Memphis Public Libraries scheduled an event for children in pajamas featuring the “most controversial picture books of the year,” including a book with homoerotic images advertised as a giveaway.
An event previously scheduled for October 2 invited teenagers above the age of thirteen to attend in their “school-appropriate” pajamas and read a book from the “Banned Book List,” many of which contain images of homosexual activity and other explicit content. The “best reader” would receive an autographed copy of Gender Queer, considered the “most banned book” of last year.
Memphis Public Libraries deleted the event page from their website shortly before The Sentinel published this story. The Sentinel reached out to Bartlett Library, the branch where the event was originally scheduled, to determine whether the event will still occur; this article will be updated with any response.
Gender Queer claims to be an “intensely cathartic autobiography” which details how the author bonded with friends over “erotic gay fanfiction” and grappled with “how to come out to family and society.” The book contains illustrations of oral sex and explicit actions between minors, as well as an older man touching the genitalia of an apparently younger boy, moving parents across the nation to call for the volume’s removal from government schools and public libraries.
Interest groups such as the American Library Association have meanwhile condemned parental rights groups for their efforts to remove the book, claiming that such efforts violate First Amendment liberties.
The event at the Memphis Public Library was slated to be organized by former local school board candidate Aislinn McEwen, who ran on the promise of contesting “recent legislation” that has “put the power to remove books in the hands of the school boards.”
Shelby County Commissioner Mick Wright said to The Sentinel that a “concerned parent” brought the event to his attention. “It is being organized by a failed school board candidate who wants to use children for her own personal gain,” he said. “It’s wrong on every level.”
Conservative Christians of Tennessee remarked in a statement to The Sentinel that any county Republican Party leader who is “not willing to stand against open debauchery and trans-indoctrination has become too weak to lead our community and should be purposefully replaced with God-fearing leadership.” The organization added that “Christians can no longer sit back and pretend that this is 1984 and the school boards are honestly working for the betterment of our children.”
