Censorship in UK school libraries is worse than you think – and it’s up to us to fight it

As conservatives push to have LGBT+ books banned, the government must step in to stop our children’s educations from being weaponised as part of the culture war, writes Katie Dancey-Downs

In 2024, when books with queer characters and authors are boxed up and pushed into a dark corner, are we really so far from Section 28? (Getty/iStock)

British author Juno Dawson is a top target for US censors. Her books unpack LGBT+ themes and she is a trans woman. They’re the perfect recipe when it comes to things to get irate about – if you’re one of the US’s many book challengers, of course.

I was interviewing Dawson for nonprofit Index on Censorship, where I am the assistant editor, when she told me she had no idea whether her books were being taken off the shelves in the UK because we haven’t got a method for tracking library censorship over here. Well then, I thought. I’d better find out.

Fast forward nearly a year, and we have an answer. Yes, Juno, your books are being removed from UK school libraries. And you’re in the company of authors including Simon James Green, Philip Pullman and comedian Rosie Jones.

The Index on Censorship investigation, where 53 per cent of school librarians who responded to our survey said they had been asked to remove books from their shelves and – even more worryingly – 56 per cent of those librarians were forced to actually remove those books, paints a concerning picture. More than half of the requests are coming from parents, and it’s largely around LGBT+ content.

But this isn’t some organised movement, like we’re seeing in the USA. Over recent years, I’ve spoken with plenty of librarians in the States who are largely fighting this battle in the open (which does then, of course, bleed into self-censorship). Chapters of right-wing Christian groups are piling onto particular books, and librarians are doing their best to hold the fort.

In the UK, it’s all happening behind closed doors. One parent complains, the books in question are hastily removed – usually to the objection of the school librarian – and everything is all hushed up. A typically British response perhaps. Let’s not make a fuss.

And there’s more. Some schools are even removing books pre-emptively, to avoid upsetting conservative religious communities, and not listening to the expertise of librarians.

School librarians are becoming fearful, and some told me they avoid buying particular books, because they don’t know if they’ll have the support of senior staff in the school. One said she bought a copy of the new Heartstopper book – a British LGBT+ graphic novel series about young people coming of age – but has been too afraid to actually put it on the shelf. Another is giving out off-the-record loans from a cupboard so that certain books can still exist in secret.

Two things are happening here. Firstly, children’s stories are being weaponised in the culture wars.

One school library service worker told me about the fallout from the former Conservative government’s attempt to ban gender identity discussions from sex education.

Some schools told him: “Well, we can’t have books that discuss LGBT+ characters because that links to sex education, and therefore we can’t have that in primary schools.”

I went to primary school in the 1990s under Section 28, Margaret Thatcher’s legislation that prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality”. At the time, I didn’t understand why one of our teachers, who was openly gay (in our village, teachers were family friends too) would have to hide this in the classroom. Why other teachers mentioned husbands and wives, but he always changed the subject. It was Thatcher’s hand over his mouth.

In 2024, when books with queer characters and authors are boxed up and pushed into a dark corner, are we really so far from Section 28? We need to put more distance between us and that time, rather than letting culture wars rage in our school libraries and create more division.

Secondly, kids are being shut out of material they need.

As they grow up and discover who they are, stories are where they may see themselves best reflected. It might not be comfortable or safe at home to discuss sexuality and gender – maybe they don’t even know what they want to discuss yet – and seeing characters dealing with these same moments in life is vital for young people.

Almost every censored librarian I spoke with said they felt unsupported and that their profession was not being respected. It’s all very well having guidance from various professional bodies but when school libraries are not statutory, a lot comes down to how supportive each individual headteacher is.

Just over 50 librarians responded to our survey. We don’t know what’s happening in every single school but now seems like a good time to stop the problem from growing out of hand.

School librarians are crying out for more support. With a new government in place and the new school year only weeks away, it might be time for a commitment to make the freedom to read a priority. Give school librarians the support they deserve. Give them autonomy to do their jobs without fear of a looming censor – and let them get on with celebrating books.

Katie Dancey-Downs is assistant editor at Index on Censorship and a freelance journalist