Concerns over Gender Queer book dismissed by Australian classifications board as anti-LGBTQ+, court hears

Right-wing activist Bernard Gaynor is appealing against the Australian Classification Board’s decision not to restrict Gender Queer, a graphic novel-style memoir about gender identity. Photograph: Rick Bowmer/AP

The Australian classifications board made a “broadbrush dismissal” of over 500 submissions calling for a ban of the book Gender Queer by labelling those submissions as anti-LGBTQ+, a court has heard.

In July last year, the Classification Board rejected calls to restrict access to a memoir about gender identity that was the target of conservative campaigns to have it banned in the US, and found the content was appropriate for its intended audience.