Australia’s Classification Review Board has rejected calls to restrict access to a memoir about gender identity that has been the target of conservative campaigns to have it banned in the United States, finding the content is appropriate for its intended audience.
Rightwing activist Bernard Gaynor applied to the board earlier this year to review the classification of Gender Queer by non-binary writer Maia Kobabe, a graphic novel-style memoir about gender identity.
Gaynor’s push follows in the footsteps of conservative activists in the US, who have shown up in droves to school meetings and demanded the book removed from shelves.
In the US, Gender Queer is the most challenged book in libraries. It was name-checked by the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, as part of his push to ban certain books from libraries in the state earlier this year.
The complaints about the book – which details Kobabe’s experience coming out as non-binary – are focused on the cartoon images of sex scenes, which have been described by those seeking it to be banned as pornographic and paedophilic.
The Australian Classification Board initially decided to classify the book as unrestricted with the consumer advice of “M – not recommended for readers under 15 years”. However, Gaynor and his supporters appealed against the decision and the board sought submissions on the classification from the public.
In an opinion released on Thursday, the review board said Gender Queer warranted to keep this classification because “the content of the publication is justified in context, 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”.
The review board found the depictions of sex and nudity in the book were justified in the context of a nonfiction memoir describing the author’s lived experience.
The board noted that the M rating would advise the public that the book may offend some sections of the adult community and may not be suitable for younger readers.
During the review, the board was flooded with more than 500 submissions both for and against the book, forcing it to delay making a decision for several more weeks until Thursday.
Guardian Australia filed a freedom of information request for the submissions and received 20 sample submissions reflective of the broad response to the board.
Those in favour of keeping the book unclassified include librarians, academics, psychologists and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Sexuality and gender are obviously important parts of young people’s lives and diverse models of healthy adulthood play an important role in destigmatising and normalising identity formation,” one submitter said.
“It is low impact in its depiction of sex and sexuality, while highly relevant to a subsection of the 15+ audience who may benefit from its gentle depiction of gender non-normative identity formation.”
Many of those who want the book removed from shelves said they were concerned parents, with a few stating they were educators.
One submission accused the book of “brainwashing” and included a flyer that made false allegations about “the LGBTQ+ agenda”, including paedophilia, necrophilia and bestiality.
“The book is highly pornographic,” Gaynor told Nine in March. “And that alone is enough to have it removed from the library, regardless of what people might think about the book’s content.”
Gaynor said on Friday he was seeking legal advice on the decision.
This week Big W removed from shelves the sale of Welcome To Sex, a sex education and consent book aimed at adolescents, after a social media campaign against the book led to staff being abused in stores.
The attempted boycott of the book has resulted in a boom in sales and it has subsequently sold out on Amazon.
The former US president Barack Obama this week labelled pushes to ban books from libraries by the American right as “profoundly misguided”.
“It’s no coincidence that these ‘banned books’ are often written by or feature people of colour, Indigenous people and members of the LGBTQ+ community,” he said.
