Police Visited a School to Remove an LGBTQ Book
Gender Queer, a memoir by Maia Kobabe about her coming of age as a nonbinary person, available to students at the school.The complaining individual — who is reportedly a member of the school community — provided police with two images.
The first was the book’s cover, in which a person is seen staring into a pool of water, looking at a shirtless reflection that does not match their physical appearance.The second was a scene from the book in which two illustrated characters are shown engaging in oral sex.
The complainant argued that the book depicted sexual acts and was inappropriate for middle school-aged children. Storti told GBH News that because the complaint was made directly to the police department, officers were obligated to respond.He noted that the department’s response was carefully arranged to minimize any disruption to the school, with an officer in plain clothes speaking with school administrators and later questioning a teacher about the book.“The interaction with the teacher was cordial,” Storti said. “The officer didn’t touch anything.
They didn’t search. They basically asked if the book was still there, to give the context of what we were dealing with. The teacher said the book wasn’t there, and the officer left.”The location of the copy of Gender Queer that the officer was searching for is currently unknown.Following the visit, the Great Barrington Police Department and Berkshire County District Attorney Timothy Shugrue determined that no criminality was involved.
