Banned Together 2022
Dani Glass
In just over a week, Pride and Less Prejudice will be hosting our second annual Banned Together Virtual Auction. It will coincide with National Banned Books Week, a week dedicated to celebrating the freedom to read – and by extension, the freedom to learn. Books offer us insight into lives other than our own, whether fiction, nonfiction, or somewhere in between. Through books, we have opportunities to understand cultures, identities, religions, and experiences that differ from our own. Reading can also help us better understand our own selves and find acceptance and community.
To ban books is to take away these opportunities – for people, especially youth, to learn about themselves and others. And we know which types of books are banned most frequently; in no particular order: books about LGBTQ+ people and families, books focusing on communities of color, books centering racism and issues regarding race, and books challenging governmental structures based on, or alluding to, current Western systems. This is no coincidence. Banning books is akin to banning knowledge and shared human experience. When we ban books, we tell people whose experience is reflected in those books that their stories are at best, unimportant and at worst, harmful.
PLP believes that all people, and particularly children, deserve to see themselves represented in literature. PLP believes that we should acknowledge, value, and center the stories of communities who have previously been underrepresented and disempowered by others.
That’s why we do what we do – provide high quality, inclusive literature for teachers of young children. We hope to raise at least 10,000 in our upcoming Banned Together Virtual Auction to send 800 LGBTQ-inclusive books to preschool through third grade classrooms throughout America. Our auction will take place in just a couple short weeks, beginning September 22nd at 10:00 am EST and ending September 25th, at 10:00 pm EST. Since our auction last year, demand has tripled, and we must continue to support teachers who need resources in order to create an accepting, inclusive classroom environment via children’s literature.
We have quite a long list of items to auction this year, including, but not limited to:
A script from Emmy award winning Modern Family’s episode “Fizbo” signed by the entire cast, donated by Jesse Tyler Ferguson
A signed Wynonna Earp season one yearbook donated by actress Kat Barrell (and a few other surprises)
A test pressing copy vinyl of “Memphis Rock and Soul” donated by rock icon Melissa Etheridge
Authors and illustrators offering virtual read alouds for classrooms, including Heather Gale, author of Ho’onani: Hula Warrior
“I Read Banned Books” T-shirts designed by Megan McHugh and printed by Only Human
Be on the lookout for a preview link, which we will post on social media on September 18th. Please help support us by sharing widely with friends and family! Let’s Banned Together to support inclusive classrooms!
