Author and activist Jazz Jennings took to Instagram to ask legislators to stop banning her 2014 children’s book, I Am Jazz.
Jennings’ book, co-written with Jessica Herthel and illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas, tells the story of her coming out as transgender as a child. A critic for Kirkus called the book “an empowering, timely story with the power to help readers proclaim, in the words of Jazz’s parents, ‘We understand now.’”
In her Instagram video, Jennings, standing in front of a rainbow flag, says, “My name is Jazz and I was assigned male at birth. At age 2, I expressed I knew I was a girl. At age 5, I began my social transition. Today, despite living my life as a proud trans woman, my children’s book, I Am Jazz, is banned all over the country.”
Jennings’ book has been the subject of frequent challenges and bans. The American Library Association named it one of the 10 most challenged books in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019. This March, it was removed from Palm Beach County, Florida, schools after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law the state’s Parental Rights in Education bill, popularly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
“Legislators ban the book out of fear that it will ‘recruit’ or ‘brainwash’ kids into being LGBTQ+,” Jennings, wearing a “Say Gay & Trans” t-shirt, says in the video. “It does not. The book is about identity.…LGBTQ+ people belong. Allowing us to share our stories creates a more inclusive and welcoming world for all people.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
