How to Prepare and Help Track Targeted Attacks in 2026, Book Censorship News, May 8, 2026

Pride month in 2026 cannot be discussed without also discussing one of the cruelest anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ school-based bills to hit the federal legislature in recent memory: House Resolution 7661. This bill would implement a nationwide book ban on “sexually oriented material,” including materials depicting “gender dysphoria or transgenderism” or “lewd or lascivious dancing” for public schools that receive federal funding. Consider where and how you can provide information to your patrons about this bill and how to make sure their voices are heard on the matter with federal representatives. Library workers may not be able to share this information directly for a variety of reasons, but library advocates are a powerful tool in your arsenal right now. Encourage your Friends or your Board of Directors, your power users, and other organizations in your community to share what this bill is and the direct impact it will have on your community. That goes whether you work in a school library, public library, or academic library–this is the start of a slippery slope. Where and how can Pride month be an opportunity to help teach legislative engagement and advocacy? It’s vital every year, but with HR 7661, it takes on particular resonance this year.

This is also the formal call for you to share your stories of Pride censorship in 2026. The reports can be of pre-Pride cancelations or quiet censorship, as much as they can be about louder cancelations throughout the month. Your responses can be entirely anonymous, and you’re welcome to share this form to make a report. It will be shared through the end of June.

The first Pride was a riot, and while June is and should be full of both joy and sorrow, it should be a month where queer identity and history can be experienced safely. As you prepare for displays and programs, take a few minutes to catch up with the things that came up last year, the year prior, and the year before that during Pride at libraries — the good, the bad, and the ugly. There’s been a direct correlation between attacks on libraries and on LGBTQ+ materials and the disappearance of Pride from libraries nationwide. Intimidation is a common thread, as is the intentional removal of queer books from shelves and displays thanks to initiatives like “Hide the Pride”–though there was no formal push for this in 2025 and it doesn’t appear to be formally coordinated this year, it’s likely followers of this group will continue on their own anyway.

We will see a continued deepening of quiet/silent censorship of Pride this year in libraries, without question. Given the unrepentant attacks on libraries and DEI by the current administration and its sympathizers and aggressors, Pride is going to look remarkably different this year than even last year or the previous year … let alone the year we rounded up such powerful displays of Pride in libraries.

LGBTQ+ books and content are the most likely to be deemed inappropriate for children by parents, sometimes in numbers that are difficult to comprehend. Use the information in the research to help inform materials included in Pride displays and programming.

Equally important to the above and below is this: your staff includes queer people, even if they might not be openly out in the workplace. The more time and thought put into preparing for June, the more safety you create for them, too, and the more it becomes clear that the library truly aims to meet the needs of all and is indeed a place of democracy and civic engagement.

As a final tip this year, consider perusing the archives of Literary Activism/Book Censorship News and see what stories of anti-LGBTQ censorship have come up. What states or communities have threatened to shut down their entire public library over a couple of books featuring two mommies or two daddies? What queer books are being specifically targeted and why? Use this information to create thoughtful social media posts all month long. It helps those who are feeling the impact of this erasure and violence be seen and make clear to those who aren’t aware or don’t think it’s really happening that it is.

If you teach one patron about today’s reality for queer people, you’re making a significant difference. If you make a queer staff member feel appreciated and safe in a meaningful way, you’re also making a significant difference.

It is impossible to completely safeguard against what will happen in any library regarding Pride displays. But, knowing about the tactics used by book banners ~parental rights activists~ and knowing where and how to advocate on behalf of LGBTQ+ books — and people — helps in preparing for the best, most effective library Pride displays. We know that most books being banned right now include LGBTQ+ stories and perspectives, just as much as we know that it’s not individual parents complaining about these books. It’s a coordinated, well-funded effort from partisan groups and government officials. This information matters.

Among the suggestions below, you’ll have easy-to-implement and manage ideas, alongside some that will likely need to be done more subversively. Maybe subversively isn’t the word, honestly. Perhaps a better way to phrase it is that some of these suggestions may bring direct activism into the picture in a way that has not always been common in public libraries.

But in today’s highly political library world, sitting back quietly is not an option, even if it is appealing and even if it is easier than preparing to fight. Be your own advocate right here and right now.

1. Take photos of your display and/or track the books being put on it

There are many practical reasons for tracking what is going on a Pride display. Seeing and ensuring good representation of your collection and community is useful. It’s also helpful in the wake of Hide the Pride style campaigns — if books go “missing” en masse, you’ll have recorded what all of those books had in common. In an era of increasingly violent forms of censorship, including burnings of library titles, tracking your displays will provide a paper trail.

