Fort Worth schools will remove these three books from library shelves. Here’s why.

The Fort Worth Independent School District is removing three titles from some school libraries, district officials announced.

Fort Worth ISD officials removed the graphic novels “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, “Flamer” by Mike Curato and “Wait What? A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up” by Heather Corinna from library shelves and moved them to the district’s professional learning catalog, limiting access to only district staff. In a statement, a district spokesman said the move came after officials determined in a review that the titles weren’t appropriate for elementary and middle school library collections.

All three titles deal with themes related to growing up and exploring sexuality and gender identity. The move comes after a series of tweets from the conservative Twitter account Libs of TikTok highlighting sexually explicit language and illustrations in the books.

In a report released in September, the free speech advocacy organization PEN America listed “Gender Queer” as the book that was most commonly banned from school libraries during the 2021-22 school year. In the book, Kobabe writes about gender identity and the experience of coming out as nonbinary to friends and family. The book received critical acclaim and several awards, but has also been the target of criticism because of a handful of sexually explicit illustrations.

The Keller Independent School District’s board voted to remove the book in 2021. A year later, the board adopted a policy banning titles that deal with “gender fluidity” from school libraries.

In the report, PEN America also noted that Texas led the nation in school library book bans during the 2021-22 school year, with 801 titles banned across 22 school districts. Florida came in second, with 566 books banned in 21 school districts. Books with LGBTQ themes were the most commonly banned category.

Last month, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill requiring vendors that sell books to schools to assign titles a rating based on references to or depictions of sexual activity. Books depicting or describing sexual activity that are part of the required course curriculum must be flagged as “sexually relevant.” Those that include content that is “patently offensive” and aren’t part of the required curriculum are categorized as “sexually explicit,” and must be removed from library bookshelves. Students will have to get parents permission for checking out books flagged as “sexually relevant.”