A case for more LGBT+ texts in our classroom libraries

Take a moment and think about these facts:

1. 34% of LGBT students are bullied on school property; 28% are bullied electronically.  In addition, LGBT students are 140% more likely than their heterosexual peers to not go to school because of safety concerns (Youth Risk Behavior  conducted by the CDC).
2.  The rate of suicide is four times higher for LGBT youth than it is for heterosexual youth, and 40% of transgender adults reported attempting suicide, 92% of which did so before they were 25 years old (the Trevor Project).
3.  92% of LGBT teens say they hear negative messages about being LGBT in their community,  and the top sources of that negativity are school, their peers, and the Internet (Growing up LGBT in America from Human Rights Commission).

LGBT, gender nonconforming, and gender fluid children in our schools face a dire reality every day, not just from their peers, but from the culture at large.  Look at what has been done to LGBT+ rights just in the last six months: at least 100 anti LGBT bills have been introduced in 29 states of which five have passed (USA Today); in February, protections were rolled back that allowed people to use the restroom that matched their gender identity, and, most recently, transgender people have been banned from the military (CNN).

In times like these, schools must step up and become a safe harbor for all of our students, especially for those who are under particular threat of physical or emotional harm.  As English teachers, one way we can provide a safe refuge is  through the books we offer and highlight in our classroom libraries.

Plenty of LGBT texts are available, both YA and adult titles.  A quick google search generates lists of recommended reading for LGBT youth, including Best LGBT titles for teens (goodreads) and ALA Rainbow List.

The question is whether we have the courage to buy, display, talk about, and encourage reading these books.  It's a worthy question to consider, especially when the five most challenged books on the American Library Association's 2016 Top Ten Challenged Books were on that list because of the LGBT themes, characters, and sexually explicit content.

To get a flavor of what is out there, I read four books that have LGBT characters as their narrators and LGBT issues as their primary plot conflicts.  Those books were as follows:

• Openly Straight by Bill Konigsberg.  In this book, the narrator is an openly gay teenager.  His parents are so supportive that they even hijack the cause a bit (the mom, for example, is the president of the local PFLAG organization), and his school community is open and receptive.  However, the narrator is tired of being primarily known as "the gay kid."  He just wants a chance to be himself without the label.  In order to do this, he switches schools where he sets about acting "straight."  Needless to say, this doesn't work out as planned, and ultimately the characters learn that being gay is just one part of being his authentic self.
• Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz.  This title shows a character struggling to understand his own sexuality and identity.  The path for Aristotle is not an easy one.  Claiming his identity includes discovering secrets about his family, understanding his Mexican-American culture, exploring boundaries, and considering his future.  For Aristotle, being gay comes as a slow, almost reluctant, realization about himself, one of many he has to come to in order to grow up.  
• History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera.  The primary issue for the gay protagonist is the fact that his ex-boyfriend recently died in a drowning accident.  As the story unwinds in real time and in the past, the reader sees the protagonist confront mental health issues (including OCD and anxiety) and become entangled in essentially a gay love triangle.
• Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard.  This book came the closest to being about transgender youth.  The main character is gender nonconforming and lesbian, an important and definitely underrepresented point of view in classroom libraries. Other titles that may be more reflective of the transgender experience include the following:  I Am Jazz by Jazz Jennings, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan, Luna by Julie Ann Peters, and If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo (all of which are currently on hold for me at the library, so expect to hear more on this topic at a later date).

We may take some heat for having LGBT titles in our libraries, but we must defend these titles as having equal rights to space on our shelves.  We are obligated to provide these texts as a mirror for our LGBT+ students, one in which they can see their actual lives and experiences reflected back at them, one in which they can see that their struggles, while unique, are shared and validated.