The Terminal Tower, “Cleveland’s Signature Skyscraper,” beamed purple for the second straight year in support of LGBTQ youth and against bullying.
Photo: Super Nina Photography
It is the first landmark in Ohio to participate in Spirit Day, and the skyline this year expanded the purple output, with the nearby Beaux Arts post office plaza also lighting its columns, reflections in the mirrored new headquarters of Sherwin Williams, and additional purple illuminating the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Photo: Super Nina Photography
The 98-year-old, 52-story, 708-foot-tall Terminal Tower is “Cleveland’s most potent symbol,” Cleveland Historical Society notes, connecting thousands of miles of rail lines and centering industrial innovation and civic pride. Lighting infrastructure by Vincent Lighting ensures that the Tower is lit in different colors each night to bring visibility and representation to hundreds of nonprofit organizations, causes, and Cleveland’s beloved sports teams every year.
Northeast Ohio’s LGBTQ community is celebrating additional recent milestones for equality with Ohio’s first county-wide passage of a bill to ban harmful conversion practices on LGBTQ youth, the passage of a Gender Freedom resolution by the Lakewood City Council that protects private health care data and deprioritizes police investigations into best practice health care, the first full-time city staff employee appointed liaison to the LGBTQ community, Carey Gibbons, and the passage this week of the CROWN Act, which bans discrimination based on hair texture and style.
Photo: Super Nina Photography
LGBTQ advocacy organizations around Northeast Ohio also participated in Spirit Day, including TransOhio and the LGBT Center, which is celebrating its 50th year.
“It is more important than ever that LGBTQ youth know they have a world of support out here for them. LGBTQ people are here to stay, our spirit is unstoppable, and we are overjoyed to again see this profound representation in the Great Lakes and greater Midwest,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
Banned Books Week takes place October 5-11, 2025. The annual event raises awareness of the harm and the rising trend of book challenges and bans, especially targeting books by and about LGBTQ people and books about race and racism.
Why are book bans happening?
Book bans are part of a sweeping crackdown aimed at censoring and limiting the rising visibility and acceptance of LGBTQ people and youth.
The book ban surge of the last few years coincided with a steady increase in LGBTQ visibility and acceptance over the past decade. LGBTQ people now make up 9.3% of the overall population, up from 3.5% in 2012. One in five GenZ adults, the youngest generation measured, is out as LGBTQ.
Book bans remain widely unpopular: 71% of voters, including 75% of Democrats and 70% of Republicans, oppose efforts to have books removed from their local public libraries and believe that librarians do a good job offering books with diverse viewpoints. Gallup found that 70% of U.S. parents of K-12 students are either completely or somewhat satisfied with the education that their oldest child is receiving.
What is being banned?
LGBTQ books and books about race and racism dominatethe list of most challenged titles as tracked by the American Library Association (ALA). “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson and “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe remain at the top of most banned titles tracked by the ALA.
PEN America’s Most Banned Books of 2024-2025 includes titles that are more than two decades old, such as Crank (2004), Forever… (1975), and A Clockwork Orange (1962). Book Riot’s Kelly Jensen analyzed the challenged books on both lists, summarizing they show “how slapdash and nonsensical the push to ban books is. ”
“There’s nothing cohesive here except an interest in removing the stories, voices, and perspectives of people of color, of queer people, and of books that speak honestly to the issues of sex, sexuality, puberty, and adolescence,” Jensen wrote.
Who is instigating book bans?
The ALA has traced the origins of book bans, noting most (72%) start with extremist coordinated pressure groups and the elected officials they pressure, not local community or parent demand.
“The 120 titles most frequently targeted for censorship during 2024 are all identified on partisan book rating sites which provide tools for activists to demand the censorship of library books,” ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom noted.
What is new in book bans?
The fronts of attack continue to expand. A new PEN America report recorded 6,870 instances of book bans across 23 states and 87 public school districts during the 2024-25 school year.
Attacks on local, state, and federal levels risk a kind of “everyday banning,”PEN notes, “the normalization and routinization of censorship” fueled by capitulation from administrators, staff, and elected officials who find it easier to remove a book than fight for it.
Normalization is too-often encouraged through threats, harassment, and intimidation. GLAAD’s ALERT Desk is continually tracking anti-LGBTQ incidents nationwide, including the targeting of school board members. Read out board members’ first person stories on the importance of representation and safety.
Communities are fighting back and winning
GLAAD has updated itstoolkit: Banned Books: A Guide for Community Response and Action to include more success stories and strategies from communities who have fought bans and won.
“GLAAD created this guide with resources from professional library and free speech advocates. By using the power of storytelling and engaging media, communities can unite with their neighbors, send a powerful signal of welcome and acceptance, and strengthen all communities,” GLAAD President and CEO, and author Sarah Kate Ellis said.
“While book bans attempt to curb fundamental freedoms, they are far from the final chapter. Communities who care about each vulnerable reader and a future where all can be free should get the last word,” Ellis said.
EveryLibrary’sFight for the First is a key resource in the local success stories detailed in GLAAD’s toolkit for communities.
