Northwoods Reporter

The Northern Waters Library System carries a book that features pornographic cartoon illustrations depicting gay oral sex, according to a review of Wisconsin library catalog records by the Northwoods Reporter.

Aimed at teenagers, Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, features comic-book style images of two male teenagers performing oral sex upon one another, using sex toys and masturbating, drawn by Kobabe.

According to the Northern Waters Library Network online catalog, the Northern Waters Library System has digital copies of Gender Queer.

Libraries in North Carolina, Florida and Texas have removed Gender Queer from their catalogues on account of its pornography.

St. Louis-based Lion Forge published Gender Queer as part of a series of "graphic" cartoon books aimed at teenagers and pre-teenagers, encouraging them to ignore their biological sex. The publisher says its mission is to create characters that appeal to children who might want to cross-dress, or have sex change surgery.

Kobabe, a biological woman who claims to now be neither a woman nor a man, says she uses so-called "gender neutral pronouns," to refer to herself.

In a December 2021 profile on Kobabe in her hometown newspaper, the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat, author Matt Villano referred to her by these "gender neutral pronouns."

"When e got eir first period at age 11, however, everything changed. E felt betrayed by eir own body. E became unhappy and confused by societal expectations and norms. E withdrew and turned to reading and sketching to cope with feelings of depression and dysmorphia," Villano wrote, comparing Kobabe to "Harper Lee, J.D. Salinger and Mark Twain" as authors who have "penned banned books."

Left-wing activists have sought to ban Lee's “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Salinger's “A Catcher in the Rye” and Twain's “Huckleberry Finn” for using language they say is "offensive" to Blacks and women. None of the three books includes any pornographic cartoon illustrations depicting gay sex.

The Northern Waters Library System covers Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Burnett, Iron, Sawyer, Vilas and Washburn counties. Trustees include Joyce “Pep” Kabasa and Clarence Campbell of Ashland, Jim Crandall of Drummond, Connie Cogger of Washburn, Laura Rachford of Danbury, Emmett Byrne of Siren, Kathryn McKenzie, Sam Pomush, Courtney Dietsche, Susan Hendrickson, Vivian Markley and Ron Leino of Superior, Opal Roberts of Mercer, Dale Olson of Exeland, Dian Delong of Hayward, Jeff Burke of Presque Isle, Jocelyn Ford of Spooner, Linda Feather of Minong and Donna Knuckey of Winter.