Council rejects complaints about 'anti-trans' library books

A freedom of information (FOI) request shows several challenges have been made in recent years over books in its library collection.

Of the eight complaints about specific books dealt with from 2019 to 2024, five related in some way to the trans debate.

Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality by Helen Joyce was among the titles subject to challenge.

“A complaint was raised by a service user that this book criticises transgender rights,” the council said. “The title was not removed from stock as Edinburgh libraries holds other books that provide alternative views on the subject of transgender rights – a specific example being The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice by Shon Faye.”

A separate complaint about the book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier was not upheld for the same reason.

Meanwhile, one library user complained about the books Feminism for Women by Julie Bindel and Difficult Women by Helen Lewis featuring in an International Women's Day display.

“Complaint made by service user regarding books by ‘anti-trans activists’ in the Leith Library International Women's Day display,” the council noted. “These titles form part of our citywide adults' non-fiction collection within our range of resources that aim, where possible, to give access to a variety and balance of opinions.

“This enables readers to do their own research and draw their own conclusions. Our process of selection for this particular display was to feature a variety of relevant books on the topics of feminism and celebrating women and offered a variety of opinions. Therefore, the complaint was not upheld, and the books were not removed.”

However, Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin, which features interviews with six trans or gender-neutral young adults, was moved from the teen to adult section following a complaint about its content.

“Service user complained at branch about language and sexually explicit references,” the council said. “Description of oral sex and suggestion that it was enjoyed by a child. It is a book based on true life trans experience. It was held in the teen book section, so was transferred to the adult section.”

Elsewhere, a complaint about the children’s book Grandad’s Pride by Harry Woodgate, which is about an elderly man’s memories of attending Pride events, was partially upheld.

“Complaint raised by a parent regarding concerns about the appropriateness of the images and ideas in the book,” the council said in its FOI response, which was published on its website.

“After investigation, the complaint was partially upheld based on some of the illustrations, but not the content and storyline of the book. It was established that a later edition had been edited and images replaced by the publisher to make it more suitable for the age group concerned and the original copies were replaced with later edition copies.”

The book was previously withdrawn from a nursery in England amid controversy over its depiction of "leather fetish gear".

Two books were removed from Edinburgh libraries between 2019 and 2024. The first was a ten-year-old Hindi language book, following a complaint that “the information contained in it around Islam and women was incorrect”. The second was an X-Men comic book, The Trial of Magneto, which was removed after a complaint about racist language.