EveryLibrary has asimple tool to help supporters create and send messages in the media, including a Letter to the Editor in your local news outlets.
What You Can Do
Check out or buy a banned book.
Out author, actor, and social justice advocate George Takei is this year’s Honorary Chair of Banned Books Week.Learn about Takei’s advocacy for LGBTQ people and Japanese Americans including through his graphic memoirs, “They Called Us Enemy,” about Takei’s childhood spent in a prison camp created by the U.S. government during World War II to detain Japanese Americans, and “It Rhymes with Takei,” his memoir about coming out.
Call, write a letter, attend a meeting, and share your story.
Call a decision-maker, write a letter to the editor, find out about your local library’s materials and challenge policies, attend a library or school board meeting.
Banned Books Week concludes with Let Freedom Read Day, October 11th. Supporters are urged to take at least one action to help defend books from censorship and to use their voices for library staff, educators, writers, publishers, and booksellers who make books available.
Sign up to support or donate to a nonprofit group. The Banned Books Week coalition includes more than a dozen organizations working to ensure access to books and protection of vulnerable readers. GLAAD is a Banned Books Week coalition contributor.
Attend a Banned Books Weeks event. Find it via this searchable map for events in local bookstores, libraries, in-person and virtually.
EveryLibrary is hosting a weeklong online festival of panel discussions for Banned Books Week to include LGBTQ authors Clay Cane, Katherine Locke, Charlotte Sullivan Wild and Cadwell Turnbull.
Recognize and respond to censorship in your community. Little Free Library, the American Library Association, and PEN America released a new map to show hotspots for censorship around the country and how Little Free Library owners counter by including more titles in their book houses.
“This newly updated map empowers communities to protect intellectual freedom, champion diverse voices, and ensure that the joy of reading remains accessible to all,” said Daniel Gumnit, Chief Executive Officer of Little Free Library.
Organize. Create. Show solidarity. Show up. Book bans are an LGBTQ issue, but they’re an all-Americans issue too.
“Book bans harm public school systems and restrict education,” PEN America notes. They drain school resources and taxpayer funds. They distract and discourage teachers. They decrease student engagement in reading and critical thinking.
“The consequences of book bans extend to everyone in our country,” GLAAD’s Sarah Kate Ellis said.
“Every American needs stories about LGBTQ people, Black people, queer and transgender people of color, and all marginalized groups to better understand our shared history and to fight for a future where we can all belong and be safe.”
At this year’s NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists Convention, GLAAD and PEN America — a civil society organization that aims to safeguard free expression — came together to lead a critical conversation on digital safety. The session, “De-dox Yourself on Meta: Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp,”explored how LGBTQ journalists can better protect themselves from harassment and hate on social media — particularly as platforms roll back key safety policies under the current political climate. More than 700 journalists attended this year’s convention.
The panel featured Jeje Mohamed, Co-founder & Managing Partner at Aegis Safety Alliance; Tat Bellamy-Walker, Program Manager of Digital Safety Training and Resources (Media) at PEN America; and Leanna Garfield, Senior Manager of the Social Media Safety Program at GLAAD. Together, the panelists guided attendees through the current and emerging challenges facing LGBTQ journalists online, and offered practical strategies for protecting one’s digital footprint.
A Changing Policy Environment on Meta’s Platforms
The timing of this session could not have been more urgent. Journalists are grappling with an increasingly hostile environment under the current administration, and several platforms including Meta, YouTube, and LinkedIn, have removed key hate speech protections for LGBTQ people, notably transgender and gender nonconforming people.
In particular, Meta recently ended its third-party fact-checking program in the U.S., introduced explicit allowances for harmful content, and eliminated global safeguards for LGBTQ people, women, people of color, and other historically marginalized groups. GLAAD briefed attendees on the recent specific changes to Meta’s hate speech policy and its content moderation systems, as well as potential implications.
“LGBTQ journalists are facing unique risks online, including rising exposure to harassment and targeted disinformation. This adds to the challenge of balancing public visibility with personal safety,” Garfield said.
Panelists also noted that Meta’s recent rollbacks not only heighten the risks of online abuse, but also erode trust in the broader information ecosystem, making it harder for platforms to serve as reliable spaces for credible news and civil discourse.
Common Harassment Tactics and How to Respond
Belamy-Walker of PEN America emphasized that online harassment of LGBTQ journalists often takes familiar and repeating forms. These can include: hacking, online impersonation, threats of offline violence, doxxing efforts that reveal private information like addresses or phone numbers, targeted misgendering or deadnaming in order to intimidate trans journalists, and mass reporting campaigns that can lead to account suspensions. In some cases, bad actors have also been known to spread false narratives or even doctored images (facilitated by AI tools) to undermine trust in a journalist’s reporting.
He stressed that understanding these tactics is the first step toward resilience. Journalists who anticipate these forms of online abuse can respond more effectively, whether by documenting incidents for employers, restricting accounts, or reporting to platforms.
