For Queer Romance Month, I wrote about why I write LGBTQIA Young Adult literature. Timmy decided to join me and write his own post about the importance of LGBTQIA Young Adult literature in school and local libraries and some of the difficulties and disappointments he has encountered. Take it away, Timmy!
Books are important for many reasons to many different types of people of all ages. They help people learn, explore, and grow. Books broaden vocabulary, teach us history, and help us cope when we need to take a break from reality. Before I moved to my new home, I was only able to read what was available in the school library. The only gay character I had ever read about was in The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. They were great books, but taught me nothing of being a gay teen. What it did teach me, though, was that there were books out there about people like me. It wasn’t until right before I moved into my new home that I realized there were books all about gay kids, and that maybe I could learn from those books, and find hope and acceptance within their pages.
Many of the books I have read have helped me learn and grow as a gay teen. I read answers to questions I was
too embarrassed to ask, learned that not all gay kids have bad endings, and found the hope I needed to go on. All these things were found in the pages of LGBT young adult books.
Although many will argue that teens shouldn’t read about sex, I completely disagree. How are we to learn about safe sex? I can tell you they do not cover gay sex in health class. If done wrong, someone could be needlessly hurt. Are we to ask our parents? The very parents we are too afraid to come out to? Or the teachers that make us feel worse than the students do? Or our doctors who give us clinical, sterile pamphlets that contain no details? Yet, if you go to Amazon.com and type in free m/m books, what do you find? Porn on page! This is not what we are looking for. So, isn’t it safer to have good, healthy reading for us gay teens?
Many of us turn to books for information and, now that there are eReaders, Nooks, and Kindles, it’s easier to find the vital information that we are looking for. I have now read a number of books that feature gay main characters that contain no sex at all but an awesome story of hope and acceptance. We don’t only need books about coming out or romance. We need a well-rounded library that offers LGBT youth a variety of books that match what is available to heterosexual youth.
Teens rarely have the disposable income of adults and depend on libraries to get books but, in most cases, those with LGBT main characters are not available. So what can they do to find the books they want and, in some cases, need to read? School librarians could provide support by keeping LGBT books on the shelves and by finding materials in which they can see themselves reflected in the pages. LGBT students can then find resources that they were previously unaware of such as stories and themes that reflect lives that they can identify with and that also answer questions and concerns that they are too afraid to ask.
I asked both my school and local librarians to consider adding a few LGBT books and was told that they must first be approved. I’m assuming they were never approved because I went back and asked again (same people), and I was told again, “they need to be approved.” I even told them I have friends who are authors of LGBT young adult books and I could ask them to donate books, but still the same answer. A lot of the heterosexual young adult books I read (from my school library) have sex in them—some of which is quite detailed (ewwww). When I donated a heterosexual young adult bo
ok that was not in the library, they read the back of it and added it to the shelf by the end of the day. Why, then, do LGBT books have to be pre-read and approved? That isn’t fair.
LGBT youth often go through or see horrible things that teach us it not okay or safe to be openly gay. The stats on LGBT teens are incredibly sad. According to the Bullying Statistics Website, about one fourth of all students from elementary age through high school are the victims of bullying and harassment while on school property because of their race, ethnicity, gender, disability, religion or sexual orientation. According to recent gay bullying statistics, gay and lesbian teens are two to three times as more likely to commit suicide than other youths, and about 30 percent of all completed suicides have been related to sexual identity crisis. To learn more on these stats please visit the website.
LGBT youth NEED books that offer them information, hope, and perspective, and my hope is that we can get to a point in our society where we can all go to a library and find books that will help us, teach us, and better us. Please help by asking your local and school libraries to carry books for everyone, LGBT youth included.
See you back here next month, on Monday, November 17th!
Available from: Harmony Ink Press
Όμορφη. Ómorphi. Greek. Meaning pretty
Pretty. adj. /pritē/ Pleasing by delicacy or grace
~*~
High school senior Michael Sattler leads a charmed life. He’s a star athlete, has great friends, and parents who love him just the way he is. What’s missing from his life is a boyfriend. That’s a problem because he’s out only to his parents and best friend. When Michael accidentally bumps into Christy Castle at school, his life changes in ways he never imagined. Christy is Michael’s dream guy: smart, pretty, and sexy. But nothing could have prepared Michael for what being Christy’s boyfriend would entail.
Christy needs to heal after years of abuse and knows he needs help to do it. After the death of his notorious father, he leaves his native Greece and settles in upstate New York. Alone, afraid, and left without a voice, Christy hides the myriad scars of his abuse. He desperately wants to be loved and when he meets Michael, he dares to hope that day has arrived. When one of Michael’s team-mates becomes an enemy and an abuser from Christy’s past seeks to return him to a life of slavery, only Michael and Christy’s combined strength and unwavering determination can save them from the violence that threatens to destroy their future together. Read an excerpt of Omorphi
Available from: Harmony Ink Press
Caleb had one mission in life.
To keep his boyfriend safe.
They met at ten, kissed at twelve, and were madly in love by eighteen. Caleb Deering is the captain of the swim team and the hottest senior in school. He comes from a loving home with a kind father and a caring, but strict, mother who is battling breast cancer. Nico Caro is small and beautiful, and has a father who rules with an iron fist—literally. One morning Caleb forgets himself, and he pecks Nico on the lips at school. A teacher sees them and tattles to the Headmaster. The accidental outing at school might be the least of their problems, because the ball set in motion by the school’s calls to their parents could get Nico killed. In the face of that very real danger, Caleb knows he has only one mission in life: to keep Nico safe. Read an excerpt of Safe.
