Books with gay themes for young readers take off

At his Kentucky elementary school, kids taunted Brent on the playground about being gay, whatever that was.

By eighth grade, he realized what they meant and came out to a friend – and vice versa.

She was an avid writer, he a voracious reader. They headed to their school library in search of stories that spoke to their lives: gay, gay in the South, gay and fearing stereotypes like “disgusting” and “worthless.”

“There were tons of books about gangs and drugs and teen pregnancy and there were no LGBT books,” says Brent, now 15 and heading into his sophomore year of senior high. “I asked the librarian about it and she was like, ‘This is middle school. I can only have appropriate books here.’“

So they went to their public library, where they discovered plenty of romantic gay steam – for adults.

Turning next to bookstores, they finally found what they’d been looking for – a recent explosion in the publishing world of books that speak to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning teens.

First came a gem, a book for young people that made them cry: Martin Wilson’s 2008 debut, “What They Always Tell Us,” set in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

The story about a troubled year for two brothers, one of whom finds solace in a relationship with a boy, made him feel less like an “alien on your own planet,” Brent says.

A world of books followed. Brent read his way through Tom Dolby, Robin Reardon, Julie Ann Peters and David Levithan.

He soon realized there were lots of coming out stories but he also craved romance, fantasy and paranormal books with characters that just happened to be gay, like Damien in the “House of Night” vampire series he loves, by the mother-daughter team P.C. and Kristin Cast.

“I see the characters trickling into the mainstream genres. I really like that,” says Brent, who asked that his last name and hometown not be used.

“It makes being gay feel natural, which it is, of course. Books give you hope.”

Books that speak to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning teens have traveled light years since John Donovan’s “I’ll Get There. It Better be Worth the Trip” led the way in 1969.

Long since out of print, the story of the confused world of 13-year-old Davy and the jock he kisses will be reissued in September by Flux, an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide.

“This book made Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) very nervous,” says Brian Farrey, editor of the new edition. “They weren’t sure how people were going to take to it.

“It was the one that said it can be done for teens, and there won’t be people with pitchforks and torches waiting for you at the door. It opened the closet to teens and said you are not alone.”

Long before gay characters began popping up in the mainstream on TV and at the movies, librarians embraced “I’ll Get There,” says Kathleen T. Horning, director of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Another important forerunner was Nancy Garden’s 1982 “Annie on My Mind” and its unabashedly happy ending for two 17-year-old girls who fall in love.

“Previous to that, there would be some awful car accident or one of the gay characters would die,” Horning says, acknowledging that thread in “I’ll Get There.”

“There was a sense that the gay character had to be punished somehow. They were kind of depressing.”

Still, until now few LGBT titles became blockbusters. That changed with two boys named Will Grayson and a very large, very “Glee”-ful linebacker named Tiny.

“Will Grayson, Will Grayson,” by Levithan and John Green, debuted on the New York Times children’s best-seller list and stayed there for three weeks after its April release. That was a first for a young adult novel with major gay themes.

It has delighted hungry teen readers – fanboys and fangirls who were the likely reason the book became a trending topic on Twitter. Penguin has 60,000 copies in print.

In alternating chapters, Green and Levithan write of two 16-year-old boys with little in common, living in separate Chicago suburbs.

One’s depressed and struggling to come out and the other is straight with a flamboyantly gay friend in Tiny Cooper, a football star on the hunt for love – and stardom in musical theater.

“I am Tiny,” sassy 20-year-old Andrew Casasanta, an English major at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

“It’s still very frustrating,” he says. “I don’t think that there’s many characters out there that I can personally relate to, and they’re generally more stereotypes. It’s important that this book, while having gay themes front and center, was written well.”

It helps that Levithan is a prolific rock star in gay lit for young people, with an acclaimed winner 2003’s “Boy Meets Boy.”

It also helps that Green is revered as a writer for teens, including his “Paper Towns” in 2008, and by fans of the adrenaline-infused videos he regularly posts online.

