A couple of interesting things happened to me lately in the Internet world/ blogosphere.
First, I got a fairly routine request for a review copy of my forthcoming novel Jumpstart the World. It was from a book blogger named Brent. I checked out his blog, Naughty Book Kitties and definitely got the sense that he was interested in LGBT literature. But then I didn’t think too much more about it.
Just so you know the background on the book, Jumpstart is the story of a 16-year-old girl who falls in love with the older guy next door before realizing he’s transgender. Female to male, in transition. After she realizes, she expects to fall right back out of love again. But life is never quite what we expect, is it?
A couple of days later, a Facebook friend sent me a link to a blog called “Gay teen blogger/book reviewer takes librarians to task over LGBT lit,” saying, “I thought you'd appreciate this blog by a gay teen requesting more mindful and inclusive selections in school libraries…”
I read it, and immediately recognized Brent. So, how small a world is the blogosphere? But that’s not my point in mentioning it. This is:
Brent set out to find LGBT titles in his school library. Nothing. Not one. Lots of gangs, drugs and teen pregnancy. But no LGBT. When he questioned the librarian, she said such titles were inappropriate for a school library. And, no. This did not happen in 1952.
Anybody else besides me feel incredible outrage upon hearing that?
I’m kind of…well, let’s just face it…old. So I’ve lived through a number of rights movements. Equal rights for women. Civil rights for people of color. And Gay is up next. It’s right here, right now. I feel it in the struggle for marriage equality. The excuses against it are breaking down, exposing the sheer lack of tolerance, lack of acceptance, beneath. And my experience tells me that when a group stands up and says, “Enough. We want our rights,” they get their rights. Slowly. Painfully. But it can’t be stopped. Slowed, yes. Stopped, no. Not in the long run. It’s like trying to dam a flash flood.
But that’s Gay Rights—hugely, ridiculously overdue.
On to Trans Rights. What I think of as the “last frontier” of tolerance. And on to the second interesting thing that happened to me recently.
I got an email through my website contact, thanking me for writing Jumpstart. Even though it isn’t out until October. Someone had read an advance reader’s copy. Someone who has a child in transition. And who requests to remain completely anonymous. Why? Because of the pain, turmoil, and upheaval the news would cause among family members and friends.
Which seems like a lot for people to put themselves through. And, just to clarify, I don’t mean transgender people. I mean the family and friends.
It all seems to boil down to acceptance, as this person and I discussed. Lack of acceptance, problems. No lack of acceptance, no problems.
Why are we so bad at that?
I don’t know, but I know it’s not going to change overnight.
As the parent I corresponded with put it, “It’s easy to be intolerant when people are forced to live in the shadows for fear of ridicule and/or bodily harm. It is impossible for most of us to imagine the kind of courage and strength it takes to live as trans people. It means so much to those of us dealing with this situation to have a novel that speaks in such a kind, unbiased way.”
So…maybe LGBT literature can help, if only a little. I think it has a place in that change. For the LGBT individual, especially one coming of age, it provides that all-important role model. A successful example of a person like you. For those struggling to accept, it provides a look inside a world they might otherwise be afraid to approach. And everybody knows we’re only afraid of the things we don’t know.
So let’s change the world by not shutting up and not going away. I really think it’s our best bet for equality. And I’m a big believer in equality. As I’ve recently become fond of saying, “What part of liberty and justice for all don’t you understand?”
Catherine Ryan Hyde is an author of numerous novels and short stories. Some of her young adult titles include Becoming Chloe, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, The Day I Killed James and Diary of a Witness. Her novel Pay it Forward was chosen by the American Library Association as one of the Best Books for Young Adults in 2001. You can visit Catherine's website, here.