Sarah S. Brannen, a children\u2019s author and illustrator, published her first book, about a young girl\u2019s anxiety surrounding her favorite uncle\u2019s wedding, in 2008. She wrote it for her niece, who told Brannen she thought the ending of every story should be wrapped neatly in a bow, with two people in love living happily ever after.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nearly 20\u00a0years later, \u201cUncle Bobby\u2019s Wedding,\u201d is at the center of a Supreme Court case that could decide whether parents may opt their children out of elementary school lessons with LGBTQ storybooks.<\/p>\n
The justices, who this week heard oral arguments in the case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, appear inclined to side with a group of parents<\/a> arguing\u00a0their Maryland school district\u2019s lack of an opt-out option substantially burdens their First Amendment rights to freely exercise their religion.\u00a0<\/p>\n The parents, who fall on a spectrum of religious beliefs,\u00a0are not challenging their school district\u2019s curriculum or asking for books to be banned. But some LGBTQ and free speech groups have said a ruling siding with the parents could set a troubling precedent and affect more than just LGBTQ-related content.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t begin to express how surreal it was for me when they first started talking about my book,\u201d Brannen said in an interview\u00a0following Tuesday\u2019s\u00a0arguments. \u201cI\u2019m a children\u2019s book author and illustrator. This \u2014 this just doesn\u2019t happen. I almost felt dizzy. I had to sit down.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In \u201cUncle Bobby\u2019s Wedding,\u201d a young Chloe learns that her Uncle Bobby has proposed to his boyfriend, Jamie. Her initial disappointment about the union, which she fears will mean Bobby no longer has time for her, is replaced with excitement\u00a0after she spends time with Jamie, discovering that having two uncles will be even better than one.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brannen, who began\u00a0working on the book in 2004 after her home state of Massachusetts became the first to recognize and license same-sex marriages, said she had been prepared for challenges\u00a0when the title first landed on shelves. Months after its publication, a Colorado library-goer asked that the book \u2014 illustrated with anthropomorphic guinea pigs before it was reprinted in 2020 with humans\u00a0\u2014\u00a0be removed from the children\u2019s section, arguing the contents were not appropriate for young readers, the blog Mombian reported at the time<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n By 2020, \u201cUncle Bobby\u2019s Wedding\u201d ranked 99th on the American Library Association\u2019s 100 most frequently challenged books<\/a> of the last decade. That sustained pushback was not something Brannen had anticipated.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a very simple story,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The justices appeared to disagree, dissecting Brannen\u2019s book across more than two hours of arguments.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe could have a book club and have a debate about how Uncle Bobby\u2019s marriage should be understood,\u201d Justice Samuel Alito said at one point. \u201cIt just \u2014 it doesn’t just say that Uncle Bobby and Jamie are getting married. It expresses the idea subtly, but it expresses the idea this is a good thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Brannen told The Hill, \u201cIt\u2019s meant to be understandable for a 5-year-old, so I don\u2019t really think there\u2019s any question at all about what it\u2019s saying and what it means. I felt that Justice Alito was being disingenuous. He had a point he wanted to make.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Alito was one of four justices in 2015 to vote against the Supreme Court\u2019s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the right to same-sex marriage nationwide. He wrote in a dissenting opinion that the decision \u201ccreates serious questions about religious liberty.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In another notable moment on Tuesday, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that Robin Stevenson\u2019s \u201cPride Puppy!,\u201d also cited in the case, includes a character who is a sex worker \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s a drag queen,\u201d Justice Amy Coney Barrett later corrected him \u2014 and makes inappropriate\u00a0mentions of leather and bondage.\u00a0<\/p>\n The book, about a dog who gets lost at a Pride parade, does not reference bondage or sex work. The only mention of leather is a description of a jacket.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stevenson declined to be interviewed. Her publisher, Andrew Wooldridge, said in an email that the picture book is intended for very young children.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no storyline involving sex work, leather, bondage or any adult themes. Justice Gorsuch\u2019s characterization of the book during the Supreme Court arguments is a misrepresentation,\u201d\u00a0he said. \u201cPride Puppy!\u00a0simply depicts a diverse community enjoying a Pride celebration through a child\u2019s lost puppy adventure, using an A-to-Z format. The reference to leather that he mentions is a woman wearing a standard leather jacket. There is no sex worker mentioned or illustrated.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe book has very few words and would be a quick read to confirm these things,\u201d Wooldridge said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Charlotte Sullivan Wild, whose book \u201cLove, Violet,\u201d about a young girl with a crush on a female classmate, is also referenced in the case before the Supreme Court,\u00a0said she worries the justices\u2019 mischaracterizations of hers and the other authors\u2019 work will further dehumanize LGBTQ people.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSome people only see us as a negative thing because of this group that we belong to. It completely erases our humanity,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what really worries me for children. Because that’s what we’re telling children, that it’s OK to do that to your classmate, to only see them as one thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Wild\u2019s book reflects her own experience as a queer child, she said in an interview, describing her upbringing as at times isolating without other LGBTQ people or stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people say, \u2018Oh, I don’t know what about the age level,\u2019 it’s like, this was my age level. This was me,\u201d Wild said. \u201cI’m asking you to see me as a human being and to see the children who are in these classrooms as real human beings worthy of kindness and respect. That’s what our books are about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe world is diverse. America is diverse, and so I think it’s a false narrative that these books disrupt,\u201d said Jodie Patterson, whose book \u201cBorn Perfect\u201d is also cited in the case. \u201cI think these books actually uncover a bit of the life that I know to be true.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 2,000 unique titles were challenged in libraries across the country last year, according to the American Library Association<\/a>, which has tracked book challenges and censorship attempts in libraries and schools since 1990. Just 16 percent of challenges last year came from parents, the group said, with most coming from what the organization has called \u201cpressure groups\u201d that include elected officials and school board members and administrators.\u00a0<\/p>\n