“Landing as high on the New York Times list as we did with ‘Will Grayson, Will Grayson’ made a big statement to the children’s publishing world that gay characters are not a commercial liability,” Green says. “This is an important statement to make.”

As gay-straight alliances spread in schools and kids reared by gay parents have kids of their own, books remain important survival tools for all young people trying to figure out who they are, says Lynn Evarts, a high school librarian in the farm country of Sauk Prairie, Wis.

“Kids have for the most part become ‘Will and Grace’-ified,” she says. “Oftentimes I’ll hand them a book that has a gay main character and tell them how funny it is, and they take it and like it.

“These are kids who wouldn’t normally touch anything like that. I live in the land of rednecks, but they like it because it’s funny and good.”

But what about readers like Brent who don’t have inclusive libraries, deep pockets or technology to download ebooks?

Recent research in Texas, for instance, indicated a strong “I don’t serve those teens” attitude among librarians.

“It’s the argument that drives me crazy,” says Teri Lesesne, who teaches young adult lit in the Department of Library Science at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.

“It’s like, ‘Yeah, you do,’“ she says. “They might not be coming in and saying, ‘Hi, I’m gay or I’m bi or I’m transgender or I’m questioning my own identity,’ because they’re afraid.

(Note goals: 24-28, 40-42)

Communist Goals (1963)

Documention below

Congressional Record—Appendix, pp. A34-A35

January 10, 1963

Current Communist Goals

EXTENSION OF REMARKS OF HON. A. S. HERLONG, JR. OF FLORIDA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Thursday, January 10, 1963

Mr. HERLONG. Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Patricia Nordman of De Land, Fla., is an ardent and articulate opponent of communism, and until recently published the De Land Courier, which she dedicated to the purpose of alerting the public to the dangers of communism in America.

At Mrs. Nordman’s request, I include in the RECORD, under unanimous consent, the following “Current Communist Goals,” which she identifies as an excerpt from “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen:

[From “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen]

CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev’s promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to “eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms.”

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. “Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art.”

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them “censorship” and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as “normal, natural, healthy.”

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with “social” religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a “religious crutch.”

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of “separation of church and state.”

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the “big picture.” Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use [”]united force[”] to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction [over domestic problems. Give the World Court jurisdiction] over nations and individuals alike.

Forget the “Pubic” library and the “Pubic” schools.

Educate your own children. Homeschool them, or send them to a good synagogue school or church school.

The tax-funded, union-run government schools are better understood as the Bus Ministry of the State Church of Collectivist Humanism.

The “school district” is better characterized by its Marxian moniker, the “school collective”.

Get reading books for your children from

“Veritas Press” www.veritaspress.com
“The Heritage Foundation” www.heritage.org
“The Book Peddler” http://www.bookpeddler.us/
“Keepers of the Faith” http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/category/Books

... and other such places.

Do your own research.
Buy your own books.
Establish your own library.
Educate your own children.

Also, for your children’s research.
Use an old computer, or buy a “Plug Computer”.
Install Linux on it (CentOS 5.5 is good) and create a subnet for your children to use.
Use squid to set it up as a proxy server and mail server.
Use Dansguardian to create a whitelist of approved web sites.
Make sure the mail server delivers a copy of every email coming in and going out.

Think that’s over controlling?

If you work anywhere that uses the internet, be assured that your company is monitoring emails and web sites visited.

They pay for the equipment and the connection. They have every right to determine how it will be used and to monitor it accordingly.

DO NOT ALLOW THE INTERNET TO COME DIRECTLY INTO YOUR HOME TO YOUR CHILDREN WITHOUT STRINGENT SAFEGUARDS!

Genesis 13:13
Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20-21
Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

Genesis 19:4-7
Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.

They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."

Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.

Psalms 12:8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men.

Ain't this just FABULOUS?? More?

Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

2 Peter 2

1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.

But there IS hope!!!

1 Corinthians 6:9-11

9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape.....

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