Advocacy – YA Pride

‘Room at the Table’: Pulse, Vincent Rutherford, and the Work We Have Left to Do

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:10-05:00July 1st, 2017|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Activism, Advocacy, Coming Out, Native, Non Binary|

Pride Month Blogathon: Day 14 – Introduction to Pride Month Blogathon by Weezie Wood I woke up the morning of June 12, 2016, to a text from my cousin asking me if I had seen the news. I was already running late for brunch with my dad and I typed out a quick “No, what’s up?” before heading out the door. I should have heard the news in the car. By that point in the day, there wasn’t a news or radio station that wasn’t blasting what had happened around 2 am that morning in Orlando, but I wouldn’t learn [...]

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What’s Your Queery? Advocacy & Inclusivity in Teen Library Services

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:40:38-05:00June 17th, 2016|Categories: Archive, Blogathon 2016, Teachers & Librarians|Tags: Activism, Advocacy, Allies|

by Candice Happy LGBTQIA Heritage Month and happy 5th anniversary, Gay YA!! I am so honored to have been invited to contribute to Gay YA’s awesome Pride Month and anniversary blogathon! As the President of the Young Adult Library Services Association and the Senior Librarian of systemwide Teen Services at the Los Angeles Public Library, I wanted to highlight how some library staff have advocated for greater inclusivity and awareness of LGBTQIA communities and provide tips for those who want to organize and advocate locally. I interviewed Xochitl Oliva and David Hagopian, the Chair and Co-Chair, respectively, of [...]

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Dumbledore Gets Married in Ireland. Sort Of.

By Nadia|2020-03-28T13:41:33-05:00June 25th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Activism, Advocacy, Allies, gay, LGBTQIA, Representation|

by Jennifer Polish So Dumbledore and Gandalf got married. At the suggestion of J.K. Rowling. And all the fandoms rode off into the proverbial sunset. But that’s not the entire story. In the same episode of Doctor Who that Shakespeare was portrayed as bisexual (I punched the air myself before remembering I was watching it with a straight cis guy who was glaring at me), the Doctor proclaims – after saving the world with the iconic spell Expelliarmus! (please don’t ask how) – “Good old J.K.!” Which is largely what the queer interwebs have been saying of late: [...]

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How To Make Your Library a Safe Place for Queer Teens

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 11th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Guest Blogs|Tags: Advocacy, Allies, Library|

by Angie Manfredi Last year, I chose Alex London’s YA dystopian thriller Proxy as my teen book club’s selection. This meant my library would purchase multiple copies, many teens would read it, and then we would Skype with Alex to talk about it. Why did I choose Proxy? Well, partially because it’s superb YA: a well-written, engaging, fast-paced read that asks interesting questions about debt and income inequality. But I also partially chose it because it has a gay, biracial lead character and the author is a gay man. I wanted my teen readers to experience a swashbuckling [...]

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On Building a Better Tomorrow

By Vee|2020-03-28T13:41:48-05:00May 8th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: Advocacy, Allies, Minor Queer Characters|

by Ellen Hopkins I write contemporary young adult fiction. To date, I’ve published eleven bestselling YA novels-in-verse, and each storyline is unique. I’ve written about addiction, abuse, suicide, prostitution and the drive for perfection, both internal and external—issues that touch teen lives every day. The books are diverse, but they all have in common queer characters somewhere in their pages. Burned by Ellen Hopkins (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2006) Sometimes they’re main characters. Other times, they’re peripheral or barely seen. For instance, in Burned, Pattyn has a gay uncle who’s been shunned by his ultra religious [...]

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Author Guest Blog: Kimberly Derting

By Olivia|2020-03-28T13:41:49-05:00May 6th, 2015|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog|Tags: Advocacy, Allies|

By Kimberly Derting I have three kids, and I’ve raised them all to be conscientious and loving—to see people as people rather for their sexual orientations or skin colors or religious beliefs. But it’s my youngest daughter—my 14-year-old—who is fierce about these principles, to the point of being rabid. This was what she asked for as her 14th birthday. "Why ban gay marriage when you can ban kidz bop?" She wears it everywhere, until eventually I have to sneak it into the wash. I think, secretly, she wants to overhear a whispered slur just so [...]

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Guest Post: Jo Knowles

By Maria|2020-03-28T13:43:21-05:00April 8th, 2011|Categories: Archive, Author Guest Blog, Writers on Writing|Tags: Advocacy, censorship, Representation|

Last weekend I was driving near the Brown campus in Providence, RI with my family. When we stopped at a light, two male students crossed the street, holding hands. They were chatting away, smiling, like what they were doing was the most natural thing in the world. My husband and I both commented on how nice that was. And how rare. Because honestly? In most places in this country, you will not see two boys walking along a busy street holding hands. Carefree. Safe. In most places in this country, there are still boys and girls just like [...]

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