NW Valley Times

Several public libraries in the Northwest Valley carry a book that features pornographic cartoon illustrations depicting gay oral sex, according to a review of Arizona library catalog records by NW Valley Times.

Aimed at teenagers, Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, features comic-book style images of two male teenagers performing oral sex upon one another, using sex toys and masturbating, drawn by Kobabe.

According to Maricopa County Public Library District online catalog, the eBook version of Gender Queer is available throughout the county, and hard copies are available at the El Mirage branch, the White Tank Library Branch in Waddel, and the Georgia T. Lord Library Branch in Goodyear.

The book is also available as an eBook throughout the Peoria Public Library System, as well as via hard copies at the Sunrise Mountain Library Branch in Peoria.

Libraries in North Carolina, Florida and Texas have removed Gender Queer from their catalogues on account of its pornography.

St. Louis-based Lion Forge published Gender Queer as part of a series of "graphic" cartoon books aimed at teenagers and pre-teenagers, encouraging them to ignore their biological sex. The publisher says its mission is to create characters that appeal to children who might want to cross-dress, or have sex change surgery.

Kobabe, a biological woman who claims to now be neither a woman nor a man, says she uses so-called "gender neutral pronouns," to refer to herself.

In a Dec. 2021 profile on Kobabe in her hometown newspaper, the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat, author Matt Villano referred to her by these "gender neutral pronouns."

"When e got eir first period at age 11, however, everything changed. E felt betrayed by eir own body. E became unhappy and confused by societal expectations and norms. E withdrew and turned to reading and sketching to cope with feelings of depression and dysmorphia," Villano wrote, comparing Kobabe to "Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger and Mark Twain" as authors who have "penned banned books."

Left-wing activists have sought to ban Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Salinger's A Catcher in the Rye and Twain's Huckleberry Finn for using language they say is "offensive" to blacks and women. None of the three books includes any pornographic cartoon illustrations depicting gay sex.

The Maricopa County Public Library District covers all of Maricopa County. The district directors are Jack Sellers (Dist. 1), Thomas Galvin (Dist. 2), Bill Gates (Dist. 3), Clint Hickman (Dist. 4), and Steve Gallardo (Dist. 5).

The Peoria Public Library System covers the city of Peoria with the Main Branch at 8463 W. Monroe Street, and the Sunrise Mountain branch at 201109 N. 98th Avenue. The library told NW Valley Times that concerns about content at the library should be addressed to Jill Thomson, Library Branch Supervisor for the City of Peoria, at 623-773-7566 or via email at jill.thomson@peoriaaz.gov.