Banned Book: Flamer

BY STEVE NUZUM

Mike Curato’s award-winning graphic novel Flamer is included on a list of books banned from every public school in Greenville, South Carolina.

Cover of Flamer, via Curato’s website.

Before I read Flamer, I was struck by a quote from Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author of Hey, Kiddo, included on the cover: “This book will save lives.”

That’s a big claim, but research from organizations like the Trevor Project has supported the idea that making students feel included saves lives: “LGBTQ+ young people who reported living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at less than half the rate of those who reported living in very unaccepting communities.”. 

Aiden Navarro, the main character, is never explicitly labeled as gay, but it is clear that he is struggling with romantic feelings for his friend Elias, feelings which conflict with his understanding of his Catholic upbringing, and with the frequently homophobic language and behavior of many of his peers. 

Context is always important, and although Curato doesn’t provide an exact year, the book’s summer camp setting— which includes cassette mixtapes and kids discussing the virtues of bands like Weezer and The Smashing Pumpkins— feels very 1990s. It reminds me a lot of my own experiences as an adolescent at summer camp during those years.

It also reminds me that two men brutally murdered Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, in 1998, an incident which both brought overdue national attention to homophobic violence and likely deeply scared many young people who were either gay or perceived as such. While the country is still a dangerous place to be LGBTQ+, and particularly to be transgender, Caruto’s novel takes place in that shadow of violence, even if Shepard is never mentioned explicitly.

It’s no wonder that within this context, like many LGBTQ+ young people today, Aiden ultimately struggles with feelings of hopelessness and suicidal thoughts, feeling his life will be unbearably difficult, not because of his sexual orientation, but because of the way other people have treated him. And it is clear that Aiden has no openly gay role models in his life-- one of his Scout Camp leaders, who has been supportive and kind toward Aiden while maintaining appropriate boundaries, is discovered to be gay, and is immediately fired from the camp. 

In another panel from Flamer, Aiden lashes out in frustration at the

seemingly impossible boxes his peers have tried to force him into.

According to the CDC’s most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey puts it,

As in previous reports, disparities persist among students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or another non heterosexual identity (LGBTQ+).

LGBTQ+ students were… more likely to experience all forms of violence, signs of poor mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

More than 3 in 5 LGBTQ+ students experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year, and more than half had poor mental health during the past month. One in 5 LGBTQ+ students attempted suicide during the past year

According to the same report, “Schools that put policies and practices in place to support LGBTQ+ youth not only saw improved mental health and fewer suicidal thoughts and behaviors for young people who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, but also their heterosexual peers.”

One obvious way to create this kind of research-supported positive school environment for LGBTQ+ students is to give those students what Aiden lacks throughout most of the book: positive representations of LGBTQ+ people, including in available reading material.

As Curato shares in his afterward, as a young gay man, he struggled with suicidal ideation, himself: “Like my character Aiden, I felt overwhelmed by a culture of hatred.”

The antidote to a culture of hatred is obviously not banning representations of LGBTQ+ people, which seems to be exactly what school districts like Greeneville and Anderson One (as well as many other districts) are doing, whether that’s their intention or not. The records obtained by Post and Courier suggest that Greenville has formally banned twelve books from all of its schools, and a disproportionate number of these, like Flamer, This Book is Gay and Gender Queer, deal with LGBTQ+ themes. Obviously, these are not the only books commonly found in schools which might contain language or content that makes some people uncomfortable; the best solution for this has always been for parents and schools to work together to determine what is best for individual students, not to use blanket censorship to remove award-winning books many community members may support having in schools.

The few books which have been explicitly age-restricted in Greenville also included Melissa/ George, a book about a student struggling with her gender identity. Based on descriptions of the content (much milder than even Flamer), the book was likely challenged because it merely acknowledges the existence of transgender children. Otherwise, many books for young readers, from Captain Underpants to Judy Blume, would have been age-restricted, as well.

Flamer isn’t targeted at young children, and some parents likely wouldn’t want their older children to read it, either. The language reflects the way adolescent boys often talk, and realistically portrays them casually using homophobic slurs, as well as four-letter words that wouldn’t be out of place in a PG-13 movie. (That language rings very true to my experience as an adolescent in the ‘90s, unfortunately down to the casual use of homophobic slurs.)

I don’t believe the language is the reason for Greenville’s decision to ban the book. Even the vaguely Moms for Liberty- affiliated book censorship site BookLooks only rates the book a 3 on a 5-point scale, presumably for “references to sexual activities” without any explicit sexual content. BookLooks suggests that for students under 18, parents should have to give permission to read Flamer, but does not advocate for it to be banned.

The honest portrayal of a young man’s journey to understand his identity as something other than straight is the likely reason.

As a teacher, I probably would not have required students to read the book (although some passages would certainly be appropriate for a whole-class reading), and I’m not aware of any schools requiring children to read it. But making books like this for students to check out in school and classroom libraries is an important part of creating an inclusive and safe community for our LGBTQ+ students, and targeting it among a small number of books to totally ban sends a dangerous message about how the districts sees its LGBTQ+ students and staff.

Particularly in a political moment in which vile anti-transgender language is being weaponized against our children and their families, LGBTQ+ students may benefit from an ultimately hopeful book that nonetheless takes seriously the challenges of being different in a society that often deals harshly with differences. Aiden is ultimately going to be okay, but the book acknowledges that the struggle to define yourself in adolescence is painful, and that for queer kids there are additional obstacles and difficulties.

Literature and safe environments that tell kids that they are valued, and that they will be okay, might literally save lives.