“Documenting is especially important because it can help you see patterns in abuse, and whether it is escalating,” Bellamy-Walker said. “We also recommend that you ask allies to help. More reports equals more attention.”
Practical Tools for Self-Protection
Beyond recognizing harassment patterns, the session equipped journalists with practical strategies for how they can better protect themselves across Meta’s platforms. Suggested steps included:
Locking down personal information by adjusting privacy settings to control who can access your content
Maintaining separate personal and professional accounts to better protect your private life
Using Meta’s built-in features, such as muting or blocking, and keyword blocklists that automatically remove inflammatory comments
Improving privacy by removing location-sharing from all accounts and using encrypted apps, like Signal or Proton, for secure communications
Strengthening digital security by creating strong and unique passwords, using a password manager, enabling two-factor authentication, and regularly updating devices
These tools, Mohamed noted, aim to empower LGBTQ journalists to maintain visibility while minimizing risk.
Closing Reflections
The session concluded with an interactive dialogue between panelists and LGBTQ journalists, giving attendees the opportunity to raise their own cases, share experiences, and receive tailored guidance based on their professional goals and levels of risk. The exchange highlighted how important it is for journalists to have access to clear information, practical tools, and trusted resources when navigating digital threats.
About the GLAAD Social Media Safety Program As the leading national LGBTQ media advocacy organization, GLAAD is working every day to hold tech companies and social media platforms accountable and to secure safe online spaces for LGBTQ people. The GLAAD Social Media Safety Program produces the highly-respected annual Social Media Safety Index (SMSI)and researches, monitors, and reports on a variety of issues facing LGBTQ social media users — with a focus on safety, privacy, and expression.
As LGBTQ-inclusive books are being pulled from classrooms and libraries at an alarming rate, GLAAD is taking direct action by mailing hundreds of copies of a beloved (and banned) LGBTQ title straight to every member of Congress and the Supreme Court.
The campaign is built around Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, a joyful children’s book co-published by GLAAD and Little Bee Books. The title was recently cited in a devastating U.S. Supreme Court ruling that opens the door to even more extreme book bans, despite its completely harmless content. The story follows Chloe, a young girl who learns that when her favorite uncle marries his boyfriend, she isn’t losing him—she’s gaining another loving family member. Somehow, even a message this heartwarming is under attack. And so, GLAAD is making sure all the legislators behind these harmful decisions can review the material themselves.
The removal of Uncle Bobby’s Wedding is just the beginning of a very real and very dangerous culture of censorship, where misinformation and discrimination runs rampant. Meanwhile, real American issues – access to healthcare, gun violence, and economic security – are ignored. In Escambia County, Florida, school board members ignored their own policies that safeguarded LGBTQ books—and even fired the superintendent who stood up for students’ right to read. And in Georgia, a beloved librarian was fired for including a children’s book about a transgender boy in a display created by young readers.
These are not isolated cases. Across the country, extremist groups are targeting queer stories and any book that affirms the existence of LGBTQ people, as well as stories featuring other marginalized communities, or championing Black and brown voices. It isn’t just about books. It’s about silencing voices, erasing identities, and controlling what kids are allowed to know about themselves and each other.
Through this campaign, GLAAD is reminding everyone—especially LGBTQ youth—that they deserve to see themselves in the books they read. Click HERE to join hundreds of others standing in support of queer youth and against censorship before it’s too late.
In fall 2025, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear three cases affecting LGBTQ rights, regarding the constitutionality of allowing states to ban transgender women and girls from participating in sports and the constitutionality of so-called “conversion therapy.” Oral arguments will likely be heard in the fall and winter, and opinions are expected by summer 2026.
Hecox v. Little challenges Idaho’s HB 500, the first state law in the country to outrightly ban transgender girls and women from participating in school sports. The Idaho law passed in 2020 and categorically bans girls and women who are transgender from participating in sports under any circumstances, and at all levels of competition. In August 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an injunction blocking the law, finding that it likely violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. A federal district court had previously also struck down the law.
At the center of the case is Lindsay Hecox, a college student who wanted to run track at Boise State University. As a result of the injunction, Lindsay has been able to participate in other sports including tryouts for club sports at her college and playing on the club soccer team. The lawsuit is also brought on behalf of Jane Doe, a senior at Boise High School who is cisgender and concerned about being subjected to the law’s invasive “sex verification” testing.
Hundreds of athletes, coaches, and businesses, as well as civil rights, legal, and medical experts all supported Lindsay by submitting friend-of-the-court briefs at the appellate court level. Lindsay is represented by the ACLU and the ACLU of Idaho, Legal Voice, and Cooley LLP.
West Virginia v. B.P.J. challenges West Virginia’s categorical ban on allowing transgender girls to participate in school sports. West Virginia’s ban, HB 3293, passed in 2021 and was signed by the governor despite his inability to name a single example of a transgender student participating in school sports in the state. The law was struck down in 2024 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which held that banning girls like the plaintiff, Becky, from playing sports violated Title IX; and that the district court should not have dismissed her equal protection claim.