2. Use QR Codes/Images of Book Covers for Displays

Because Pride displays are popular both with readers and bigots, consider having images of the books on display printed with a QR code or tinyurl link to their catalog entry. This will let your readers request titles that might not be on display and/or can be helpful if those titles go wandering. If you are in a library with little or no display space, use these as a display on the ends of your bookshelf, on a window space, or any other surface where patrons can see them.

3. Encourage Engagement

A book display is fantastic because, generally, people know they’ll find books at the library. But you can make your display even more engaging in a few ways.

• Add reader’s advisory materials. This could be as simple as bookmarks or fliers with more LGBTQ+ books on them or a sign holder with a QR code to a curated list of queer books in your catalog.
• Include fliers and information for local LGBTQ+ inclusive support groups and community organizations. This might be cards for local queer-friendly churches or bakeries, for local GSA groups, etc. If the library is a community resource, help spread the word about additional welcoming and supportive resources in the community.
• Either of the above would be an opportunity to create a “donate to” call to action. You could have a sign reading “Want to support local LGBTQ+ youth? Scan the QR code to donate to our local chapter of PFLAG.” Whether or not you help raise money is not as vital as making it clear you have supportive spaces that you want people to know about.
• Encourage library users to provide feedback on the display and do it right at the display. I know, saying QR codes makes it sound like I’m in 2009. But a QR code to an online form or even a box with some golf pencils and paper that asks people to share their thoughts on the types of books and programs the library offers can go miles in helping you find your local supporters…and detractors.
• How about a sign saying, “Did you know you can request books for us to purchase?” with a call to action telling your patrons you’d love to expand your LGBTQ+ books and, if they want to suggest any, do so via the print/online form. If they include their name, they’ll be the first to know about the book’s arrival if purchased.
• If your library is blessed with the space, create an opportunity for patrons to make a DIY LGBTQ+ display. Have a blank space with a sign saying, “Share your favorite LGBTQ+ books here,” and invite folks to grab a favorite and put it on display. Bonus: this is some easy and fun passive programming, and if you worry about the books being checked out — a good worry, probably — offer some art supplies for folks to draw the cover of their favorite LGBTQ+ book.
• Print and share the 60+ small tasks to defend the right to read post from 2026, and feel free to make it more user-friendly in the library. There is a spreadsheet with each of the tasks listed, linked in the piece to make copy/pasting easier. I grant my permission for use as long as whatever you create credits me and my work here at Book Riot. This crediting will further spread the word about Literary Activism and book censorship news.

4. Track Your Stats

Remember the part about keeping tabs on what books are on display? You’ll want to look at your checkout rates on those books sometime in mid- or late July and see how circulation of those titles compares to the previous months. Chances are, it’ll be higher. That right there is worth sharing with your community, your boards, and other community stakeholders. Once people know you have the books, they want to read them.

5. Be Frank About Intellectual Freedom and the Library

Even if you don’t have the physical space for it, you should connect with your patrons digitally to keep them aware of book bans — and the LGBTQ+ books under fire — across the country. Let patrons and visitors know there are incredible resources talking about First Amendment rights and intellectual freedom. Include a handout and/or link on your website/social media to sources such as: Get Ready Stay Ready, PEN America’s reports on the state of book bans in America, EveryLibrary, Penguin Random House’s Book Ban Resource Hub, and our own Literary Activism newsletter.

If you have a local group doing anti-censorship work, highlight them. If you don’t, share resources on how to begin an anti-censorship group.

Include information about local elections and why they matter (and if you’re in a school or library, you can tie that neatly into how your institution is taxpayer-funded and taxpayers have the right to elect individuals who work on behalf of a whole community, not just those with close ties to them). You can also include information about local school boards and why they’re vital, as well as how people can get involved in their library board.

6. Be Prepared for a Challenge — and Be Transparent About Patron Rights

Be prepared to potentially have a book challenged. In the current book banning climate, your display may become a target for the small number of censors who think they speak on behalf of an entire community. But know, too, you can head it off by making sure your collection development policies are up-to-date, and you can stand behind them. The more accessible the information, the more transparent you are, and the more censors cannot argue that you hinder their rights to demand books not be accessible to an entire community.

