Conservatives want help from DeWines to ban book

A group of Ohio conservatives, including a number from Lorain and Medina counties, recently signed a letter to Ohio first lady Fran DeWine asking her and Gov. Mike DeWine to help them remove a book they consider pornographic from Ohio's public school libraries. The book in question is "Gender Queer," author Maia Kobabe's 2019 memoir in graphic novel format. It is one of the most contested books in the United States, and was the most-banned book in the U.S. in 2021, according to the American Library Association. In a 2022 story in the New York Times, Kobabe imagined the memoir would appeal mainly to young adults who had also wrestled with gender identity, and to friends and family of nonbinary people. Dakota Sawyer, the 19-year-old chairman of The American Union PAC, authored the March 22 letter. He commended Fran DeWine for her work on the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a free program open to all Ohio children that mails books to them every month until the age of 5 to promote early childhood literacy. "We believe wholeheartedly that every child should have access to free reading books to develop necessary skills in life. We hope that you continue to advocate for children's literacy and the need to read," the letter states. However, the letter goes on to claim that "some have taken advantage of a child's love for reading and have used that to show children pornographic books in our public schools. We hope that you will join in condemning school districts across the state which have pornographic books in their school libraries." Sawyer's letter specifically states that author Maia Kobabe's memoir "Gender Queer," in particular, "depicts in illustrations children performing sexual acts" and accuses it of being child pornography that violates state law. "These books have no place in our schools and should be removed immediately to protect our most vulnerable citizens," according to the letter. "We hope that you and the governor will joins us for calling for the removal of these types of books from our schools, in order that we can protect our children from harmful material at such a young age." "Literacy is important and we must continue to support children's literacy. We also must continue to be watchdogs of harmful material that is put in the hands of children by many with a hidden agenda," according to Sawyer's letter. Those who signed on to the letter include former Ohio Board of Education member and Ohio Senate candidate Kirsten Hill of Amherst, and AM talk radio host Bob Frantz. In an email, Hill said the "placement of books with sexually-explicit content such as 'Gender Queer' in schools by teachers, school administrators and school boards is part of an ongoing narrative attempting to normalize sexualizing children at younger and younger ages." "I support the letter to Fran DeWine because she has promoted the good books being circulated by the Imagination Library while seemingly ignoring certain bad books found in specific Ohio schools. She has the governor's ear. Fran DeWine can speak out against the grooming happening in Ohio schools and classrooms," Hill wrote. Sawyer was a guest on Frantz's radio show on March 20 to talk about the letter and books he wants banned, according to the website for Frantz's "Always Right Radio" show on AM 1420. In 2021, Sawyer announced a plan to run for Ohio's House District 67 as a Republican at age 17, the Medina Gazette reported, but withdrew his candidacy from that race shortly after filing. Others among the 33 signatories include leaders of grassroots Ohio conservative organizations such as John Stover, president of Ohio Value Voters; Tom Zawistowski, president of the We the People Convention and executive director of the Portage County TEA Party; members of the Protect Ohio Children Coalition; four Ohio GOP central committee members; and multiple elected school board members. "Gender Queer" has won multiple book and literacy awards. A summary of the book on Amazon.com is as follows: "In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em." "Now, 'Gender Queer' is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears." "Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, 'Gender Queer' is more than a personal story: It is a useful and touching guide on gender identity — what it means and how to think about it — for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere." Available in paperback, the book has a 4.5 out of 5 rating with 2,898 ratings on Amazon.com. Kobabe addressed the issue of book banning in an essay published by NPR in January. "Being the author of a heavily challenged book is stressful, and it wastes a lot of my time — but it puts me in very good company. I never expected my book to sit on lists beside 'Beloved,' 'To Kill A Mockingbird,' 'The Hate U Give,' 'Speak,' and 'Of Mice and Men,'" Kobabe wrote. "Certain parts of the country may be fixated on censoring me, but I will not be censoring myself." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.