However, the books are classified as adult literature by the publishers and other library reference materials.Īfter a subcommittee of educators unanimously upheld keeping the materials in the libraries, Mathews followed the district’s appeals process, which triggered a review and recommendation of a committee comprised of educators and public, and eventually to another subcommittee of the board. Both include some passages about sex or sexual acts. “This book serves no purpose other than to sexualize children,” Mathews said of “Gender Queer,” a graphic novel.īoth books are stories that recount growing up and, in part, coming to terms with gender identity and sexuality. Several times he claims that “Lawn Boy” contains child pornography, and then lists four passages where sexual encounters happened. Mathews originally filed written “Request for Reconsideration of Media” with the school district on Oct. However, when the books reached a five-member review comprised of public school board members, they voted to keep “Lawn Boy” by a 4-1 vote, but recommended removing “Gender Queer” on a 3-2 decision, with two board members issuing a written dissent, criticizing the majority for not following district policy. The decision then went to a special committee set up to review the material, which also recommended unanimously that the books should remain in the secondary schools’ libraries. Both books received unanimous support for educators and district officials, recommending the books should stay on the shelves, after a review.
#BILLINGS PUBLIC LIBRARY FULL#
The decision now rises to the full school board after working its way through a content challenge system that included reviews by district officials, members of the public, and a smaller portion of the school board. Both books have been frequently challenged throughout the United States, and both titles are at the center of a public library controversy in Kalispell. One resident, Nathan Mathews, objected to “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison and Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” in the Billings West High School and Career Center libraries, saying that both books constituted child pornography because of several passages in the coming-of-age books dealing with sex and sexuality.
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