If there is currently a book ban happening locally, highlight that. Whether it is your institution or not, giving these displays a local angle is extremely important. Believing this is a red state or blue state thing is dangerous and disingenuous; people deserve to know that it is happening in their backyard because it IS happening in their backyard.

Know that social media posts will be found and may be dragged through unfriendly spaces. Remember that nothing requires an immediate response, and that you have every right to remove or limit engagement with your social content. No one is owed your space. You can also take the opportunity now to prepare responses in the event that you find yourself in the spotlight. Being pro-library and pro-community means that you highlight books and center programs that meet the needs and interests of everyone, and you can say as much. If you’re asked where celebrations of x or y identity are, encourage those asking to share some ideas and provide them the avenues through which to do it. They want specific types of books added to the collection? Give them the link to where they can make requests.

Chances are they won’t bother, but if they do, consider where and how you accommodate those requests. Then, consider where and how you take the same efforts to track use and engagement for those things as you do Pride or other events.

7. Do No Display At All and Explain Why

It might not be legal to highlight queer books in your state or community. It might be PERFECTLY legal and even encouraged.

But imagine for a moment what a book display draped in a black sheet might look like with a sign as simple as “these books are illegal to share.”

There are a lot of implications to this, including that those who are already suppressed continue to be suppressed and that this silencing plays right into it. But also know it might be highly effective — what happens if, during Pride month, every queer book in the library is put behind the desk or popped into storage, and people cannot access them?

This is the reality in far too many places.

If you go this route, focus on the people, not the books. This is where creating handouts and accompanying material to educate patrons about censorship and intellectual freedom can do wonders. The people we need to reach are not online and may likely have no idea what’s happening across the country or in their own backyard.

But perhaps this can be one step in educating and waking them up. You can call attention to HR 7661 here, as well as draw attention to the laws in states like Florida, Iowa, Texas, and others, where LGBTQ+ books–and thereby LGBTQ+ people–are being erased from public.

Again: proceed with caution here. You’ll know if it’s right for your community or not. It’ll make a hell of a statement, and if it makes people mad, maybe they’ll be ready to write those letters and show up to the board meetings, demanding those books be put back, be made accessible, and that queer voices deserve just as much space as every other voice — June and beyond.

Another take on this idea might be wrapping the books in brown paper bags or putting them into Ziploc bags, which would create one extra step of annoyance for your patrons who want to borrow the titles. There’s your opportunity to talk about what book bans do. Here’s an example from Rachel Haider at Eagan High School (MN) for her Banned Books Week display–something easily replicable for Pride Month.

8. Ask Questions and Demand a Response

This final point is new this year, and it comes in response to years’ worth of rhetoric about library workers (and educators!) being “groomers” for providing access to LGBTQ+ books. It is both for patrons, as well as for library workers.

If you’re dealing with this language being used for librarians in your community, whether that’s hearing it first hand at a board meeting or reading it in local editorals or on social media, speak up. Ask the library board where and how they’re pushing back against dangerous, harmful, and inaccurate words being used to describe the people who they entrust to run the library. Are they hearing it? Are they responding? Are they telling the librarians that they’re doing a good job? Perhaps, as you might find out, the language is coming from the board itself. That’s worth pointing to and demanding accountability for.

Perhaps the problem in your community isn’t the word “groomer.” Perhaps it’s that well-educated, highly trained professionals are being accused of indoctrination. Ask those using this language what that really means.

Perhaps your library which once had bright, colorful Pride displays in June has stepped away. Perhaps Drag Storytime events have disappeared. Perhaps the number of new LGBTQ+ books being acquired for the library has dwindled, despite the number of those books being published continuing apace. Ask why. If you ask a library worker, ask too what you can do about it. But you can simply feel free to ask the library board during public comment. You may not get an answer, but your voice will be on the record as seeking answers to important questions. It’s one step among many to help advocate for LGBTQ+ people and stories locally, and it can serve as a springboard for asking about representation to your local government, your state government, and then your federal representatives.

You can also ask where and how your board plans to respond to legislation such as HR 7661 and where and how they’re advocating to pass powerful, pro-literacy and pro-library bills like the three floating in Congress right now: 1.,  H.R. 7691, the “Fight Book Bans Act,” would provide federal grants to schools in support of protecting collections and unhindered student access to materials; 2., H.R. 6440/S. 3365, the “Right to Read Act,” would invest $600 million annually into school libraries, expanding access for students to both better staffed libraries and more diverse materials; and 3., the “Prison Libraries Act,” with drafts in both the House and the Senate. 

