San Francisco bookstore delivers LGBTQ+ books to places where they are banned

In an increasingly divided political sphere, Becka Robbins focuses on what she does best – books.

Working out of a tiny space at Fabulosa Books in San Francisco’s Castro District, one of the oldest gay neighborhoods in the U.S., Robbins uses customer donations to ship boxes of books nationwide to groups that want them.

Through her Books Not Bans initiative, she sends out books on queer history, sexuality, romance and more—many of these books are becoming increasingly hard to come by amid a rapidly growing movement of conservative advocacy groups and lawmakers seeking to ban them from public schools and libraries.

“The book bans are terrible, the attempt at erasure,” Robbins said. She wondered how she could get these books into the hands of the people who need them most.

Starting in May of last year, she began raising money and looking for recipients. Her books went to places like a Pride center in West Texas and an LGBTQ-friendly high school in Alabama.

Customers are especially keen to help Robbins ship books to states like Florida, Texas and Oklahoma, often writing supportive letters to include in the packages. More than 40 percent of all book bans from July 2022 to June of last year occurred in Florida, more than any other state.

Behind Florida are Texas and Missouri, according to a report by PEN America, a nonprofit literary advocacy group.

The number of book bans and attempted bans has reached a record high, and the efforts extend to both public and school libraries, the American Library Association said.

Because the totals are based on media reports and reports submitted by librarians, the association says its figures are snapshots and many bans are not recorded.

PEN America’s report says 30 percent of bans involve characters of color or discuss race and racism, and 30 percent involve LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

The most comprehensive objections often come from conservative organizations, such as Moms for Liberty, which has campaigned for a ban nationwide and called for greater parental control over the books available to children.

Moms for Liberty is not anti-LGBTQ+, said co-founder Tiffany Justice.

However, about 38 percent of the book challenges that “originate directly from the group” have LGBTQ+ themes, the library association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom said.

Moms for Liberty opposes sexually explicit books, not because they address LGBTQ+ issues, Justice said.

Films that topped the ban list include Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer,” George Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” and Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison’s “Very Blue Eyes.”

It is more important than ever to make these kinds of books accessible to everyone, Robbins said.

“Literature teaches us how to dream,” she said. “It teaches us how to connect with people who are not like us, it teaches us how to listen and how to evoke compassion.”

She has shipped 740 books so far, with each box worth $300 to $400, depending on the title.

At the new Rose Dynasty Center in Lakeland, Florida, books donated by Fabulosa are already on shelves, said Jason DeShazo, a drag queen known as Momma Ashley Rose who runs the LGBTQ+ community center.

A family-friendly drag performer, DeShazo has long hosted drag story hours to promote literacy, using puppets to address themes such as kindness, dealing with bullies, and giving back to the community.

DeShazo said he hopes to provide a safe space for events, support groups and health centers, and to build a library of banned books.

“I don’t think a person of color has to search that long to find a great book about the history that our black community has gone through,” he said. “Or that someone who is queer has to find a book that represents them.”

Robbins’ favorite books to send are young adult queer romance novels, a fast-growing genre as conversations about LGBTQ+ issues are much more mainstream today than they were a decade ago.

“The characters are like normal kids – normal people who are also queer, but who also fall in love and are happy,” Robbins said.