Becky is starting high school and wanted to be able to participate in cross-country and track and field with her friends. As a result of a lower court injunction in the case, Becky was able to participate in middle school cross-country and track and field for the past three years. Becky and her mother are represented by the ACLU, the ACLU of West Virginia, Lambda Legal and Cooley LLP.
Reporters can find facts and data related to transgender youth and sports at GLAAD’s fact sheet here.
Anti-LGBTQ activists have falsely claimed for years that a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice and changeable — but only for LGBTQ people. They often falsely claim that LGBTQ identities are not real, but rather an expression of mental illness or an emotional disorder that can be “cured” through psychological or religious intervention.
Conversion therapy practices are banned in 22 states and in dozens of municipalities for being discredited and harmful, causing negative impacts on youth including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide. Such practices have been rejected by every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades, and the United Nations has compared it to “torture.”
Additional Background – Status of Marriage at the Supreme Court
In late July, Kim Davis — a county clerk who made headlines decades ago for refusing to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple — filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to review a lawsuit in which a same-sex couple was awarded emotional damages as a result of Davis’ refusal to follow the law and issue them a same-sex marriage license. As part of the petition, her attorneys included a request to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges,the 2015 Supreme Court decision that affirmed the freedom to marry for same-sex couples nationwide.
Kim Davis was an elected official who refused to follow the law and instructed her whole office not to follow the law. She has been married four times, divorced three times.
Most recently, Davis’s arguments were rejected for a third time by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. There is no reason to assume her petition has any significance compared to the thousands of other petitions filed. It is unlikely the Supreme Court would consider this case.
The list includes approximately 77 anti-LGBTQ actions since January 2025, when the administration began its second term.
GLAAD is holding Trump and his administration accountable in the media for every piece of vile rhetoric and every hostile proposed or enacted policy seeking to harm or erase LGBTQ people and the issues that matter to us. Most recently and notably, the administration eliminated the 988 suicide and crisis hotline’s specialized services for LGBTQ youth, a federal program that provided services to approximately 1.5 million youth. Since 2022, the 988 Lifeline provided evidence-backed, specialized services to the country’s highest risk groups for suicide, including veterans and LGBTQ youth. As of July 17, 2025, the option to connect to specialized services for LGBTQ youth is no longer available. (LGBTQ youth in crisis can continue to access the Trevor Project’s crisis services line 24/7 at TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help at any time.)
Credit: Shutterstock
The administration’s cruel efforts to target, dehumanize, and create fear and infighting among the LGBTQ community are at odds with the growing cultural visibility of LGBTQ people taking place on a larger scale – according to 2025 polling by Gallup, 9.3% of all American adults identify as LGBTQ – and a high number of changemakers who are accelerating acceptance and resisting hostility, as chronicled in GLAAD’s ongoing Heroes of the Resistance series.
GLAAD will continue to hold the Trump administration accountable in the media as our movement partners hold them accountable in court. Learn more on GLAAD’s full tracker here, and make sure to keep following on GLAAD’s social channels for ways to get involved and speak out against the harms perpetuated by the current administration.
Welcome to the latest edition of GLAAD’s Heroes of the Resistance, where we compile heartwarming news about leaders and changemakers who are paving a pathway towards acceptance and inclusion despite a hostile climate for LGBTQ people.
The legislative session has come to an end in most states across the country and the proposal of extreme, anti-LGBTQ bills has ended alongside it. In Florida, advocates defeated every standalone anti-LGBTQ bill introduced in the 2025 session, including an anti-DEI measure, a proposal to ban discussions of LGBTQ people and topics in the workplace, and more. In Georgia, the legislative session concluded with advocates successfully defeating multiple dangerous bills. In all, approximately 93% of all anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in 2025 in the states were defeated. To learn more and track movement in your state, check the ACLU’s interactive map of the proposed legislation.
Florida state legislature – News Service of Florida
Importantly in Utah, yet scantly covered so far by media including by the New York Times, a study commissioned by lawmakers shows the multiple benefits of health care for transgender youth, in contrast to a state ban passed in 2023. The Utah research is one of the most comprehensive studies to date, concluding that access to health care leads to “positive mental health and psychosocial functioning outcomes,” and that policies restricting such care cannot be justified by scientific findings or concerns about possible regret. Utah lawmakers are now facing pressure to rescind the baseless ban. Federal judges have already struck down such bans in Arkansas, Florida, and Montana as unconstitutional. While a narrow ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a ban out of Tennessee at the end of June, it had no impact on the approximately 25 states that can continue providing health care for transgender Americans and youth.
Advocates received another positive outcome for health care in the Kennedy v. Braidwood Management Inc. ruling at the U.S. Supreme Court at the end of June, in which the Court upheld a critical piece of the Affordable Care Act that mandates insurance companies cover preventive healthcare services at no out-of-pocket cost, including access to HIV medication. According the the Advocate, a group of Texas employers who had brought the case forward had falsely argued that covering PrEP encourages “homosexual behavior” and allegedly violated their religious freedom. In response to the ruling, GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said: “The Supreme Court reaffirmed what so many Americans know and believe: preventive health care is a cornerstone of our health system and health decisions should be left to doctors and individuals. The fact that the Supreme Court considered derailing everyone’s access to preventive health care because of a small group of anti-LGBTQ voices reinforces how anti-LGBTQ bias is a danger to public health.”
