Book Flagged Because Author’s Last Name Is “Gay”

The Birmingham News reports:

“Read Me a Story, Stella” is a children’s picture book about a pair of siblings reading books together and building a doghouse. However, because the author’s name is Marie-Louise Gay, the book was added to a list of potentially “sexually explicit” books to be moved from the children’s section of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (HCPL) system.

HCPL executive director Cindy Hewitt admitted “Read Me a Story, Stella” was added because of the keyword “gay.” Hewitt said the review was based on a list of 102 books compiled by Clean Up Alabama. Alyx Kim-Yohn is a circulation manager at the Madison branch and said it’s “cosmically ironic” that the situation escalated during Banned Books Week.

Read the full article.

Children’s picture book flagged at Alabama library because author’s last name is ‘Gay’ pic.twitter.com/eSwagHsIaV

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) October 8, 2023