Australia's Federal Court has found that the unrestricted classification of Maia Kobabe's graphic memoir Gender Queer was based on a misunderstanding, after ruling in favour of activist Bernard Gaynor.

Gaynor had contested the decision by the Classification Review Board, which had cleared the controversial book for unrestricted access, with a recommendation for readers over 15.

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The court case revealed that the board had wrongly assumed that those opposed to the book’s classification were broadly "anti-LGBTQIA+." Justice Ian Jackman found that, out of 611 public submissions, the majority of the 576 submissions opposed to the book were not against LGBTQIA+ content but had other concerns, including the depiction of sexual activity between adults and children.

The Federal Court has found that the Classification Review Board got it wrong by classifying the book “Gender Queer” as unrestricted. Hundreds of submissions to the Board criticised the book as pornographic and harmful to children.

The Court has ordered the Board to review its… pic.twitter.com/NpJuirdrz2

— Malcolm Roberts 🇦🇺 (@MRobertsQLD) October 15, 2024

Justice Jackman criticised the board's failure to adequately review the public submissions, concluding that the board's decision was tainted by this oversight.

"The board should not have overlooked, ignored, or misunderstood the public submissions when considering the book's classification," he wrote.

The court ruling now requires the Classification Review Board to reconsider the rating of Gender Queer.

Gaynor welcomed the decision, saying the book should never have been allowed in Australia and calling for its removal from libraries and bookstores.

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