Check out Cody’s Blog here. Like Cody on Facebook, find Cody on Goodreads, on Twitter @CodyKAuthor, on Pinterest, and read Cody’s free serial story, Fairy.
Again Timmy you state things so clearly. I wish the so called adults in charge had half your insight. Well done <3
I hope there are some librarians read this. Thanks for stopping by Deeze!
<3 Timmy
This is so true, Timmy. I requested several YA LGBT titles and only two were added. I also donated a copy of Omorphi but it’s under review. It’s so frustrating. 🙁
But at least the two are out there now. Keep trying, and thanks for what you’re doing.
<3 Timmy
Timmy, you are so right about having more LGBT YA in schools and public libraries. I have requested more and I even gave the librarian the list Cody gave me. I need to go follow up. Our libraries do have the Overdrive system so that ebooks can be borrowed. I did find some LGBT YA books. I did finally get in touch with our high school sponsor for the gay/straight alliance and his students I’m told have found books through Kindle and Barnes & Noble. I’m not quite sure how active they are. Thanks Timmy, for pushing this through your library. And I will follow up with our library next week!
Yeah, all my books come from friends or amazon, but not every teen has the money for that. 🙁 Thanks for what you are doing though. It is a huge help.
<3 Timmy
Great post, Timmy! And you are so right, it is imperative that both public and school libraries provide LGBTQIA literature for our youth. It’s not only important for LGBTQIA youth, it is also important for all youths to read these stories. It promotes acceptance and understanding for everyone. Tax dollars support both school and public libraries so it is only fair that some of these resources are spent on providing LGBTQIA material as the LGBTQIA tax payers contribute to the support of these institutions.
That’s a great argument! I will use that when I write my letter to them.
<3 Timmy
As always Timmy a very insightful post. I agree that libraries need to carry books for LGBTQIA YA. I really need to follow up with the library here. See you on your next post. 🙂
Thanks for checking with your library! The more we ask the harder we will be to be ignored.
<3 Timmy
Great post, as always, Timmy. You hit on why I chose to have gay main characters in my Children of the Knight books, so gay teens and non-gay teens can see kids just like them who think like they do and make mistakes like they do and make good choices like they do, including the choice to be heroic when necessary. Not all kids like or want romance, especially boys. Seeing gay teen boys as “action” heroes is something that’s not much out there for kids, so I wrote characters like that to fill the void. I think librarians are more afraid of the parents who might raise a big stink about gay kids being depicted as completely normal in books than they are about gay kids being able to read about themselves in literature. It’s sad and it’s wrong and hopefully one day soon it will change. Keep pestering your librarians until they give in. As the old saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.
I like romance, but I like that there are books where LGBT characters are something more too. It’s like, Hey we can be superheros, super smart kids, or paranormal characters too!
<3 Timmy
Such an important message, Timmy, and so true. Like Michael said, we need to keep pushing this squeaky wheel until it gets heard. Thanks for this excellent post.
We need to have more then one person in each place asking. Have you friends, family, and/or other supporters writing to them too!
<3 Timmy
Yes!
Brilliant insight, as always, Timmy. We all do what we can to change the world a little bit around us. Slowly things Do change.
Well said, and keep pestering librarians! Never give up! <3
Let’s hope that the changes come sooner then later.
<3 Timmy
I always love your posts, Timmy. But this one I really have to thank you for. Not only is the message important but it has also given me a chance to feel proud.
I work in a public library so whenever I read a post about libraries and LGBT issues, I like to take a look at our collections to see how we’re doing. This time I found a few lists online, looked at LGBT related book awards and checked out the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) website and compared what I found to what is in our collection. What I found brought me to tears – happy tears. We have more than 90% of the books on these lists!!!
I know from my own experience how important to one’s survival and sanity books and libraries can be. Knowing that I work in a place that is helping LGBTQIA youth get the “information, hope, and perspective” they need makes me so happy and so proud!!
I know my library is more of an exception than the rule. In case it might be helpful to others, here are links to some of the lists I used:
ALA’s Guide to YA Novels with LGBTQ Characters
Stonewall Book Awards
25 Must Read YA Books featuring Gay Protagonists
10 LGBT YA Books You need to Read This Year
This is the greatest Comment ever! Even if there only a few libraries that do this, we still need to look at the fact that there ARE some that carry books for us! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all those you have helped by having the resources available to them.
<3 Timmy
Timmy, that was a brilliant post! I agree with you. The LGBT youth need books to show them that not only are they normal but that they can be happy. That life has so many wonderful things in store from them. School and public libraries owe it to our youth to have these books available. I believe that, in time, things will change and all libraries will carry books for not just LGBT youth but the whole community. And it will all be because of the strength and perseverance of people like you. Again, brilliant job!! **HUGS** <3
Thanks Uncle Jase! So glad you stopped by to read this!
<3 Timmy
Excellent blog post, Timmy! I will never understand the reluctance of school and public libraries to carry books that can benefit LGBT kids. It makes no sense to me.
Yeah, I don’t understand it either. I just hope to change their views. <3 Timmy
Hi Timmy!! I just realized that you wrote this-great and important article, and as you can imagine, I fully agree!!! Kids and teens and everybody needs to be able to find themselves in books.