Following last Thursday’s North Carolina House of Representatives Oversight Committee hearing, a bill to outlaw books with LGBTQ themes was introduced by a Republican legislator in an effort to broaden the Parents’ Bill of Rights – and take aim at Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
Superintendent Rodney Trice and CHCCS Director of Libraries Al McArthur were called to Raleigh for testimony as legislators questioned whether 63 books with LGBTQ+ representation or themes violated North Carolina’s “Parents Bill of Rights” law, which says “instruction on gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality” is not allowed in curriculum for K-4 students. Since these books are listed in the district’s elementary schools’ libraries, the debate became whether these books being made available to children was lawful. By the end, Committee Co-Chair Rep. Brenden Jones introduced a bill to clarify library materials as under the purview of the state law, which would effectively ban ones with LGBTQ+ topics.
“Do you understand how these books openly indoctrinate young children and strip parents of their rights to raise their own children the way they see fit,” Jones asked.
“That’s your opinion, not mine,” Trice responded. Jones then snapped back, “It’s not an opinion, it’s right.”
To try and illustrate his objection, the Columbus County Republican displayed passages or summaries of some of the books – including one about a transgender boy, named “Call Me Max.” Jones referenced how the story includes Max changing their name at school “without the teacher notifying the child’s parents,” although the story later shows the parents being supportive and helping Max affirm their identity.
“I’m not going to throw them,” Jones said while in between titles, referencing the December meeting where he held up and flung books with LGBTQ topics. “They should be in the trash.”
The “Max and Friends” series is written by Connecticut-based author Kyle Lukoff, who is a trans man. The book was Lukoff’s second as a published author, having wanted to write for years while previously working as a school librarian. After speaking at a convention, he was contracted by an educational press to write an early readers series centering a transgender child as the main character to improve representation. Lukoff said he jumped at the chance – and even though most of the stories involving Max and his friends aren’t based on his own life, he said he’s confident about how they reflect his community.
“Call Me Max,” published by Reycraft Books.
“I feel very well equipped writing about trans experiences, even ones that I don’t have,” he told Chapelboro. “Because even if it’s something I haven’t personally experienced as a trans person, dozens of my friends and loved ones have talked to me about their childhoods and what those were like. And it turns out that I got it right – because I’ve had so many different trans people come to me and say, ‘Max was just like me as a little kid.’
“It’s really weird to get both profound praise and the knowledge this book is helping people and changing lives,” Lukoff added, “with – on the other hand – being told that it’s filth, that it’s dangerous, and me being accused of all kinds of terrible things just for being a trans person and just for writing these books.”
Lukoff is no stranger to the discourse around banning his book. After “Call Me Max” was released in Nov. 2019, controversy in Utah and Texas school districts led to outsized attention around the title and whether it’s appropriate for elementary schoolers. Earlier this year, a dispute over it in the Randolph County library led the local government to disband the library’s board of trustees after the group decided to not remove the picture book. Lukoff said, at this point, he feels accustomed to the discourse and finds solace in knowing many trans parents find the Max series as useful to explaining their identity to their own children, as well as parents who believe it to be an age-appropriate way to explain the subject of trans people.
Joanna McClintick is also used to the criticism. The New York-based author said they were prepared for their first children’s book, 2022’s “’Twas The Night Before Pride,” to receive backlash because it delves into the origins of Pride and how the month of celebration was originally a protest at Stonewall. McClintick, who is non-binary, said they wanted to include that history to help contextualize the discrimination queer people faced and the historic struggle to earn equality. But the book – like their upcoming release, “Family Found: A Queer Friendsgiving Celebration” – focuses on strengthening the sense of community for those who are LGBTQ+.
“‘Twas The Night Before Pride,” published by Candlewick Press.
“’Twas The Night Before Pride” is also one of the titles in CHCCS elementary school libraries flagged as problematic by Republican legislators, with Jones posting about it on social media before last week’s hearing. While they said they’ve rarely been the subject of a book ban, McClintick said the “blatant disrespect” toward children’s books meant to be tools for parents can be frustrating – especially as it dismisses people’s lived experiences.
