Gender Queer: A Memoir is a 2019 American graphic memoir written and illustrated by Maia Kobabe. It recounts Kobabe's journey from adolescence to adulthood and the author's exploration of gender identity and sexuality, ultimately identifying as being outside of the gender binary.
Gender Queer involves topics such as gender euphoria, gender dysphoria, and asexuality using both narrative and illustrations. They begin telling their story from childhood to the present day and include many important experiences in their life: their first period, learning about what it means to be transgender, first relationship, and numerous others.
Gender Queer initially received a small printing and was marketed toward older teens and adults. It increasingly entered the collections of high school and middle school libraries after receiving an Alex Award in 2020, an award given by the American Library Association to "books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18." Since 2021, its inclusion in American libraries, particularly school libraries, has been frequently challenged, based on the presence of sexually explicit illustrations. The American Library Association ranked it as the most challenged book in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The book holds the Guinness World Record for "Most banned book of the year".
Composition and publication After coming out as non-binary in 2016, Kobabe (who uses the Spivak pronouns, e/em/eir) began drawing black-and-white cartoons about their experience with their gender identity, and publishing them on Instagram. They later used these cartoons as the basis for Gender Queer. They stated that they were motivated in part by their difficulty in explaining their gender to their parents after coming out. Kobabe outlined the book by revisiting their high school and college journals, pulling out their confusions about gender and the words they felt they could not say to people. They were inspired by books like Fun Home (2006), by Alison Bechdel, but they wrote the memoir because they could not find the right book to explain their thoughts on gender for their family.
Gender Queer was published by Lion Forge Comics on May 28, 2019, receiving a small initial print run of 5,000 copies. The book was marketed to adults and older teens, and Kobabe has stated that their intended audience was 16-plus. Following Lion Forge's merger with Oni Press in May 2019, Oni–Lion Forge Publishing Group (OLFPG) has continued to republish Gender Queer now under their Oni Press imprint. In July 2022, a new hardcover edition was released by Oni Press with a foreword by ND Stevenson and an afterword by Kobabe. Also in 2022, a French edition of Gender Queer was published by Casterman with translation by Anne-Charlotte Husson and letters by Jean-Francois Rey.
Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition was released in May 2026. This expanded edition features commentary from Kobabe as well as comments from artists, comics creators, and academics such as Jadzia Axelrod, Andrea Colvin, Sandra Cox, Ashley R. Guillory, Justin Hall, Kori Michele Handwerker, Phoebe Kobabe, Ajuan Mance, Matthew Noe, Hal Schrieve, Rani Som, Shannon Watters.
Critical reception Publishers Weekly's February 2019 review stated that "this heartfelt graphic memoir relates, with sometimes painful honesty, the experience of growing up non-gender-conforming. [...] This entertaining memoir-as-guide holds crossover appeal for mature teens (with a note there's some sexually explicit content) and is sure to spark valuable discussions at home and in classrooms." The graphic novel was also included in Publishers Weekly's December 2019 "PW Graphic Novel Critics Poll" – Heidi MacDonald wrote that Gender Queer is "an immensely sympathetic memoir of self-discovery, rendered in clean, elegant art, that should become a queer comics classic." Tegan O'Neil, for The Comics Journal in 2019, commented that "more than simply a memoir, the book is designed to explain the very concept of being non-binary, beginning with the author's first memories of gender and ending with the discovery of Spivak pronouns (e, em, eir) and eir first steps towards getting the people around em to accept and understand said pronouns. [...] Part of the book details eir sexual history, as well as a series of terrifying and painful trips to the OBGYN, and even in the most sensitive areas Kobabe's art and storytelling remains both personable and clear."
Jenni Frencham, for the School Library Journal in 2019, called the graphic novel a "great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand" and stated that it "will resonate with teens, especially fans of Alison Bechdel's Fun Home and Mason Deaver's I Wish You All the Best." Jacob Roden, for The News-Gazette in 2020, wrote that "due to the format, the book is easily digestible in a single sitting, and Kobabe holds the reader's hand every step of the way into the weeds of gender construction. [...] I heartily recommend this book to anyone interested in learning the basics of gender identity. LGBTQ+ folks will especially appreciate the coming out/coming-of-age story and the frequent allusions to queer icons." Sophie Brown, for GeekMom in 2022, commented that "Gender Queer isn't an especially easy book to read but it is a powerful one" and that for someone questioning their identity, "Gender Queer will be a comforting voice from someone who has walked the same paths."
