All the Colors of the Rainbow: LGBTQ Literature for
Young Adults
When
children are very young, the television shows they watch often discuss the
differences in people and the need to embrace and respect those differences.
Yet, somewhere along the way, this message gets muddled when children are
totally immersed into the world around them.
Prejudice is an unfortunate, yet very real part of the world around us
and it can be challenging when one does not fit within the confines of what
some individuals consider ‘normal.’ This
is especially true when those differences are founded in sexuality. Exploration of sexuality begins at a young
age, but buds in the tween and teen years. When adding in the general angst of the
already tough teen years, societal prejudices can almost be too much to take
when one is just trying to find and be true to themselves. According to the Trevor Project, “LGB youth
are 4 times more likely, and questioning youth are 3 times more likely, to
attempt suicide as their straight peers” (“Facts About Suicide”). Acceptance is a large part of the solution
and there is a growing awareness in society as a whole, although we have a long
way to go. Change can even be seen in
libraries where the number of young adult titles with LGBTQ characters is
continuing to grow at a rapid pace. The history of LGBTQ literature is
fascinating and highlights the changes that have happened in the LGBTQ movement
over the last five decades.
The
beginning of LGBTQ young adult literature harkens back to the late 1960’s,
fitting in with the theme of “free love” that was so popular at the time. Author Albert Spring notes that “The first
novel to focus on a homosexual relationship was John Donovan’s I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip (1969)”
(45). Yet, these early titles often did not have happy endings for the
characters because “homosexuality itself was viewed as a ‘problem’ that had to
be dealt with by the gay characters and their friends and family. In these books, ‘a gay lifestyle’ was often
accompanied by risks and dangers, ranging from losing one’s job to being beat
up” (Spring 46). In the case of I’ll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip,
when the dog of the main character Davy (who is also the character exploring
his homosexual feelings) runs away and is killed, Davy concludes that the death
is a punishment for his homosexual feelings.
Repercussions from homosexuality were a common theme over the next
several years in the few books that did tackle the issue.
One
of the most notable early YA books dealing positively with homosexual
characters was 1982’s Annie on My Mind by
Nancy Garden. This title was notable in
that “it depicts the powerful and enduring love between the characters. In addition, Annie and Liza remain a couple
at the end of the novel despite the obstacles in their way” (Renzi, Letcher,
and Miraglia 121). Thus, it took over a
decade from the time Donovan’s I’ll Get
There… was published and the publication of Annie on My Mind before LGBTQ characters found happiness rather
than shame. Yet, while slow, change was
continuing to be made. Four years later,
“The first YA novel to deal with AIDS was M.E. Kerr’s Night Kites, published in 1986, five years after the official
discovery of the disease” (Renzi, Letcher, and Miraglia 121). While the AIDS epidemic brought the gay
community yet again into a negative light, Kerr’s novel treated the issue
sensitively and also showed a positive relationship between the parents (who
initially held negative feelings against gays as well as AIDS) and their son. Even now, teens who are struggling in coming
out of the closet will appreciate this story for the parents’ journey just as
much as the journeys of Erick and Pete.
Before
the late 1990s, “only 130 novels total [were] published in this [LGBTQ]
category in the last 100 years, according to Christine Jenkins, a library
science professor at the University of Illinois” (Spring 47). The late 1990’s brought in the biggest wave
of LGBTQ literature yet, and the contents of the stories were mostly
positive. Of these titles, “two works
were published that still stand as strong representations of what teen LGBTQ
literature can accomplish: Stephen
Chobsky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower,
and Ellen Wittlinger’s Hard Love,
both published in 1999” (Renzi, Letcher, and Miraglia 122). Even fifteen years later, The Perks of Being a Wallflower continues
to be popular. Not only does it tackle
LGBTQ issues, it also brings to the forefront the importance of allies. For example, when Patrick, who is gay, kisses
the main character, Charlie, who isn’t gay, Patrick immediately
apologizes. Charlie does not freak out
on him because he understands Patrick has just been through a rough situation
where his closeted football player boyfriend screamed and demeaned him to
protect his own false non-gay identity. From
this scene alone, the reader not only gets Patrick’s struggle, they also learn
the importance for LGBTQ individuals to have allies of all sexual preferences.
The
2000’s continued the push of LGTBQ acceptance.
It was in 2000 that “President Bill Clinton first declared June as Gay
and Lesbian Pride month” (Thompson). A few years later, author David Levithan
made a splash on the scene. His first
book, “Boy Meets Boy (2003) is
significant for the ways in which he disrupts the idea of a heteronormative
society and moves beyond a call for tolerance for LGBTQ teens, imaging a world
in which acceptance is the norm rather than the exception” (Renzi, Letcher, and
Miraglia 122). The very next year, “Julie
Anne Peter’s Luna: A Novel, published
in 2004, was the first YA novel to feature a transgender main character”
(Renzi, Letcher, and Miraglia 122). Luna earmarked a slow start of novels
featuring transgendered characters. A
great stride was finally hit in 2012 with titles such as Being Emily by Rachel Gold, I
Am J by Cris Beam, and Beautiful
Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills. The year 2012 also saw the publication of
David Levithan’s Every Day which
completely stepped outside of any barriers of gender and sexuality ideals because
the main character, A, wakes up every day in a different body. In 2014, the nonfiction book Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out took
discussion and acceptance one step farther by allowing readers to meet six
real-life teens and learn their stories.
