Author of School Districts’ Most-Challenged LGBT Book Speaks Out: ‘Parental Rights Really Anger Me’

It tells us something when a person who is too confused to figure out their own gender wants to substitute his judgment for the judgment of millions of parents. The author of one of the most banned novels in the country says “parental rights” make him angry and push him to write more such stories. Alex Gino is the author of “Melissa,” a book about a boy named George who believes he is a girl. The book has been banned in four U.S. states and was No. 1 on the American Library Association’s most challenged list from 2018 to 2020, according to Yahoo News. The book was initially published as “George,” but later renamed “Melissa.” BookLooks, a website that rates children’s books, summarized the concerns in the book as follows: “This book contains alternate gender ideologies including transitioning commentary; inexplicit non-sexual nudity; and alternate sexualities.”

It’s Banned Books Week. The most challenged book of 2018 is #1 George by Alex Gino. It was banned, challenged, and relocated because it was believed to encourage children to clear browser history and change their bodies using hormones…and including a transgender character. pic.twitter.com/Se49SgjRqS

— George Culver Community Library (@SaukCityLib) September 28, 2019

One part of the book describes how George feels while taking a bath. The passage reads: “She took off her shirt while the tub filled waiting until the last possible moment to take off her pants and underwear. She immersed her body in the warm water and tried not to think about what was between her legs, but there it was, bobbing in front of her,” according to the Des Moines Register. Gino, who identifies as “nonbinary,” told Yahoo News, “Parental rights really anger me, because what about human rights? People who are under 18 are human and if you are keeping information about the world from young people, you are leaving them less prepared to learn how to be in the world.” “If my book is going to get challenged, that to me is a sign that there are more stories that I need to write. And so I’m writing now about queer and trans kids who don’t just exist but who know each other and who have community and who get to thrive. If they’re going to say, ‘Don’t do it,’ then I better not tell myself not to do it. I better do it more,” he added.

You are not raising your children……They are. https://t.co/XcOMezAtoZ

— Andrew Wilkow (@WilkowMajority) September 26, 2023

According to the LGBT Foundation, “Non-binary is used to describe people who feel their gender cannot be defined within the margins of gender binary. Instead, they understand their gender in a way that goes beyond simply identifying as either a man or woman.” Which sounds to me like gender limbo — neither here nor there. So let’s let the most confused group of people in the world prepare children for the world instead of the people who care about them the most — that will definitely help them. As parents, it is our duty to help simplify the path to adulthood and prepare our children to meet life’s challenges with clarity as far as we can. Good parents watch the ratings on TV shows, keep safeguards on their kids’ computers, and keep books containing thoughts and ideas that solidify doubts into perpetual confusion out of their kids’ book bags. Regardless of what some “nonbinary” author thinks, those who will walk that child through adulthood and beyond get the final say. This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.