Daniel Radcliffe and Jinkx Monsoon among 30 celebs donating items to fight LGBTQ+ book bans
Daniel Radcliffe is donating an item to an auction to tackle banned books, alongside other celebs (Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Images)
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe and Doctor Who‘s Jinkx Monsoon are among the more than 30 celebrities who’ve donated their time, or belongings, to a group that sends LGBTQ-inclusive books to classrooms across the US.
Not-for-profit organisation Pride and Less Prejudice (PLP) will host its fourth annual virtual auction, Banned Together, between Thursday (26 September) and Sunday (29 September), to raise money to send LGBTQ-inclusive books to classroom from pre-kindergarten up to third grade in all 50 states.
The event features items such as a signed and personalised book from singer Janelle Monáe, a signed and
personalised photo from new Tony-Award-winner Daniel Radcliffe, a pair of tickets to the Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme holiday show, a virtual meet-and-greet with transgender Supergirl and Yellowjackets star Nicole Maines, and vinyl signed by rapper Big Freedia.
The auction coincides with Banned Books Week, an annual event that draws attention to
challenged titles across the world and “highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community – librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers and readers – in support of the freedom to seek and express ideas”.
The number of bans of books containing LGBTQ+ characters, themes and plots, as well as racial and sexual content, have been increasing across the US in the past year.
In 2023, freedom-of-expression charity PEN America recorded 3,362 bans in public-school classrooms and libraries, resulting in students losing access to more than 1,500 titles by 1,400 authors. The majority targeted authors who are female, people of colour, and/or LGBTQ+.
PEN America found the mostly frequently banned titles in the 2022-23 school year were Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, Mike Curato’s Flamer, and Tricks, by Ellen Hopkins. Works by Margaret Atwood and Juno Dawson were also censored.
“In 2023, the American Library Association saw a 65 per cent increase in the number of titles targeted for
censorship compared [with] 2022, with a focus on books by, and about, LGBTQ+ people and people of colour,” said PLP founder Lisa Forman.
“Pride and Less Prejudice is committed to ensuring that students have access to LGBTQ-inclusive books at school and in their libraries to see themselves and their families represented.”
Since being founded in 2019, PLP has raised some $250,000 (£190,000) and donated more than 16,000 books to US schools.
The full list of celebrities donating time and possessions to this year’s event are: musicians Janelle Monáe, Jason Mraz, Lance Bass, boygenius, Sara Bareilles, Big Freedia and Rufus Wainwright, actors Daniel Radcliffe, Chris Colfer, Elvira, Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Nicole Maines, Kat Barrell, Lisa Ann Walter, Jess Darrow, Maulik Pancholy, Lily Tomlin and Miss Benny, chef Ina Garten, interior designer Bobby Berk, authors Alice Oseman and Casey McQuiston, writer Jane Wagner, comedians Hannah Gadsby, Cameron Esposito and Margaret Cho, drag queens Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme and Latrice Royale, tennis legend Billie Jean King, influencer and fitness coach Cody Rigsby, activist Mercury Stardust, and playwright Shaina Taub.
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