These
first years of the new millennium are note-worthy as “Michael Cart and
Christine Jenkins observed, ‘In the five publishing years from 2000 to 2004, a
total of sixty-six young adult (YA) titles with (LGBTQ) content appeared, as
compared to the total of seventy titles that appeared during the entire decade
of the 1990s.’” (Manfredi 26). LGBTQ
literature was not only growing, but growing in the right direction. In 2008, ALA started The Rainbow List. The Rainbow List “is a bibliography of books
with significant gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender content, and which are
aimed at youth, birth through age 18” (“Rainbow Books”). Some of the notable young adult titles that
made the list that year included grl2grl by
Julie Anne Peters, Freak Show by
James St. James, and Breathing Underwater
by Lu Vickers. The ALA has continued
to publish this list annually and libraries should find this list beneficial
for collection development and as handouts; however, LGBTQ titles should also
be incorporated into booklists with non-LGBTQ titles. Angie Manfredi notes that “Even adding a
single title with LGBTQ content to reading lists available at the library can
help the process of advocating and integrating” (27-28). LGBTQ novels should be no different than
novels featuring multi-cultural characters or individuals with disabilities. Organizing by theme or genre rather than
characteristics of characters helps readers to branch out without even
realizing it. Integration is a key to
acceptance.
While
the last decade has seen a mostly positive collection of LGTBQ titles, “it
grows obvious that books being published for young adults are not queer
friendly by default. Although the field has expanded in many positive ways, it
is not free from some of the pitfalls of earlier eras” (Manfredi 27). For example, “Negative messages about
homosexuality crop up in Cecily von Ziegesar's best-selling Gossip Girl
series…using regressive and problematic stereotypes about homosexuality”
(Manfredi 26-27). Also, in Jo Knowles’s Lessons
From a Dead Girl, “Leah meets the same grisly fate as LGBTQ characters in
older narratives: she becomes the dead girl of the title” (Manfredi 27). This does not mean a library should not carry
these titles (Gossip Girl fans would most
certainly rebel), rather these titles serve as a good platform for reflection
and open discussion on the problems surrounding stereotyping. This study also
points out that by no means is every LGBTQ book perfect. Book reviews should matter just as much for
LGBTQ novels as they do with any other novel.
In
the last decade, the literature growth has matched the growth of LGBTQ
acceptance around the country. In 2004,
Massachusetts was the first state to allow same-sex marriage; today, 37 states
have legal same-sex marriage (Karimi and Pearson). In 2011, “President Barack Obama recently
expanded the observance [Gay and Lesbian Pride Month] by designating June as
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month” (Thompson). Meanwhile,
young adult literature has been incorporating this overarching acceptance into
more and more novels. In recognition of
GLTBQ writing, The Children’s and YA version of the Stonewall Books Award began
in 2010, a clear testament to the rise of quality and quantity of LGBTQ for
young people (“Stonewall Book Awards List).
In the article “A New Way for Gay Characters in Y.A.,” Scholastic
Publisher and author David Levithan notes that “2013 represents another wave of
change” (Doll). He adds that "For
so many years, so many characters have been defined by their sexuality—they're
'gay'; we don't have to give them any other characteristics," he says. "But
gay characters and gay kids have lots of other things going on. No one is just
this one thing” (Doll). LGBTQ characters
are appearing in non-LGBTQ novels as friends, family, enemies, and allies. Sexuality is no longer the sole thing that
defines the person or the context of the novel, it is just but one thing that
adds to the complexity of the characters and the world of a great novel.
In
conclusion, the history of LGBTQ literature shows that the reader has gone from
a road of few choices and negative repercussions to a varied super-highway of
quality novels where the focus is not just on a person’s sexuality but on the
person themselves. LGBTQ characters are
the leading ladies and gentlemen but they are also best friends,
brothers/sisters, classmates, teammates, and co-workers. We all must remember that the United States
started as a melting pot of people from all different ethnicities and religious
backgrounds. Somewhere along the way,
this acceptance became muddled with unfair prejudices and hierarchical
structures. In order to fix this
problem, people have to continue to take a stand and to support and embrace
their differences and the differences of those around them. Libraries can help support this cause by
ensuring that collections of print and digital materials remain diversified and
that people have the freedom to access these materials for years, decades, and
even centuries to come. We’ve come a
long way, but now it is time to go even farther. The world is a rainbow just waiting to be explored
and embraced.
Works Cited
“About.” Rainbow
Books – GLBTQ Books for Children & Teens. American Library Association, 2015.
Web. 1 Mar. 2015.
Doll,
Jen. “A New Way for Gay Characters in
Y.A.” The Wire. The Atlantic
Monthly Group, 28
Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Mar. 2015.
“Facts
About Suicide.” The Trevor Project. The
Trevor Project, 2015. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Karimi,
Faith and Michael Pearson. “The 13
states that still ban same-sex marriage.” CNN.com. Turner
Broadcasting System, Inc., 13 Feb. 2015. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
Manfredi,
Angie. "Accept The Universal Freak Show." Young Adult Library
Services 7.4 (2009):
26-31. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts. Web. 1 Mar.
2015.
Renzi,
Laura A., Mark Letcher, and Kristen Miraglia.
“Out of the Closet and Into the Open: LGBTQ
Young Adult Literature in the Language Arts Classroom.” Teaching
Young Adult
Literature Today:
Insights, Considerations, and
Perspectives for the Classroom Teacher. Eds. Judith A. Hayn and Jeffrey S.
Kaplan. Maryland: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers,
Inc., 2012. 117-134. Print.
Spring,
Albert. M.E. Kerr. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 2006. Print.
“Stonewall
Book Awards List.” GLBTRT – A Round Table of the American Library Association. American
Library Association, 2015. Web. 1 Mar.
2015.
Thompson,
Ian S. “President Obama Proclaims LGBT Pride Month.” ACLU. American Civil Liberties
Union, 3 Jun. 2011. Web. 2 Mar. 2015.
