STRONGER News - July 2025 - SCOTUS (boo) and 1,000 more books (yay)

It’s July 2025, and we’ve got some updates on book banning news (boo SCOTUS’s decision on parents opting their kids out of LGBTQ+ inclusive books), put some banned books in the spotlight, share our traction in pushing-back against book banning (Yay for our second 1,000 book orders being placed this summer), and suggest more ways for you to help.

Book Banning Updates (we’d call them highlights but they’re really lowlights)

• The Mahmoud v. Taylor decision came down from the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on June 27 - and it was definitively not good for the freedom to read. The 6-3 SCOTUS ruling means that the district must provide “opt outs” for children whose parents object to LGBTQ picture books. We encourage you to read the joint statement from the authors and illustrators of the books named in the case. As they said: “We know there are families and educators across the country who are committed to creating inclusive classrooms that meet the needs of the diverse groups of students in their school districts. We are with them in spirit as they work to ensure that all students are seen and supported.”
• Another way LGBTQ+ and particularly trans stories are under attack is moving children’s books to shelves kids cannot access. There are over 100 media reports and stories on this – here are a sampling: Alaska, Arkansas, and California.

Banned Books Spotlight!

Because picture books are on our minds, we wanted to share about a few recently banned titles you might have missed.

What Riley Wore by Elana K. Arnold, illustrated by Linda Davick.

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon James.

And, while they are not picture books, graphic novels, manga, and comics have been attacked over and over throughout this censorship crisis. Take a look at these gems!

#Hockey and Sticks & Scones by Ngozi Ukazu - part of the Check, Please! Series.

The entire LumberJanes series - the series was created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Gus Allen, and ND Stevenson!

And while you’ve probably heard of Mike Curato’s Flamer  - we love it and think it is a beautiful story. Check it out for yourself!

Request any of these from your local library - or wherever books are sold!

And if you’re a teen (13-21) in an area where your library won’t carry these or other banned books, sign up for a Books Unbanned library card with the Brooklyn Public Library! You can read more about that in an article quoting Tasslyn here.

We Are Stronger Than Censorship Updates

The call is going out to our nation-wide partners to tell us which books they want to give away to the folks in their communities for whom it will make a difference! It’s our second batch of 1,000 books (50 from each of 20 publishers), and we’re so excited!

We’ve also signed up some new partners to help spread the word. Thanks and welcome to American Booksellers for Free Expression, NetGalley, Readers First, Texas #FReadom Fighters, Technica Editorial Services, Lambda Literary, Zinn Education Project, and bookstores Hygge House (MA) and Artisans Books and Coffee (WA).

You’ll also notice our STRONGER store has some new designs! Strong Like a Poet, Strong Like a Memorist, and Strong Like an Editor are now available (and remember, each shirt or sweatshirt purchase includes a $16 donation to buy and donate 2 books to offset 1 book challenge.)

How you can help

We want more partners, and allies, and people sharing about the program. The way we’ll scale and really pull the brakes on the runaway train of book banning won’t be five people donating $16,000 each, it will be 500 people donating $160 each. Or 5,000 people buying a shirt that includes a $16 donation. Or some fabulous combination of all the above.

Remember, thanks to our fiscal sponsor EveryLibrary Institute (a 501 c 3 nonprofit), every donation to WE ARE STRONGER THAN CENSORSHIP is tax-deductable.

So please spread the word. Buy a shirt for a friend. And let’s see how much more we can do, together. Because together, WE ARE STRONGER THAN CENSORSHIP!

Stay safe and strong,

Lee and Tasslyn