Aussie Author’s Queer YA Novel Faces Ban In US

Months after Sophie Gonzales found out one of her books was banned in Texas, the Adelaide-based author found out another of her books – a queer re-imagining of Grease – is facing a ban. 

Last week, Gonzales’ book ‘Only Mostly Devastated’ was among the LGBTQI books that some parents and a local mayor wanted banned at the public library in Alabama. 

Only Most Devastated was shortlisted for Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2021! The book follows Ollie and Will, whose summer fling ends once summer has ended, but fate brings them together again. Ollie ends up in Will’s school but finds this is not the same Will he knew. 

‘Abomination To God’

In the meeting that discussed a ban on LGBTQI books, Gonzales’s book was accused of having “graphic descriptions of bestiality” and a student having sex with another’s parent. 

The LGBTQI books were described as “an abomination to God’ by one woman at a public meeting, while Ozark mayor Mark Blankenship threatened to defund the library if the LGBTQI books were not removed. 

Ozark mayor Mark Blankenship posting on a joint Facebook account with his wife said: “We have been trying to remove this trash from the kids section of our library for several months… you can contact your city council or county commission members and encourage them to cut their funding to the Dale County Library. If we cut the funding they will be closed and our children will not be exposed to this mess.  It’s  time the majority of the people stand up and address this liberal mess in Alabama.”

Author Hits Back

Gonzales slammed those who were demanding a ban on her book and rejected the false accusations against her book. 

‘So one of my books Only Mostly Devastated was banned. Again,” Gonzales said in a video on TikTok. 

“There were a few reasons given, one being bestiality, and the other being sexual contact between a student and the mother of another student.”

“So I just want to clarify, to anyone who needs to know this, that if a teenager is roasting another teenager and they say ‘I slept with your mum’ it’s generally safe to assume that – in reality – they did not actually sleep with that other student’s mum,” the author said, 

Gonzalaes also rejected the bestiality accusations against her book. “The best part about this is that the “Labrador” conversation was around whether the Frog Prince — a Children’s Fairy tale—is kind of weird. So when queer characters say “I wouldn’t do that” it’s discussions of bestiality but if a fairytale actually does it it’s a heartwarming innocent tale for kids,” posted the author.

Last December, Gonzalez said she found out that her book ‘Perfect on Paper’ was banned in Texas schools.

“These are just stories written for kids that happen to star children who aren’t white, cis (cisgender) and straight. I want to say it’s a shock, but it’s not as much of a shock as I would like it to be, but it’s still so ridiculous,” Gonzales said at the time.