Drag queens, puberty guides: See the Pentagon's list of banned books

To Matt Corey, the Defense Department’s move to boot a transgender coming-of-age novel from the shelves at its civilian schools is the work of “bigots” afraid of letting children encounter different perspectives.

His book, “Out of Blue Comes Green,” is one of nearly 600 books the department targeted for removal this year, following orders from President Trump to weed out diversity, equity and inclusion material from the federal government.

Administration officials fought to keep the list secret, but a judge ordered it released last month, providing a look into what sort of reading federal officials thought crossed the line.

They run from “A Is for Activist,” an ABC book exploring left-wing causes, to “Zoom in on Equality,” a picture book urging kids to tackle inequality in their classrooms.

The list is hefty on trans tomes, such as “If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It,” by Lil Miss Hot Mess and C.A. Tanaka’s “Baby Drag Queen,” a young adult novel.

Also making the naughty list is “You-Ology, a Puberty Guide for Every Body,” published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and aimed at giving kids and their parents an “inclusive” and “body positive” tour of growing bodies.

Then there’s Douglas Murray’s “The Madness of Crowds,” a scathing criticism of DEI, which also ended up tossed.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles, a Biden appointee to the court in Alexandria, Virginia, said the list was a critical part of a lawsuit challenging the books’ removal. She has yet to rule on that bigger issue, but did say the list itself needed to be public.

Defense Department officials had said the list needed to remain secret because it was an early draft that’s part of a longer “deliberative process,” and revealing it could hurt government officials’ ability to have candid conversations.

Judge Giles countered, saying it’s just a list without any other notes or rumination and it’s already led to books being taken off shelves, so it’s more than just a part of the deliberation.

She said even if the final list of books is different, that doesn’t mean this one hasn’t had real consequences — and needs to be part of the case record.

The Department of Defense Education Activity, which runs 161 schools for more than 67,000 children, didn’t respond to inquiries for this story.

But in a letter in February, the office said it went after “books potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology.”

The office added, “DoDEA’s curriculum and instruction team, referencing terms and definitions in the above Executive Orders, identified a small number of items for further review. Information Center books identified for review will be relocated to the professional collection for evaluation with access limited to professional staff.”

Authors who ended up on the wrong side of the list were dismayed.

Mr. Corey said his book is a rare look into the mind of a trans teenager and gives its young adult audience a chance to see people like themselves in literature.

“Whether bigots like it or not, people’s identities are diverse and include different cultural backgrounds, different races, different genders and different preferences. Therefore, our schools need to offer different perspectives for all students,” Mr. Corey said.

He said Mr. Trump is acting out of a “deliberate misunderstanding of DEI.”

“Clearly, this is intended as censorship and restricts the students’ access to diverse perspectives essential for a healthy democracy,” he said.

Elizabeth Rusch, author of “You Call This Democracy? How to Fix Our Government and Deliver Power to the People,” said she was “saddened” to see her book land on the Defense Department list.

“My dad, a Republican, graduated from the Naval Academy and served our country partly to protect our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech,” she said.

She said her book was labeled a “must-read by Kirkus Reviews, a respected book reviewer,” and was named a best book of the year by the New York Public Library.

“Banning it from DOD schools is like saying that the children of people serving our country do not have the right to learn about, think about and discuss how our democracy functions — and what might be done to improve it,” she said.

Lin Thompson, who had two books make the list, was “frustrated” to see the department’s actions.

“Growing up without access to language to describe my trans identity — growing up without access to books about trans characters — didn’t stop me from being trans. It just left me isolated, and it taught me to be secretive about parts of my life,” the author said. “Encouraging kids to read widely, including reading books about LGBTQ+ characters, can open lines of communication and build trust between kids and their caregivers as kids learn to navigate their world.”

The National Education Association, which intervened on behalf of the challengers, didn’t respond to an inquiry for this story.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which is representing some of the families that challenged the removals, said it was “alarmed” for students who lost access to the books.

“Their parents have dedicated themselves to defending the Constitution, and they deserve to enjoy the full benefits of the First Amendment, just like every other student in the United States,” said Matt Callahan, senior supervising attorney at the Virginia ACLU.