Some who have lobbied to have the memoir removed from schools say they have no issue with the author's story or identity. It's the sexual content in "Gender Queer" that is not appropriate for children or school libraries
Maia Kobabe, the author of the graphic novel and memoir “Gender Queer,” in Santa Rosa, Calif., April 25, 2022. The book about coming out nonbinary has landed the author at the center of a battle over which books belong in schools, and who gets to make that decision. (Marissa Leshnov/The New York Times)
Coming out as bisexual in high school had been relatively easy: Maia Kobabe lived in the liberal San Francisco Bay Area and had supportive classmates and parents. But coming out as nonbinary years later, in 2016, was far more complicated, Kobabe said. The words available failed to describe the experience.
“There wasn’t this language for it,” said Kobabe, 33, who now uses gender-neutral pronouns and doesn’t identify as male or female. “I just thought, I am wanting to come out as nonbinary, and I am struggling with how to bring this up in conversation with people. And even when I am able to start a conversation about it, I feel like I am never fully able to get my point across.”
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