Fury Over ‘Gender Queer’ on Teachers’ Union Reading List

The National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers’ union, is facing criticism for including Maia Kobabe’s “graphic memoir ‘Gender Queer,'” which includes sexual language and explicit pictures of boys having sex and has become the most banned book in America, in its suggested summer reading for educators.

“This is the same NEA that counseled [President Joe] Biden to keep schools shut for an extended period of time. And it’s the same NEA that said that parents, in fact, were on the verge of being terrorists, showing up at school board meetings,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said earlier this week during an appearance on Fox News.

“This is who is recommending what books to read for our kids. It’s unprecedented. That [educators] should read as well. The challenge we’ve got today is that there have been politicians and bureaucrats and the teachers associations and unions who believe that they are more important in kids’ lives than parents. This is what we stood up for in Virginia. This is what spread across the nation.”

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk called to “dissolve the teacher unions,” accusing the NEA of endorsing “racist, anti-white screeds and a book with graphic oral sex images as great summer reading.”

Twitter users slammed the NEA for adding the book.

“It’s pornography. Parents trust their children to the school system to learn reading, writing and arithmetic not to be sexually groomed,” said one user.

“Pederasts at the teacher’s union recommend reading child pornography to children,” said another.

Kobabe, who identifies as nonbinary and asexual, has defended the availability of her book in public libraries and public schools, telling Time Magazine it was “really dangerous and unfair to shield young people from things like sex and health and information about their bodies — partly because there is so much misinformation online.”

“I would rather a young person learn about topics of sex and sexuality from a book that has passed through many levels of editorial and fact-checking and is written by an author who is interested in sharing accurate information,” Kobabe said.