Va. Republicans Sue Barnes & Noble Over ‘Obscene’ LGBTQ Books

“We live in a diverse society, and that diversity of opinion is reflected in the books we carry on our shelves that cater to the wide range of interests of our customers,” noted a spokesperson for Barnes & Noble in a statement to Bloomberg.

“We ask that our customers respect our responsibility to offer this breadth of reading materials, and respect also that, while they chose not to purchase many of these themselves, they may be of interest to others,” the spokesperson added.

At the heart of the lawsuit is the critically acclaimed Gender Queer: A Memoir by graphic novelist and illustrator Maia Kobabe and the New York Times bestseller A Court of Mist and Fury by fantasy fiction novelist Sarah J. Maas. Gender Queer was named the “most frequently challenged book” in 2021 by the American Library Association.

Legal filings indicate that Del. Anderson, a ‘pro-family,’ Christian lawmaker, has requested a set of restraining orders to prohibit the distribution of the two books in Virginia Beach public schools and forcing parents to grant expressed content for their children to purchase and consume these books. A school board of that district also voted recently to remove all copies of Kobabe’s graphic novel.

The further action comes after retired judge Pamela Baskervill ruled that the suit has probable cause to qualify these books as obscene. The Washington Post reports that Baskervill’s ruling, via an obscure and relatively unused section of Virginia state law, paves the way for Anderson and Altman to request restraining orders against the distribution and access of these books in the local community. 

According to Anderson, all other judges in the Virginia Beach circuit have recused themselves from ruling on the suit for a range of reasons, the Post reports. Baskervill was then asked to make her ruling on whether these books are regarded as obscene and inappropriate for circulation in schools. 

American Booksellers Association spokesperson Ray Daniels told Bloomberg his organization is “deeply concerned about the precedent this could set for bookstores everywhere.”

“It is a bookseller’s constitutional right to carry and sell books as they see fit, without interference from the government,” Daniels said.

According to the Washington Post, the “Virginia Beach school system, Barnes & Noble, the authors and the publishers of both books have until early June to respond” to Baskervill’s ruling.