Gender Queer to be scrutinized in Australia after right-wing complaint

Stack of books frequently banned in the United States, including Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)

Australian Classifications Review Board ordered to re-examine its assessment of LGBTQ+ graphic novel Genderqueer after complaints from a right-wing activist.

Last year, Gender Queer: a memoirby Maia Kobabe, which topped the 2023 list of most criticized books in American libraries, was deemed appropriate for a teenage audience in Australia, after the review board refused to restrict access despite more than 500 complaints.

The book chronicles Kobabe’s journey from adolescence to adulthood, as well as the author’s exploration of gender identity and sexuality. Marketed to adolescents and young adults, it covers topics such as “masturbation, sex toys and sexual health”, as well as gender and sexuality.

Far-right activist Bernard Gaynor, who described the book as “pornographic”, asked the commission to review its classification.

After the review, during which the public was invited to comment, the committee maintained the classification without restriction, with the consumer advisory “M”, meaning that it is not recommended for readers under 15 years old.

But now the Federal Court has ordered the review board to re-evaluate the book’s classification, after finding there had been a “blanket dismissal” of the complaints as “anti-LGBTQ+”, reported The Guardian.

Gaynor’s lawyer, Bret Walker, argued that not all of the complaints were anti-LGBTQ+, and referenced one image that appeared to depict pedophilia: Kobabe’s illustration of a sexual fantasy “based on the (dialogue) of Plato”, Symposium“.

Judge Ian Jackman agreed with Walker, finding that only 66 of the 576 complaints could be “rationally treated” as anti-LGBTQ+. The court ordered the decision on the book to be dropped and asked the review board to reclassify it.

“The fundamental flaw in this submission is that the review panel’s description of public submissions being overwhelmingly ‘broadly anti-LGBTQIA+’ demonstrates that the panel ignored, overlooked or misunderstood these submissions,” Jackman said.

Kobabe has previously spoken out about efforts to ban the books, saying it was “dangerous and unfair” to restrict access to young people seeking information about LGBTQ+ issues and sex.

The author told Time magazine that the topics covered in the book, first published in 2019, were “part of life” and “things that almost everyone will encounter in one form or another in their life “.

It was unfair of the right to claim it was inappropriate for young people, because reading about a “difficult subject” was “just about the surest way to encounter something you might find difficult”, insisted Kobabe, adding that ongoing efforts to ban or restrict LGBTQ+ books in schools and libraries was part of an organized effort to erase trans and non-binary voices from the public sphere.

“I see this as related to the increase in bills aimed at limiting access to trans health care and limiting the rights of trans athletes and trans students to access various activities and sports at school. I see this as a very dangerous and upsetting effort to make the lives of trans people, non-binary people and queer people more difficult,” Kobabe said.

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