Tag Archives: lgbtq

Update to the Last Post

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On her blog, The Swivet, Colleen Lindsay hosted one of the agents involved in the story I linked to, “Authors Say Agents Try to ‘Straighten’ Gay Characters in YA.” Joanna Stampfel-Volpe saw the novel described in the piece, and explains why she and her colleagues decided to pass. Indeed they did ask for the gay character to be removed, but not because he was gay:

The first bit of editorial feedback we gave was that they change the book from YA to middle grade, which would mean cutting most of the romance entirely (for both the straight and gay characters). The book included five character points-of-view (POVs). Our second bit of editorial feedback was that at least two POVs, possibly three, needed to be cut. Did one of these POVs include the gay character in question? Yes. Is it because he was gay? No. It’s because we felt there were too many POVs that didn’t contribute to the actual plot. We did not ask that any of these characters be cut from the book entirely. Let us repeat that, we did not ask that any of the characters in the book –gay or straight—be cut from the book. Also, we never asked that the authors change any LGBTQ character to a straight character.

The post links to a very thoughtful analysis and roundup of all subsequent discussions by Cleolinda Jones. She focuses in on some of the key issues namely: comments may have been misinterpreted, prejudice can exist without homphobia, and there is a subtle difference between rejecting a manuscript because you think the content is wrong versus rejecting a manuscript because you believe enough people think that the content is wrong that it won’t sell.

From my perspective, I sincerely hope that this was all a misunderstanding. That indeed the agents did not think the multi-POV was working (I’m getting a little weary of multi-POV myself), but did not make this clear enough to the writers. That they really were working to make it the best book possible (not necessarily the most marketable). Because the other two options are just depressing. Either this blatant prejudice exists, or Smith and Brown were lying.

Cynics have implied the latter, saying that Smith and Brown were just trying to drum up publicity for a book they were having trouble selling. Such a tactic exploits a real problem, and in doing so, minimizes it. And, as Malinda Lo’s number crunching proves, LGBTQ is indeed underrepresented in YA fiction: less than 1% of YA novels have LGBTQ characters.

So I think it’s time we take a step back from the particular incident, and instead refocus on the perennial issue in children’s literature: the lack of diversity. The problem has been identified, so now what are we going to do about it? Can it really be as simple as what Jones suggests?

publishers need to put out books about all kinds of people, and readers need to let publishers know that they will buy them. And they need to not let fear stop them, because YA saves, and kids need these books.

I hope so.

#YesGayYA

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Earlier this week Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith posted at Publisher’s Weekly about the difficulties they have had in trying to find an agent for their YA dystopia with a gay protagonist. Both are published authors with proven track records, yet when they tried to sell this piece the doors closed. One agent

offered to sign us on the condition that we make the gay character straight, or else remove his viewpoint and all references to his sexual orientation.

While on the one hand I was horrified, my mind couldn’t help but think of counterexamples of YA genre work with gay protagonists such as Hero by Perry Moore, Witch Eyes by Scott Tracy, or Ash and Huntress by Malinda Lo. I was curious what one of these authors would say about the challenges they had or had not faced while trying to publish LGBTQ genre fiction.

It turns out Malinda Lo has been asked this question so many times that she blogged a response. While she has had some negative reactions, she has mostly been fortunate in the level of support she’s received:

I know that homophobia still exists (especially in my personal life, see gay marriage situation), but in publishing, well … Commercial publishing in the United States is so gay-friendly it’s practically Gay Utopia. I mean, children’s book editors are, frankly, notoriously liberal! (Or else, open secret, they’re gay!) And they live and work in New York City, which is second only to San Francisco in Gay Utopicness.

Scott Tracey, too, has faced and responded to this question, as well as reacting directly to the article. While he did face agents and editors who wanted him to straightwash his characters, his book eventually found its proper home. He says:

It’s not a black and white issue.  Publishing is not completely homophobic, or completely supportive.  It varies, and it changes, and there’s no one standard for how things work.  It’s a business, and it’s a business run by MANY different people with MANY different beliefs.

If you want more books with LGBT content, buy the ones that are already out there. Show publishers that there’s profit to be made by investing in these books.

So while I think there are some egregious examples of if not homophobia then fear of homophobia in the children’s publishing industry — including Jessica Verday choosing to withdraw from an anthology rather than meet the editor’s demand that she make the gay love story a straight one — there are other examples of authors who have found success. I can only hope that these success stories will cause agents and publishers to redo their saleability math and realize that there is a market for LGBTQ fiction for teens and children. If you feel the same way, follow Scott Tracey’s advice and invest in these books.

 

Are you In or are you Out?

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Ellen Wittlinger has an article in this month’s Hornbook, “Too Gay or Not Gay Enough” about changes in the Lambda Literary Foundation Awards’ guidelines, which now require that submissions be from self-identified LGBT authors.

The discussion in response to this article over at Arthur A. Levine’s blog is fascinating. For me, the debate about insider versus outsider is perhaps the most interesting (and the most relevant to my own work).

I’ve written about why I write LGBTQ characters, which I think can be summed up as, “To not include them would be to not represent reality.” Secrets of Truth & Beauty included minority characters, but their race was a minor part of the story. Works in progress include a similar mix. When I am writing, I don’t think, “Okay, now it’s time for the Asian character.” That’s how a character appears to me. I do work to make sure that their race or sexuality informs who they are, and works within the story, just as I worked to make Dara’s weight an integral if not defining part of her character development.

I encourage others to go read the article, read Arthur Levine’s response, and then participate in the discussion. These are the kinds of topics and questions that need to be raised in the kidlit world.

Taken to Task

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I want to steal Janet Trumble’s description of herself from her blog:

YA writer, activist, librarian, and straight human with gay tendencies.

Although, I think I really need to work on the activist part. Maybe I can be “YA writer, mom, librarian, and straight human with gay tendencies.”

Anyway, she has a terrific guest post from fifteen-year old book blogger, Brent, in which he describes a school librarian who tells him that books about LBGTQ teens are inappropriate. Such an arrow through my heart as both an author and librarian.

As many librarians have commented on the post, we are, of course, not all like that. But what matters is that some are. I’ve met them. It sucks. And frankly, I’m afraid, some of these librarians are not going to change their deeply-held beliefs that being gay is wrong and/or controversial and so books that portray homosexuality should be kept out of the library.

So what’s a teen to do if his or her library doesn’t stock these books? Ah, the wonder of ILL — interlibrary loan. Not every library does this, and some may charge, but it does open up a whole new world of books, more than could ever fit in one single library. Many libraries even allow you to do this online, so you don’t have to have a face to face conversation with the librarian. If you are having trouble with this, please let me know, and I will help you to navigate the system in your region/state.

Of course, you don’t know what to request if you don’t know what’s out there. Here’s a list of sites that offer reviews of books with LGBTQ characters of both of the types that Brent describes (“books about gay characters, and books whose characters just happen to be gay.”):

Daisy Porter’s Queer YA

Reading Rants: Closet Club

ALA Rainbow Project

GLSEN Booklink

These are usually where I start when looking for books. Any other suggestions?


Scholastic Bookfair Prejudice

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Aaargh! I’m too angry to have a more nuanced response to this: Scholastic Censors Myracle’s ‘Luv Ya Bunches’ from Book Fairs.

Luckily, Myracle herself is more eloquent:

“A child having same-sex parents is not offensive, in my mind, and shouldn’t be ‘cleaned up.’” says Myracle, adding that the book fair subsequently decided not to take on Luv Ya Bunches because they wanted to avoid letters of complaint from parents.