In the heated New York City mayoral primary late last month, underdog candidate Zohran Mamdani pledged $65 million in health care for trans peopleand went on to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers in the most successful grassroots campaign in the city’s history, delivering an unexpected landslide victory despite being outspent by opponents. According to Conde Nast’s them, “Of the three mayoral candidates endorsed by the NYC Stonewall Democrats, Mamdani’s platform presented by far the most comprehensive and wide-ranging plan to protect and expand access to gender-affirming medical care to trans New Yorkers.” A few days later, Mamdani carried a trans flag in the New York City Pride March.
Everyday heroes continue making their voices heard on the federal and national levels as well. Hundreds of LGBTQ people and allies in support of the freedom to read and inclusive curriculums in schools gathered for a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on the day of oral arguments in Mahmoud v. Taylor in April. The “Rally for Inclusive Education” featured a diverse array of more than a dozen speakers and performers. Despite a disappointing narrow ruling in Mahmoud on behalf of a small group of parents seeking to opt their students out of LGBTQ-inclusive books and curricula, the authors and illustrators named in the case released a joint statement as well as several individual statements reaffirming their personal commitment to continue writing stories that tell the stories of underrepresented communities, so all youth can see themselves in books.
Lawyers and legal advocates continue checking off wins chipping away at the federal administration’s executive orders targeting LGBTQ Americans and other marginalized communities. In early June, a federal court granted a preliminary injunction in Lambda Legal’s lawsuit challenging Trump’s executive order to defund LGBTQ and HIV nonprofits, allowing nine nonprofits named in the case, including the Los Angeles LGBT Center and the New York City LGBTQ Community Center – two of the largest such centers in the world, serving hundreds of thousands of people – to continue providing services.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth recently handed a win to LGBTQ advocates when he ruled that federal law mandates that more than 600 transgender inmates continue receiving medically necessary health care. The judge said that prisons cannot arbitrarily deprive incarcerated transgender people of medications and accommodations that the Bureau of Prisons own staff has deemed appropriate. The ruling is a blow to Trump’s executive order seeking to deny care to transgender people; and indicates that denying this care causes substantial harm. The case was brought forward by Transgender Law Center and the American Civil Liberties Union.
Additionally, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick recently granted a preliminary injunction indicating that, for now, the State Department cannot enforce President Trump’s attempt to deny gender marker changes on passports for transgender Americans or the X marker for nonbinary Americans. The win came after the ACLU sued the Trump administration over an executive order issued in January, arguing that it would ban transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans from obtaining necessary documentation that accurately reflects who they are and allows them to travel safely. The news means that transgender, nonbinary, and intersex Americans can immediately apply for and/or update their passports to accurately reflect who they are.
LGBTQ Americans and our allies continue to be visible and thrive despite absurd and obscene threats to basic freedoms. By elevating our wins and lifting up those who keep speaking out, we honor LGBTQ history and the truth of LGBTQ people’s right to authentic, safe, and free lives.
Blackshear, GA, native LaVonnia Moore found her purpose working in the Okefenokee and Three Rivers Regional Library Systems (TRRLS), quickly advancing from 10 hours a week as a part-time employee in 2010 to running her own branch as the Pierce County Library manager until she was unexpectedly ousted from her position on June 18, following an online campaign by the anti-LGBTQ conservative group Alliance for Faith and Family over a library book display that included “When Aidan Became A Brother,” a picture book by author Kyle Lukoff featuring a transgender character.
The library patron-led display aligned with Georgia’s summer reading theme:“Color Our World.” Young library patrons, along with their parents, were encouraged to find colorful books illustrating the state-approved theme for the display.
“I knew the theme would be an issue,” Moore said. “How are you going to color your world without the rainbow? I asked TRRLS, “Are you sure we want to stick with this theme? They said, “Go ahead, we don’t get controversy.”
Moore tells GLAAD that she was summoned to the Pierce County Library on her day off by Three Rivers Library System Director Jeremy Snell, who informed her that she was being terminated over the inclusion of the transgender-inclusive book in the summer reading display.
Snell told the Blackshear Times that the display of the book was the reason for the decision.
In an interview with reporter Ross Williams at The Georgia Recorder, one of several local news outlets working in tandem with GLAAD to amplify this story, Moore acknowledges the request of a young child accompanied by their parents to include “When Aidan Became A Brother” in the book display. Moore also said she didn’t know it at the time, but the book is about a young transgender boy whose family is expecting a new baby.
The book is written for young children and discusses Aidan’s gender identity not matching his sex at birth. It doesn’t contain anything graphic or explicit. The cover features Aidan with his family, wearing a shirt with a rainbow design.
