The Garnett Public Library has received a $400 gift from an Overland Park book club in support of the library board’s handling of public efforts to ban or restrict the book “Gender Queer” – a memoir from a transgender author which critics nationwide have said includes pornographic content – during a controversy that arose over the book last summer in Garnett.
“Gender Queer” has been protested in municipal and school libraries across the nation in recent years for its storyline of alternate sexuality and graphic depictions and descriptions of sex acts. Local opposition of the book petitioned the Garnett Library to either ban or restrict it in some way to keep it out of the hands of younger children, but the Board opted to maintain it with no changes. Library personnel say the book is currently in the young adult section but is accessible to anyone.
