SAY "BOOK BAN" ONE MORE TIME

While the far right tries to censor LGBTQ+ books out of existence, allow us to recommend the gayest, queerest, most lesbionic page-turners for your Pride season reading delight.

- ERIN QUINLAN

Hi, if you're new here (welcome!), rest assured that we are not. Cosmo has been battling regressive moral panic-and the censorship it can spawn for decades. Over the years, various fringe groups have sought to censor us for printing "pornography" and "explicit content," aka honest, informative reporting on totally normal physical intimacy and absolutely crucial sexual health topics. So you could say we are experts in defending the right to empower readers. Which is why we're standing with the LGBTQ+ authors whose work is under fire right now from lawmakers and at least 50 groups agitating for book bans at the national, state, or local level.

This isn't just about Drag Story Hour or inclusive kids' books anymore. (Although the challenges against both, against titles like And Tango Makes Three-the award-winning, completely unscandalous illustrated tale of two male penguins raising a chick-remain absurd.) It's not just about parents being denied a say in what their kids can and cannot read. In some parts of the country, the hysteria is preventing even fully grown adults from accessing books for themselves that happen to have LGBTQ+ themes.