in and the communities everyone is a part of.”

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