“You know, this thing that Brenden Jones [wrote on X], ‘The most concerning aspect of the book is that it’s actively promoting bringing babies to pride parades,’” McClintick told Chapelboro. “And I’m like… ‘Yes, I am actually promoting bringing babies to pride parades,’ because I go to Pride. It’s my identity’s celebration space. I’m promoting babies of LGBTQ people [being able] to share in that celebration with their family.”
During a December Oversight Committee hearing called for CHCCS leaders, Republican legislators focused on books linked from the district’s website – including some recommended by the authors behind the “First Conversations” series, which was the primary link for the books Jones took umbrage with. The “First Conversations” books, co-authored by former pre-school teacher Megan Pamela Ruth Madison and librarian Jessica Ralli, are a series that share early ideas and ways to engage kids on topics like race, gender, family diversity and understanding consent to help prevent abuse.
Madison said the professional partnership with Ralli came after the two teamed up for a workshop at the Brooklyn Public Library and they heard feedback from parents about needing a resource to help foster important conversations with young children. Madison said she believes “First Conversations” can be an effective tool for that, which helps adults build trust with kids about discussing complex topics.
“First Conversations: Together,” published by Penguin-Random House.
Despite similarly being attacked by book banners since their first release, Madison said the series has sold more than a quarter of a million copies – reflecting how parents are looking for avenues to be better equipped to have these conversations with their kids.
“Talking to some of those families who’ve had the books since their children were infants,” said the queer author, “and are now engaging [in] conversations with their kids now that they’re 3 or 4 or 5 years old and are able to articulate some of those questions more directly… those families are like, ‘Thank you so much, I’m so glad that I had some practice and some preparation before my kid asked in the middle of the grocery store, “Hey Mommy, why does that person have brown skin?”’ They felt as prepared as one can be for that moment.”
After learning of CHCCS removing the website link to “First Conversations” and more about North Carolina’s “Parents’ Bill of Rights” provision to limit conversations about gender identity, Madison said “it breaks my heart” to hear about children’s access to information being limited. As national studies have revealed more and more educators’ concern around not being able to discuss these issues with students, the author said she believes educators stand at a “moral chasm” of how to help children grow and be successful both in and beyond the classroom.
“Our children, our young people, crave information that reflects their lives and helps them understand what’s going on in the world,” Madison said. “And when we restrict access to that, it actually makes learning to read not as interesting, not as fun. And it makes screens and all the other things we worry about more attractive as ways to escape the current crisis we’re currently in. So, it makes me sad and angry and worried for our future.”
McClintick shared similar sentiments. By highlighting books with queer themes or trying to ban them, the author pointed out how that often draws more attention to it. McClintick was also quick to say that children – especially as they grow up – find independent ways to learn or seek out topics new to them.
“I guess I feel hopeful that kids who want to find that information still will be able to,” said McClintick. “But…having adults model how mad they are about [these books] is also an opportunity for kids to copy that as well – so, I do think it makes it less safe for queer young people, gender diverse young people, and families with LGBTQ parents.”
When Lukoff was writing “Call Me Max,” he was careful about telling the story with specific, simple words. The strategy, as he wrote in a 2021 column, was to make the story “bulletproof” to the point where it cannot be twisted out of context or claimed to not be age appropriate. In his words, the goal was to write a book “where the only possible objection to the story would be blatant, undisguisable transphobia.”
Regardless of the book’s functionality to entertain or inform both children and parents about a transgender experience, Lukoff said the ability to create art is undisputed. Trans people, like himself, operate and exist within our society – whether their stories are included in libraries or not.
“I’m not in the business of debating my existence with people who would deny it,” Lukoff said to Chapelboro. “But we all know there’s that truism that ‘every accusation is an admission.’ So, when they say that we are indoctrinating, what they mean to say is, ‘We want to be the ones to indoctrinate.’”
Featured image credits: “‘Twas The Night Before Pride” cover via Candlewick Press. “Call Me Max” cover is via Reycraft Books. “First Conversations: Together” cover via Penguin-Random House.
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‘Worried For Our Future’: Authors React to Removal Attempt of LGBTQ+ Books from CHCCS Elementary Librares Chapelboro.com.
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