An effort to ban “Gender Queer” and books like it from Wyoming school libraries has failed.
House Bill 10 would have prohibited books it defined as “sexually explicit” from the children’s sections of public libraries and from public school libraries altogether.
It was opposed by librarians, LGBTQ+ advocates and others who testified that the bill would violate the First Amendment and target important works of young adult literature.
“House Bill 10 would restrict the materials that are fully protected speech, including literature, art, health information, and works that reflect the lives of our diverse Wyoming residents,” Sublette County Library Assistant Director Judi Boyce told a House committee earlier this session. “Labeling these materials as pornographic does not change their constitutional status.”
The bill’s supporters repeatedly pointed to “pornography” they alleged was present in school libraries, pointing to “Gender Queer,” “Let’s Talk About It,” and other books that depict, discuss or touch on sexual development or experiences.
Legally obscene works are already banned from public libraries. But obscenity, in U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the Wyoming state statutes that mirror it, is defined to exclude works that have “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” Nationally, that definition has protected many books from removal or outright prohibition.
HB 10 cleared the House as well as a Senate committee hearing, but it died Tuesday night when it missed the deadline for consideration by the full Senate.
Sen. Troy McKeown (R-Gillette) tried to resurrect the bill Wednesday evening by asking his colleagues to suspend the chamber’s rules and revisit the bill. McKeown’s request was rejected by a vote of 13 to 18.
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus in a Facebook post accused the Senate of “slow-walking” this and other legislation its members had pushed for.