Publishers Weekly viewed Kobabe as "a straightforward cartoonist who uses the medium skillfully (if not particularly stylishly), incorporating ample cheery colors, with a script that's refreshingly smooth and nondidactic for the topic". Roden called the art style "economical, demonstrative, unpretentious, colorful" and highlighted that the writing conveys Kobabe's "experiences with purpose and candor in every panel." O'Neil commented that the "art is very readable and, above all, accommodating. E lays out eir personal history with an enviable degree of candor" and that "Phoebe Kobabe's colors are strong throughout, a palette of soft pastels and earth tones to communicate a range of emotions." Frencham noted that "the muted earth tones and calm blues match the hopeful tone and measured pacing. Matter-of-fact descriptions of gynecological exams and the use of sex toys will be enlightening for those who may not have access to this information elsewhere." Brown also highlighted some "harrowing moments" in the book – "Kobabe's first experience going for a pap smear was especially traumatic and resonated with me more than I expected, as I suspect it might for many of us who have had to undergo that procedure while uncomfortable with our bodies and sexualities. Other difficult moments included shopping for undergarments, exploring masturbation, and dating. While all these moments are difficult to read, they are handled beautifully and with a sense of both solidarity and the knowledge that things will eventually get better."
Awards In 2020, Gender Queer was one of ten books to receive an Alex Award from the American Library Association, for "books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18." In the same year, the book was also a finalist for the Stonewall Book Award for non-fiction. These awards led to the book becoming more widely available in school libraries.
Sexual imagery
Gender Queer includes a handful of sexually explicit illustrations which have been used to argue that the book is inappropriate for minors. The age recommendations for the book vary – the American "School Library Journal in 2019, in one of several reviews, said it can be appropriate for students in grades 9 and up — typically ages 14 to 15. Barnes & Noble says it's appropriate for ages 15 and older. Amazon recommends it for ages 18 and older". The Australian Classification Board (ACB) does not recommend the book for those under 15.
In one commonly cited panel, a 14-year-old Kobabe fantasizes about a scene in which an older man touches the penis of a youth. The illustration is based on a piece of painted ancient Greek pottery depicting a "courting scene." Detractors have described this as a depiction of pedophilia. Another illustration frequently cited by critics depicts Kobabe's girlfriend performing oral sex on Kobabe while Kobabe wears a strap-on dildo. The book also includes depiction of masturbation. The ACB found the book's "descriptions and depictions of sexual activity" as "an integral part of the story on the author's struggle to understanding gender identity and sexuality, and the sex is highly stylised and containing little or no realistic detail, as well as infrequent". On the Plato's Symposium image, the ACB noted that it was "highly stylised" and no sexual activity is depicted "in a detailed or realistic manner, and it is not possible to determine the age of the two male figures in the image", noting "the most that can accurately be said is that the panel contains a depiction of an older-looking male and a younger-looking male".
These sexually explicit illustrations have been widely reproduced (sometimes in censored form) by critics of the book on social media, at school board meetings, and on conservative television programs. The American conservative advocacy group Independent Women's Forum attempted to purchase air time for an advertisement including imagery from Gender Queer but it was rejected as too graphic. The inclusion of Gender Queer in American public libraries and particularly school libraries has been the subject of numerous challenges beginning in 2021, with objections focusing on a handful of sexually explicit illustrations. Stephanie Mencimer, writing for the progressive website Mother Jones, argues that critics of the book have misrepresented the book as pornographic by focusing on a small number of explicit illustrations, which are generally presented without context.
Censorship
United States Gender Queer has been described as being at the center of a larger wave of challenges to books with LGBT content that began in 2021, which has included other books like Lawn Boy and All Boys Aren't Blue. The American Library Association ranked it as the most challenged book in 2021, 2022, and 2023, the second-most challenged book in 2024, and the third-most challenged book in 2025.
Kobabe has stated that the book's sales have increased following the challenges, and that the controversy has raised their profile. They have urged those who would challenge the book to read it in its entirety, rather than passing judgement based on a small number of images. Tara Lehmann, publicity director at Oni Press, said to Publishers Weekly in June 2022 that "selling more copies doesn't fix the intrinsic problem: people are trying to police what others read. We are against the banning of books, of any kind" and she added "that Oni supports schools, libraries, and organizations as best it can, but 'our main focus is being supportive of Maia and making sure we're doing the most we can to ensure Gender Queer is available to any and all people who want to read it'."
Community censorship in public and school libraries
Schools