Kansas District’s Trans Book Ban Sparks Fierce Showdown in Gardner-Edgerton

In a Kansas suburb that rarely makes national headlines, a school library shelf has become the latest battleground in America’s book wars. The Gardner-Edgerton school district is now at the center of a fierce debate after banning a novel with a transgender protagonist and pulling a memoir about racism and abuse.

One Parent, One Complaint, One Less Trans Story

Gardner-Edgerton is the only Kansas district to formally ban a book in the 2024–2025 school year, according to a PEN America–linked report on statewide trends. The Lawrence Times notes that this lone ban stands out in a state that has so far avoided the sweeping crackdowns seen elsewhere.

The title in question is Donna Gephart’s YA novel Lily and Dunkin, which follows a transgender girl and a boy living with bipolar disorder. In December 2024, the district voted to remove the book after years of challenges from a single parent, Carrie Schmidt, who argued it was inappropriate for students. KCUR reports that Schmidt’s complaint—focused on the book’s transgender lead—ultimately succeeded where earlier challenges had failed.

The same district also removed Julia Scheeres’ memoir Jesus Land, which deals with racism, religious extremism and abuse. That vote prompted a rare public split on the board, with at least one member warning the decision would chill what students are allowed to read. KCTV5’s coverage shows how local officials are wrestling with the same “parental rights” language driving bans nationwide—a fight we’ve also seen in Kansas over the removal of Jesus Land itself.

Part of a ‘Manufactured Crisis’ in School Libraries

What’s happening in Gardner-Edgerton is one slice of a much larger story. PEN America has tracked more than 3,700 book bans across U.S. public school districts this year alone, with LGBTQ+ titles and books about race hit hardest. A new PEN America list puts John Green’s Looking for Alaska at the top of the most-frequently banned books since 2021—evidence that even mainstream YA is under siege. We broke down that list, and its big-name casualties, in our look at PEN America’s 50 most banned books.

Librarians and free-speech advocates say this isn’t an organic wave of concern but a coordinated push. More than 130 restrictive bills aimed at libraries and school curricula were introduced in 2024, and librarians interviewed by The Guardian describe the moment as a “manufactured crisis” targeting LGBTQ+ rights in particular.

For readers, the stakes are simple: each ban narrows which stories young people can find on the shelf, especially those that reflect their identities. Whether it’s a trans girl in Lily and Dunkin or a survivor’s account in Jesus Land, the question in Gardner-Edgerton—and far beyond—is who gets to decide which lives are too controversial to appear in a school library at all.