Gill Foundation 2024 Holiday Card

DRAMA

YOUNG ADULT

CHILDREN'S

REFERENCE

8th most challenged book in 2008,

the year it was published,according to ALA

This year, Virginia enshrined marriage equality in state statute, while voters in California, Colorado, and Hawaii amended their state constitutions to protect thefreedom to marry. ♫ Gay bells ring, are you listening? ♫

2 / 7

Actual 1-Star Review: “…pure indoctrination pushing an agenda that destroys the family unit.” – Amazon user, reviewed 3/6/2024 This reviewer must have missed that Uncle Bobby gets married in order to start a family… Yet another reason it’s so important to promote literacy with well-stocked libraries!

per the American Library Association

4-time most challenged book of the year,

1 / 7

In 2024, new laws protecting family formation in Massachusetts, Michigan, and Minnesota ensured that more LGBTQ families can grow from “two” to “three.”

Real Reason Challenged:“Homosexual story line that has been sugarcoated with cute penguins” – concerned heterosexual, quoted in The Stockton Record Actual 1-Star Review: "The story has put a heavy burden on parents… My son failed to see anything wrong or special about families with only daddies.” – Amazon user, reviewed 11/12/2014

Banned in 1996 in Merrimack, NH,

and threatened by “Don’t Say Gay or Trans”laws across the U.S.

5 / 7

As grinches and humbugs continue their efforts to censor LGBTQ content in schools, our community is fighting back. This year in Florida, LGBTQ youth and advocates successfully rolled back the state’s “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law to ensure that students and teachers can still be out and proud in the classroom.

Real Reason Challenged:“supporting of homosexuality as a positive lifestyle alternative” (because a woman dresses in drag and another woman falls in love with her…)– Merrimack School Board Policy 6540, quoted by Student Press Law Center Shout-out to Gill Foundation board member Mary Bonauto for helping overturn Merrimack’s bogus anti-gay policy in 1996!

Lawsuits in Florida, Iowa, and Texas

are fighting attempts to censor bookslike Being Jazz

3 / 7

In 2024, transgender youth continued to use their voices to share a simple truth: we all want to be ourselves and live openly, without fear. Other inspiring stories showed us that courageous journeys can happen at any age. In Will & Harper, comedy writer Harper Steele joined friend Will Ferrell on a road-trip to get reacquainted with the country as a trans woman – and won our hearts along the way.

Real Reason Challenged:“Pornographic… May God protect our children from this FILTH.” – concerned (and deeply confused) library board member, who is engaged in ongoing litigation for restricting the freedom to read

Happy holidays from Tim Gill and theGill Foundation staff!

♫ Make the yule-tide gay ♫

Cheers to all the memories that defined 2024 for you and yours, and best wishes for a new year!

Banned across the decades

and Escambia County, FL (2023)

Menifee, CA (2010),

in Carlsbad, NM (1982),

well as Scream Agency for bringing our holiday card to life.

Association for monitoring book bans across the country and defending the freedom to read, as

7 / 7

Special thanks to the American Library

Real Reason Challenged:“sexually graphic… just not age appropriate” – spokesperson for the Menifee Union School District, quoted by NBC Los Angeles

Students in Lansing, KS,received free copies

after their school banned the play

published findings that LGBTQ people are nine times more likely thannon-LGBTQ people to experience violent hate crimes

Fortunately, we have allies standing up for the LGBTQ community – like Judy Shepard, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work advancing equality in loving memory of her son Matthew Shepard. With this honor, President Biden reaffirmed his support for LGBTQ Americans and all who love them. We’re grateful for four years under the most pro-equality administration in history. And as our resolution for a new year: We are committed to defending this legacy in our nation’s next chapter.

6 / 7

Real Reason Challenged: “I don’t want this play… to give my child the impression that hate crimes are even a remotely prevalent social issue in the U.S.” – concerned parent, whose complaints came just as the Williams Institute

by a Texas state congressional investigation

1 of 850 books targeted

The past year also saw countless LGBTQ women rewriting old scripts and blazing new trails. Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender person elected to U.S. Congress, where she will be joined by Emily Randall, the first openly LGBTQ Latina congressperson, and Julie Johnson, the first openly LGBTQ congressperson from the South.

4 / 7

Actual 1-Star Review: "This book is based on LGBTQ premises & rather forceful with their agenda...” – Amazon user, reviewed 5/9/2024 Say what you will about our agenda, but don’t you question our premises!