#FIRSTLOOK: PINK TRIANGLE PRESS PRESENT “COMICS AGAINST CENSORSHIP”

Launching as Banned Books Week begins, Xtra, the leading LGBTQ2S+ digital publication from Pink Triangle Press, today announced Comics Against Censorship, a five-part series of original comics examining the censorship of queer and trans stories from across North America. The series is guest edited by acclaimed author and cartoonist Maia Kobabe, whose book Gender Queer: A Memoir, was named the most challenged book in the United States by the American Library Association (ALA) for three consecutive years from 2021 to 2023 and remains one of the top banned books in North America.

Since the publication of Gender Queer in 2019, Kobabe has become a prominent advocate against censorship and for the freedom to read and experience queer and trans stories. “I believe the fact that my book is a comic is absolutely one of the reasons it has been so heavily challenged. Images carry power,” writes Kobabe in an introductory essay for the series. “We are often impacted more viscerally by words and images together than by words alone. While comics might be especially vulnerable to challenges, they are also extremely well suited to fighting back against censorship.”

Through five original works from artists across North America, Comics Against Censorship explores the impact of censorship on LGBTQ2S+ creators, readers, educators and communities, while examining why comics have become a particular focus of book challenges and restrictions:

Cassy Lee (San Francisco) explores the experience of a Librarian who makes a conscious decision to ensure queer books are available to the young people who need them.

Audra McNamee (Portland) tells the story behind a Pride-themed children’s book that became the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case in Pride Puppy.

Winter Wei (Toronto) looks back at the History of queer censorship and the suppression of LGBTQ2S+ information and stories.

Hal Monitor (Calgary) reports from Alberta, documenting the experiences of trans artists and educators amid changing provincial policies affecting LGBTQ2S+ communities.

Hazel and Bell (Vancouver) explore how queer webcomic creators are navigating restrictions on explicit content and growing pressure from online platforms and payment processors in Raccoon.

Excerpt from Cassy Lee’s comic, Librarian.

The series comes amid increasing scrutiny of LGBTQ2S+ books in schools and libraries. In 2025, the ALA reported that 92 per cent of book challenges in the United States were initiated by pressure groups, government officials and other decision makers, up from 72 per cent in 2024. Of the 4,235 unique titles challenged that year, 1,671, or 39 per cent represented the lived experiences of LGBTQ2S+ people and people of colour.

In Canada, the Alberta government introduced new standards in 2025 restricting sexually explicit content in school library materials. Four graphic novels were repeatedly cited by government officials during the debate: Flamer by Mike Curato, Blankets by Craig Thompson, Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Kobabe’s Gender Queer. Three of the four explore LGBTQ2S+ experiences.

Comics Against Censorship is an Xtra editorial initiative dedicated to retired Pink Triangle Press Board Member Didier Pomerleau who has long been a vocal advocate against censorship.

About Pink Triangle Press
Founded in 1971, Pink Triangle Press produces 2SLGBTQIA+ journalism at Xtra Magazine and through a variety of content distribution channels in Canada and abroad. The Press also operates travel site Pink Ticket Travel, a gay adult dating website, and has produced a number of television projects. The organization began as a gay liberation newspaper, The Body Politic, named by Masthead Magazine as one of “Canada’s 20 most influential magazines of all time.”