Va. congressional candidate sues Barnes & Noble for selling ‘Gender Queer’ to minors
A congressional candidate has filed a lawsuit against a Barnes & Noble store in Virginia Beach to stop them from selling two books — “Gender Queer” and “A Court of Mist and Fury” — to minors.
Tommy Altman, a conservative Republican running for Congress in Virginia’s 2nd district, has directed his lawyer to seek a restraining order against the bookseller and Virginia Beach Schools “to enjoin them from selling or loaning these books to minors without parent (sic) consent,” Virginia Beach attorney and State Delegate Tim Anderson, wrote on Facebook Wednesday.
“We are in a major fight. Suits like this can be filed all over Virginia. There are dozens of books. Hundreds of schools,” Anderson added.
His announcement comes as he celebrated a “major legal victory” regarding the censorship of books to minors.
On Wednesday, a Virginia Beach Circuit Court “found probable cause that the books ‘Gender Queer’ and ‘A Court of Mist and Fury’ are obscene to unrestricted viewing by minors,” he wrote.
The ruling came just days after the school board voted to remove “Gender Queer” from its shelves.
Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books on Dec. 16, 2021, that have been the subject of complaints from parents in Salt Lake City. (Rick Bowmer/)
Altman took a social media victory lap after the ruling, writing on Twitter that “We will NEVER return to the party of Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney,” and that “Today’s GOP puts America and Americans FIRST.”
On Facebook, he shared a screenshot of a story about winning the “court battle to have graphic sexual books removed” from schools, adding a number of hashtags, including #Grooming, #Indoctrination, #Conservative and #AmericaFirst.
“Gender Queer: A Memoir” is an award-winning graphic novel written by Maia Kobabe, a nonbinary and queer author and illustrator from California. A starred review by the School Library Journal describes it as “a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand.”
Early last month, the American Library Association announced that the graphic novel topped the list of most challenged books in the nation in 2021.
The 2016 massive bestseller and critically acclaimed “A Court of Mist and Fury,” by Sarah J. Mass, was singled out for a consensual heterosexual sex scene between the two main characters.
