Sacked ADF Reservist Fails A Second Time To Get Gender Queer Book Banned In Australia

Queensland-based far-right campaigner, conservative blogger and sacked ADF reservist Bernard Gaynor once again failed in his attempt to get Maia Kobabe’s award-winning memoir Gender Queer banned in Australia. 

Gaynor, a former Australian Defence Force (ADF) reservist who was sacked for his anti-gay social media comments, challenged the classification board’s April 2023 decision to give the book an Unrestricted – ‘M’ rating ( Mature and not recommended for readers under 15 years). He objected to the book’s content calling it a “paedophile comic book”.

The Classification review board did not agree and said that it “did not identify any depictions of or references to paedophilia or violent pornography in Gender Queer.”

Sydney-based bookstore Kinokuniya, which had paid for the book to be classified after the Board called it in March following Gaynor’s complaint with the Logan City Council, said it was pleased with the decision.

“It’s a small win in the culture war with those who seek to restrict what others are allowed to read, but it feels like an important one for all of us, and especially the LGBTQIA+ community,” the bookstore said in a statement, adding, Gender Queer will remain on our shelves – and library shelves throughout the country.”

Anti-LGBTQI Submissions

During the hearing of the case, the board received many homophobic emails from people who wanted the book banned.

“Overwhelmingly, those in favour of restricting or refusing classification for Gender Queer contained statements that the Review Board considered to be broadly anti-LGBTQIA+. The Review Board gave little weight to these submissions as they contained little or no evidence that the writers had read Gender Queer, or that they understood the content within the context of the publication,” the review board noted. 

The Review Board refused Gaynor’s plea to ban the book and revoke its Unrestricted classification, saying the content justified its context. 

“(The book) is appropriate for its intended audience of people who are interested in the author or interested in the subjects of gender identity and asexuality, and has a positive tone and character as well as many layers of positive messaging.”

Depictions Of Sex Justified In Context

The review board said that descriptions and depictions of sex “were justifiably interlinked with the publication’s central premise of a memoir recounting how the author struggled to make sense of gender identity and sexuality.”

“Descriptions and depictions of sex are highly stylised and contain little or no realistic detail. Descriptions and depictions of, and references to, sexual activity involving consenting adults is not exploitative, or gratuitous. The presence of sex and nudity in the publication is justified in context, specifically that of being a non-fiction memoir describing the author’s lived experience. Sex and nudity are justifiably interlinked with the publication’s core themes of gender identity and asexuality,” the review board said.

Gender Queer,  is one of the most banned books in the United States, with over 49 school districts taking the book off its shelves.