“All I saw was Aidan becoming a big brother,” Moore said. “I saw a family with a kid wearing a rainbow sweater, and the mom was pregnant. It was a mixed family. I was like, ‘OK, sure, put it on the table.’”
The book cover of “When Aidan Became A Brother” by author Kyle Lukoff. (Image: Lee and Low Books)
Moore said she had no intention of promoting any ideology but kept books relevant to all kinds of people in the community, including LGBTQ people, immigrants, and people who speak various languages, according to The Georgia Recorder.
“We’re a public library. We need to have all items available for everyone in the community,” Moore tells GLAAD. “And just because you don’t want that community to exist, they still exist. It’s my job to serve everybody. No matter who or what they are. I grew up with the library not being [safe], and I’m like, not on my watch.”
Moore says she was living “paycheck to paycheck” before her abrupt termination and has since established a GoFundMe to help cover daily expenses, raising over $27,000 of her $30,000 goal to date, which will also go towards covering legal costs to fight what she and her attorney are describing as an unlawful firing.
Attorney Wade Herring, who represents Moore, told The Advocate that the firing was unlawful and politically driven.
“It may be a First Amendment issue. It may be a Title VII issue, which protects employment,” Herring said. “I think it was content-based censorship and politically motivated, and she lost her job.”
Herring insists Moore followed library policy and simply facilitated community participation. “She had a local family and a local child who was enthusiastic about the library and the summer reading program,” Herring said. “What was she supposed to do, tell the child, ‘No, your book doesn’t belong?’ She was encouraging and supporting a child.”
GLAAD highlighted how Moore’s service helps all in the community, and how the unjust termination is harmful.
“No one should lose their job for doing their job,” GLAAD told The Advocate. “Librarians and other educators are professionals and public servants who work for every child and family in the community, offering materials that help children learn about themselves, their peers, and the world around them. The world is a far more interesting and colorful place than book banners ever want to see. Book banners and other opponents of LGBTQ people and equality shouldn’t get to censor, dim, or dictate what is available to other families and readers. Libraries should always be a place where everyone in the community can feel safe to explore, learn, and grow.”
Creating a safe space for all Pierce County residents is why the 15-year library professional views her work as an investment not only in the current patrons but also the younger Moore, who never felt welcome in her home library as a teen.
“I would go there, pick up my book, and leave,” Moore said. “It just wasn’t a place that felt like it was welcoming to young people. They didn’t have programs [for youth]. I want everybody that walks through the library to feel like it’s there for them,” and that includes LGBTQ families, Moore said.
LaVonnia Moore (center) pictured with young library patrons in her previous role as Pierce County Library manager. (Image: LaVonnia Moore)
Community Pressure to Reverse Termination
In recent days, Moore has experienced an avalanche of community support following the revelation of electronic communications between library and county officials directly involved in her firing, which journalists uncovered through an open records request by The Georgia Recorder and The Advocate.
The internal communications paint a picture of officials responding directly to political pressure rather than to any professional misconduct,” according to a review by The Advocate. “Moore, for her part, said she was told she was terminated solely for “poor decision in the line of performance duty.”
The county produced 77 files showing about four times as many people contacted the government in favor of reinstating Moore than did in favor of firing her, reports The Georgia Recorder.
“The emails, text messages, and voicemail reveal more about the decision to let Moore go and the resulting backlash. That correspondence also shows that local officials are considering reinstating Moore but have not yet done so,” The Georgia Recorder also reports.
“It is within the power of this board to make action calling for reinstatement if that is a desired result of the executive session discussion,” Snell wrote. “At this point, I have received more communication regarding reinstatement (than) I did regarding the original issue earlier this week.”
Moore’s firing has already exacted a steep personal price. She said her reputation has been damaged, and she now faces the prospect of leaving her hometown of 46 years because no other library jobs are available nearby.
As for “When Aidan Became A Brother,” Moore said the book is still on the shelf inside Pierce County Library.
“That book still exists in the collection — because it belongs there. It reflects real families. Real kids. Real love,” Moore wrote on her GoFundMe page. “Although I did not choose the book myself, I stand ten toes down on this truth: The library is a public space. All community members should feel welcome inside it and have equal access to its resources.”
On July 9, 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) held a workshop with the inaccurate and inflammatory title: “The Dangers of ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ for Minors.” The title, event, and invited speakers ignore the consensus of every major medical association and leading world health authority, which all support health care for transgender adults and youth.
Sensationalized and misleading terms such as “mutilation” and “sterilization,” which falsely claim that medical care for transgender people is inherently “dangerous.” The American Academy of Pediatrics states: “There is strong consensus among the most prominent medical organizations worldwide that evidence-based, gender-affirming care for transgender children and adolescents is medically necessary and appropriate.”
Conspiracy theories such as “rapid onset gender dysphoria” which have never been proven and have been debunked by the science community, as well as false claims about a “secret plot” in schools and hospitals to forcibly “transition” children. Affirmation of trans youth has been repeatedly shown to improve mental health, lower the risk of self-harm, and increase academic success.
