RuPaul Book Pulled From Library After Parent Outrage

A children’s biography book about drag queen superstar RuPaul has been temporarily pulled from the Colchester, Connecticut library after a parent complained about “sexually provocative drawings.”

First Selectman Andreas Bisbikos said he received an email complaint about the book Who Is RuPaul? by Nico Medina. The parent felt the book wasn’t “in an age-appropriate section” in the Cragin Memorial Library.

“The book contains sexually provocative drawings which the parent found offensive. The book in question was immediately removed from circulation,” Bisbikos posted on his Facebook page Monday.

“The book was temporarily removed from circulation until it is decided what the best place is to put it for circulation,” Bisbikos told The Daily Beast. “The book is still available for anyone in the public to review, it is just not located in the children’s section.”

This decision by Bisbikos was not supported by the library’s director, Kate Byroade. She said the book was part of a Pride Month display and featured an old makeup advertisement where women in thigh-high boots and bustier tops spent “VIVA” with their bodies.

Byroade said to the publication that each librarian reads a book “in its entirety” when someone files a complaint. When Bisbikos got a direct complaint, he filed a complaint to the library, then pulled the book for review, disrupting the typical process.

“He completely bypassed how you’re supposed to handle things,” Byroade said. “This is the exact definition of censorship.”

Bisbikos said “no book is being censored or banned” and the decision to remove the book has nothing to do with sexual orientation or any social issues.

“None of the other Pride Books were pulled,” he said. “If this… image was found in a book about George Washington in the children’s section, there would have been an identical response.”

Bisbikos’ Facebook post garnered a variety of responses with some members of the community agreeing with the removal and comparing the book to “garbage” and “pornography.”

Others showed support for the book and said it was targeted discrimination to remove it.

“Parents can always say no to a book they don’t approve of,” Almston, Connecticut-resident Carolyn Damarjian wrote. “This sounds like book banning and I’m not in favor of that!!”

In another post, Bisbikos said the removal was not about censorship, but the reviewing of books that parents are uncomfortable letting their children read.

“You stated: ‘The book in question was immediately removed from circulation.’ Now you state that it was never about censorship,” Jaen Andrews of West Hartford, Connecticut said. “To me, your original statement IS about censorship.”