LGBTQ+ Themes

Books Banned for LGBTQ+ Themes

21 books · 1413 total challenges

BANNED 213 challenges

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

The Color Purple is Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning epistolary novel about Celie, a young Black woman in the rural...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ ThemesLanguage
BANNED 176 challenges

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

by Stephen Chbosky

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is Stephen Chbosky's coming-of-age epistolary novel about Charlie, a shy freshman naviga...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ ThemesDrug/Alcohol Use
BANNED 174 challenges

All Boys Aren't Blue

by George M. Johnson

All Boys Aren't Blue is George M. Johnson's young adult memoir about growing up Black and queer in New Jersey and Virgin...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ Themes
BANNED 156 challenges

Lawn Boy

by Jonathan Evison

Lawn Boy is Jonathan Evison's coming-of-age novel about Mike Muñoz, a young Mexican-American man working as a landscaper...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ Themes
BANNED 151 challenges

Gender Queer: A Memoir

by Maia Kobabe

Gender Queer is a graphic memoir by Maia Kobabe that explores eir journey with gender identity and sexuality. The book h...

Sexual ContentLGBTQ+ ThemesAge Inappropriateness
BANNED 142 challenges

This Book Is Gay

by Juno Dawson

This Book Is Gay is a nonfiction guide for LGBTQ+ teens and their allies, covering topics from coming out to safe sex to...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content
BANNED 136 challenges

Flamer

by Mike Curato

Flamer is a graphic novel memoir about Aiden Navarro, a half-Filipino boy at a Boy Scout camp in the early 2000s who is ...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content
BANNED 35 challenges

Beyond Magenta

by Susan Kuklin

Beyond Magenta presents the stories of six transgender and nonbinary teens through interviews and photographs. It has be...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual ContentAge Inappropriateness
BANNED 30 challenges

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

by Malinda Lo

Set in 1950s San Francisco Chinatown, Last Night at the Telegraph Club follows Lily Hu as she discovers her attraction t...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content
BANNED 25 challenges

This One Summer

by Mariko Tamaki

This One Summer is a graphic novel about Rose and Windy, two girls spending the summer at a lakeside town, navigating th...

Sexual ContentDrug/Alcohol UseLanguage
BANNED 20 challenges

Impulse

by Ellen Hopkins

Impulse follows three teenagers who meet in a psychiatric hospital after each has attempted suicide. It has been challen...

Sexual ContentDrug/Alcohol UseViolence
BANNED 20 challenges

Perfect

by Ellen Hopkins

Perfect follows four teenagers whose pursuit of perfection leads them into eating disorders, steroid abuse, drug addicti...

Sexual ContentDrug/Alcohol UseLGBTQ+ Themes
BANNED 20 challenges

Tilt

by Ellen Hopkins

Tilt follows three teenagers whose lives intersect around love, sex, and identity, told in Ellen Hopkins's signature ver...

Sexual ContentDrug/Alcohol UseLanguage
BANNED 16 challenges

I'll Give You the Sun

by Jandy Nelson

I'll Give You the Sun follows twins Jude and Noah, whose bond is shattered by secrets, grief, and the discovery of Noah'...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual ContentLanguage
BANNED 16 challenges

Man o' War

by Cory McCarthy

Man o' War follows River, a nonbinary teen and competitive swimmer, navigating gender identity, first love, and family e...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content
BANNED 15 challenges

This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story

by Kacen Callender

This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story follows Nathan Bird, a film-obsessed teen who realizes he's in love with his best fri...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content
BANNED 14 challenges

Like a Love Story

by Abdi Nazemian

Like a Love Story follows three teenagers in 1989 New York City navigating love, identity, and the AIDS crisis. It has b...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content
BANNED 14 challenges

More Happy Than Not

by Adam Silvera

More Happy Than Not follows Aaron Soto, a Bronx teenager who considers a memory-altering procedure to forget his emergin...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual ContentViolence
BANNED 14 challenges

The You I've Never Known

by Ellen Hopkins

The You I've Never Known follows Ariel, a teen discovering her sexual orientation while uncovering the truth about her f...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual ContentViolence
BANNED 14 challenges

We Are the Ants

by Shaun David Hutchinson

We Are the Ants follows Henry Denton, a teen who has been periodically abducted by aliens and is now given a choice: pre...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual ContentViolence
BANNED 12 challenges

The Upside of Unrequited

by Becky Albertalli

The Upside of Unrequited follows Molly Peskin-Suso, a plus-size teen with 26 unrequited crushes, as she navigates love a...

LGBTQ+ ThemesSexual Content