“Why” is a powerful question, especially when paired with research and data to back up your question. It’s such a powerful question that it often isn’t answered by those who hold power because they know their position is bigoted, weak, and unsupported by the vast majority of people.

Maybe the question worth asking, especially in libraries with contentious boards, is why these people want to serve an institution that they so clearly loathe and for whom the mission of serving an entire community doesn’t align with their own values and morals.

The midterms are coming up. Ask those why questions, get the answers or the lack of answers on the record, and use that to advocate and vote accordingly. Our libraries and our queer community deserve so much better.

Book Censorship News: May 8, 2026

• The Universal Unitarian Association of Massachusetts has penned a great piece on why the state should pass their freedom to read/anti-book ban law.
• At the end of National Poetry Month came this great piece about attempts through history to ban poetry.
• The Prison Libraries Act has been re-introduced to both the House and Senate.
• Mat-Su Borough Assembly (AK) won’t vote on a proposal to remove Let’s Talk About It from the public library (over which they don’t have such authority). The book’s already been relocated in that library from the teen to the adult section. The proposal to ban it came from an Assembly member who withdrew it before they could vote.
• A worthwhile read from Wyoming about the state of attacks on libraries. The line in there about what voters will think when midterms roll around in August is a solid one.
• One of the biggest book ban “activists” in Texas is suing Houston Independent School District because she wasn’t allowed to give a book reading performance at a school board meeting.
• Warwick School District (PA) will not allow The 57 Bus nor Speak to be used in classrooms. This is despite most of the public comment saying that the books should be allowed for use.
• A great opinion piece in The Hill (refreshing!) about how false claims of “porn in schools” are a decoy for banning books. This is about HR 7661, the national book ban bill.
• There were a slew of Texas school board elections last weekend. Frank Strong from the Texas Freedom to Read Project documented the good news, the mixed news, and the not-great news. Overall, the extremists are winnowing and being endorsed by Moms For Liberty is indeed a kiss of death.
• Remember when New Braunfels Independent School District (TX) shut down their libraries for a couple of weeks to review books for compliance with SB 13? Now near the end of the school year, they’ve “completed” their reviews and banned 161 books.
• Brandon Donoho, a resident of Murfreesboro, Tennessee (Rutherford County), has expanded his website that provides access in the form of physical books to those experiencing bans. The expansion comes in the wake of the county’s continued attack on literature featuring queer people and people of color.
• Proving how partisan book banning is, the Pine-Richland School Board (PA) has reversed policies put in place under extremists last year that empowered them as a board to ban whatever they didn’t like. This was a tremendous waste of taxpayer money for a GOP hate crusade.
• “South Carolina high schoolers who wanted to take an AP African American Studies class don’t have any basis on which to sue the state over the course’s cancellation, a lawyer representing state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver told a federal appeals court May 5.” Sigh.
• Now that Australian author Craig Silvey has pled guilty to child sex materials, the country reckons with what to do with his books. I’m curious what American libraries are going to do, too–Silvey’s Jasper Jones was a 2012 Printz Honor book.
• Reader’s Digest talks with Patricia McCormick about Sold, the most banned book in the country according to the American Library Association.
• Despite having a Freedom to Read law in place, three members of New Jersey’s Hunterdon Central Regional High School board wanted to avoid putting the required language into their policies to protect access to books and protect librarians for providing the material.
• Indiana librarians are seeking stable funding for Imagination Library. You may recall Indiana is the canary in the coal mine for states cutting funding to an extremely effective and impactful (not to mention inexpensive!) literacy program.
• Edmonton City Council is expressing disapproval of the Alberta, Canada, government’s desire to ban books in public libraries.
• Last year, Ohio Republicans changed how libraries in the state are funded, taking them from being some of the most robust and stably funded in the country to begging for money at the ballot box to remain viable. The good news is that citizens are approving library funding more often than not (though they should not need to be doing it at all). Fourteen tax measures were on Tuesday’s ballots across the state and 12 passed.
• Though this isn’t a book ban, it’s worth including in this roundup because it’s a reminder of this attack on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC materials isn’t about the books. A Wisconsin school is considering pulling a song from its school band concert because of its LGBTQ+ history–in other words, anything reminding people there’s a history and legacy outside of white supremacy is at risk. Here’s a student speaking out about this potential change.