The number of book bans has increased in recent years. From January to August 2024, there were “695 attempts with 1,915 unique titles challenged.” That number continues to rise but has since worsened due to Project 2025. The 900-page document includes numerous controversial subjects, including censorship over many book themes, especially LGBTQIA+ content. It is a dangerous attempt to silence many authors’ voices in a way to control education across the country and skew Americans backward in history.
Although President Donald Trump has denied any ties to Project 2025, his many cabinet members are key authors of the book. Members include Russel Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, Stephen Miller as the deputy chief of policy and Tom Homan, his former immigration chief. His relationships with those men are uncanny but highlight what can happen to books and reading through Project 2025’s agenda.
Page 5 discusses that pornography is installed into children’s heads through the “propagation of transgender ideology.” Later in the same paragraph, the authors write that anyone who distributes information containing transgender or LGBTQIA+ themes should be imprisoned because they are considered “sex offenders.” These “sex offenders” or “predators” are educators and public librarians. Eventually, themes such as critical race theory or gender ideology are also considered perverted because they “poison children.” In fact, Russia has banned most, if not all, LGBTQIA+ books. America might just beat Russia to banning them all.
In July 2024, Idaho passed a law titled House Bill 170. This law prohibits anyone under the age of 18 from borrowing library books with “sexual content,” no matter if the novel is educational or not. Titles include “The Handmaid's Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “Game of Thrones” by George R.R. Martin and horrifyingly, “What’s Happening to My Body?” by Lynda Madaras, a book for teen girls experiencing puberty.
Idaho’s law caused publishing houses such as Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins to file a lawsuit against it. Following this legal action, these publishing houses filed a similar lawsuit against Florida in August 2024.
All these lawsuits contribute to Project 2025’s motive to erase any sort of educational value that does not align with their standards. The “sexual content” among these titles, including “The Diary of Anne Frank,” is not the entirety of the stories. These stories are rich in history and lessons to give children an understanding of an author’s perspective. These lawmakers have, ironically, lost the plot.
These bans should not stop people from reading these targeted stories. Here are some recommendations:
“1984” by George Orwell. Set in the year 1984, Orwell writes about totalitarianism taking over the world. This dystopian society creates a system called The Thought Police to monitor everyone’s thoughts, actions and movements. Readers can learn the dangers of only one perspective. This goes against Project 2025’s plan to remove the celebration of differences, including diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury. A dystopian novel set in a futuristic America where all books are banned and found by firemen to burn. This is an attempt to control Americans’ emotions and perspective of the government, but masking this issue by trying to restore “happiness” in the country. Bradbury’s novel has been on the chopping block for decades, but a great book to learn about the dangers of censorship.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson. This memoir-manifesto consists of a series of essays about Johnson’s story of growing up as a queer Black man. This book goes against Project 2025 for having LGBTQIA+ content but is great for understanding queer struggles in America.
The future of literature and education is uncertain; however, the best thing is reading. Read these books that have a possibility of disappearing from shelves. Reading is knowledge and power that can fuel a community and start a movement. Project 2025 creates fear around reading about different communities, but this is a human right. Books worth the effort to ban are worth reading.
Natalie Saddler is a freshman studying journalism. Please note the views expressed in this column do not reflect those of The Post.