Exclusion of transgender and gender non-conforming doctors, patients, and families who can testify to the benefits, safety, and medical necessity of the care.
Additional background on incendiary and baseless narratives targeting transgender health care is available here.
Background on FTC Speakers:
Speakers invited to the FTC’s hearing also have a long history of promoting harmful narratives to ban essential health care and restrict transgender people’s access to society. They frequently travel from state to state and appear on right-wing media to push anti-LGBTQ legislation and policy at the local and federal levels.
According to GLAAD’s ALERT Desk, invited speakers for the FTC workshop have been involved in at least 60 anti-LGBTQ incidents nationwide.
29 of these incidents include hateful and harassing comments made while advocating for anti-trans legislation in at least 20 US states.
Speakers including Jamie Reed, Prisha Mosely, Simon Amaya Price, Erin Friday, and Claire Abernathy frequently travel outside their state of residence to push anti-trans legislation into local communities.
Invited speakers also have a history of harassing medical providers, educators, transgender athletes, and other LGBTQ people and allies. Examples include:
April 2025: Erin Friday participated in a protest outside of a YMCA in Berkeley, California, where they harassed employees and patrons over the YMCA’s trans-inclusive locker room policies.
April 2025: Erin Friday and Beth Bourne participated in a protest against the California Interscholastic Federation in Oakland, California, to block transgender youth from participating in school sports in their authentic gender.
March 2025: Beth Bourne harassed employees of the Sacramento City Unified School District during a flag raising ceremony for Transgender Day of Visibility. Defamatory and harmful comments included: “I’m here because I’m opposed to the idea that you as a school district want to indoctrinate kids.”
September 2024: Jamie Reed and Soren Aldaco protested against the American Academy of Pediatrics’ annual conference in Orlando, Florida, over their support for transgender health care. Protestors attempted to interrupt the keynote speech of a leading transgender health official.
February 2024: Prisha Mosely participated in a protest against a Planned Parenthood in Lansing, Michigan, harassing patients and medical providers over the organization’s support for transgender patients. Protestors held signs that read: “Transcare does not equal healthcare.” Health care for transgender people is supported by every major medical association as safe, effective, and lifesaving.
Many of the invited speakers also maintain connections with major anti-LGBTQ organizations:
Paul Dupont represents the American Principles Project – a group with a long history of promoting anti-LGBTQ policies, including attacking trans student athletes, opposing the Equality Act, and spreading disinformation about pro-equality political candidates.
Jay Richards represents the Heritage Foundation, which spearheaded the far-right presidential transition plan “Project 2025.” The plan advocates for firing federal employees who oppose or insufficiently support right-wing policies, ending access to abortion and contraception, eliminating protections for LGBTQ people, and censoring accurate history about LGBTQ people as well as the word “transgender.”
Beth Bourne is the chair of a California chapter of Moms for Liberty – an organization designated as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). The group has a long history of calling for book bans, classroom censorship, and bans on teaching about slavery, race, racism, before aggressively turning toward targetingtransgender people and youth.
Dr. Miriam Grossman represents Do No Harm, which SPLC has designated as “an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group that led a campaign to challenge anti-racist and LGBTQ+-inclusive education policies in 2024.”
Leor Sapir represents the Manhattan Institute, which is part of a “pseudoscience network” opposing anti-racist and LGBTQ-inclusive education policies as well as baselessly questioning essential health care. Sapir has no formal training as a medical professional or in youth education.
Dr. Eithan Haim, a self-described “whistleblower,” was accused of leaking confidential medical records of minors seeking gender-affirming care at a Texas hospital. Haim was charged with unlawfully disclosing these records to another fellow at the aforementioned Manhattan Institute, who used the information to push for a ban on health care for trans youth in Texas.
Jordan Campbell is an attorney who represents clients who feel they have been wronged during the medical care they received while identifying as transgender. Campbell is a contributor for the Federalist Society, which has a history of advocating against basic LGBTQ protections including employment non-discrimination, hate crime legislation, and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The organization has also platformed an SPLC-designated white nationalist known for his virulently racist and xenophobic immigration stances.
“We created our books for all children. We believe young people need to see themselves and families like theirs in the books they read; this is especially true for LGBTQ+ children and LGBTQ+ families. And all children need to learn how to share their classrooms and communities with people different from themselves. Books can help them understand one another and learn to treat each other with acceptance, kindness and respect.
We know there are families and educators across the country who are committed to creating inclusive classrooms that meet the needs of the diverse groups of students in their school districts. We are with them in spirit as they work to ensure that all students are seen and supported.”
In addition, several of the individual authors and illustrators have distributed their own statements about the reasons they wrote their books and why the justices got it so wrong. “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding,” the story of a young girl who fears she will spend less time with her uncle after he gets married to his partner, was featured prominently in both the oral argument and final ruling surrounding the case. The author of that book, Sarah Brannen, penned a statement that exposed the harmful consequences of banning books like hers and creating an a-la-carte public education system where not all students receive the same standard of learning:
“The Supreme Court’s decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor will have dire consequences for public education and LGBTQ+ children and families. Allowing parents to remove their children from class on the mere mention of the existence of LGBTQ+ people will stigmatize and harm other children in the class. LGBTQ+ children and families are not something anyone needs to be shielded from.
We are all human beings, making our way through this world together. Children need to learn about the complex and wonderful country we live in. Public schools, free and available to all children, are part of the foundation of our democracy.
Both the decision and the dissent include many references to my book Uncle Bobby’s Wedding. Writing for the majority, Justice Alito correctly states that the book celebrates the wedding of two people, and that many Americans agree with this. He then says that “other Americans may wish to present a different moral message to their children.”
I object to Justice Alito’s portrayal of my book as immoral. Same-sex marriage was legal in my state when I wrote Uncle Bobby’s Wedding 20 years ago, and it is legal in the entire U.S. now. My book shows that weddings are something families celebrate and that the members of a family love each other.
During the oral arguments in April, Justice Alito claimed that Chloe, the child in my book, is unhappy and confused because Uncle Bobby is marrying a man. Justice Sotomayor countered that Chloe is unhappy because she is worried that she will be losing her close relationship with her uncle.
As the author, I hereby confirm that Justice Sotomayor is correct. Uncle Bobby’s Wedding is a simple story about a family, in which a child fears that her beloved uncle Bobby will be spending less time with her after he gets married. The story would be identical if Bobby was marrying a woman.
In her dissent, Justice Sotomayor correctly says that the decision will create chaos in our nation’s public schools, harming both educators and students, and will allow a small minority of parents to dictate curriculum. She also states that, “Eliminating books depicting LGBTQ individuals as happily accepted by their families will not eliminate student exposure to that concept.”
I wrote Uncle Bobby’s Wedding about a happy extended family in which everyone, including the main character Chloe, loves their gay relative for who he is, without reservations. Surely this is a message that will harm no one and help many. I wish this kind of acceptance and joy for everyone in the LGBTQ+ community.”
“It’s disappointing that six of the Supreme Court justices, undoubtedly smart, well-read, and astute people, failed in basic reading comprehension when it comes to picture books, aimed at readers ages 4-8. … I am disappointed that the highest court in the land failed to find a middle ground, a way of balancing the importance of religious rights–which as a religious person, I understand and support–and the vital, life-saving importance of diverse and inclusive bookshelves, as well as the sovereignty of public education and school curricula.
I am disappointed that the highest court in the land left the door open not just for opt-outs for religious reasons to LGBTQ+ books but potentially for other concerns including, but not limited to, books depicting women working outside of the home, divorced parents, interracial couples, and interfaith couples. And it’s disappointing that the majority of the court failed to see what Justice Sotomayor noted in her dissent: that the language used in the majority opinion could be weaponized against LGBTQ+ teachers in the workplace…
I am disappointed that the highest court in the land failed to see a future where public education serves the greater good, instead of the bigoted views of a loud minority. …
Children deserve to learn about a world that is complex and beautiful, and wholly theirs, in age-appropriate ways, without ‘age-appropriate’ being a phrase weaponized against them and their learning capabilities.
Children deserve our trust in their ability to learn information that is sometimes in conflict with other information, and they deserve our protection from those who would want to deny them their right to exist in this world as their whole selves. …
We are failing our children if we limit their educational opportunities because of their parents’ belief systems because school is a place where minds are opened, not closed.
Mr. Rogers famously said, “My mum used to say, when the news is scary, look for the helpers.”
The fight for inclusive schools and inclusive teaching materials, including books, is not over. It’s only just begun. And we need everyone in this fight. We are the helpers. Our children need us now.”
Robin Stevenson, author of “Pride Puppy,” a charming children’s picture book about a puppy that gets lost at a Pride parade, put out a personal statement on her Instagram alongside the illustrator of the book, Julie McLaughlin. They say in part:
“Pride Puppy is a joyful alphabet book that was inspired by our own experiences of Pride parades and festivals, where families of all kinds come together to celebrate … We’ve heard from countless parents about how much it means to them and their kids to see people like themselves reflected in a book. All children deserve to see their families — and themselves — represented in the stories they read. … It is unreasonable and absurd to expect teachers to hide the existence of an entire group of people.”
“Religious liberty is essential. But hiding LGBTQ+ people is not free exercise of religion. It is oppression. School is where children learn how to disagree respectfully and to get along with people unlike themselves. Opt-outs teach children to separate themselves, to fear and reject those they disagree with. Opt-outs stigmatize LGBTQ+ children. I hope parents OPT OUT of opt-outs, so their children learn kindness and are prepared to engage with a diverse world. Justice Thomas suggested that schools ‘cabin’ LGBTQ+ representation into separate units to make opt-outs easier. But the Supreme Court already decided: SEPARATE IS NOT EQUAL.
Justice Alito wrote for the majority that our books are ‘coercive’ because they show LGBTQ+ JOY. Which is HUMAN JOY. Every child deserves books that honor their FULL HUMANITY. EVERYONE belongs at school. EVERYONE belongs in this world.”
