Last June, the Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library put up a display for Pride Month, featuring several different books about the LGBTQ community for all ages. Books included titles like “GayBCs” by M.L. Webb, “The Boy In The Red Dress” by Kristin Lambert and “Stay Gold” by Tobly McSmith.
This display has raised concerns about whether LGBTQ books are appropriate for children. CCL Board member Mark Nichols proposed policy changes at a meeting held on Aug 10 regarding library displays, both of which were defeated. The changes would have given the board more responsibility over what books could appear on library displays and what guest authors could speak at the library, or would have given the board voting power over what books would be allowed to be purchased for the children’s library.
Nichols specifically pointed at the “GayBCs” book as evidence of LGBTQ content that is confusing or inappropriate for children. “GayBCs” is an alphabet board book which uses each letter of the alphabet to name an aspect of the LGBQ community (for example, B is for Bisexual, or T is for Transgender).
I’m not sure how an alphabet book, a genre commonly reserved for toddlers, could be confusing. I don’t remember being too confused by “B is for Baseball” or “T is for Tiger.” They’re just words, after all.
But, clearly, it’s not just about the words: Those who believe books like “GayBCs” are inappropriate for children are concerned that their children might learn about the LGBTQ community in a way that they as parents have no control over. This, I can understand: a major facet of parenting is deciding what information and world views your children should have. A person who sees a book with the word “transgender” in it as inherently sexual and inappropriate would certainly not want their child learning about the LGBTQ community. But to pretend that this information would traumatize children at base value is misguided.
LGBTQ people are normal. They are completely normal human beings in all ways regardless of their sexual or gender identities. They file taxes. They read books. They own pets. Just because someone has a different sexual preference than you does not mean they are automatically hypersexual and inappropriate. The opinion that anything related to the LGBTQ community is inappropriate or sexual is one that creates a misplaced fear of normal people.
I concede that perhaps a child who had not been exposed to anything regarding the LGBTQ community could be confused by young adult novels featuring LGBTQ characters, but I do not think this is any reason to prevent children from reading about the community. After all, children can be confused about many things: think about when you learned to tie your shoes, or do long division, or hold a pencil. Were those things not also confusing at first? Is your life not better for understanding them?
Exposing children to the LGBTQ community is not “indoctrinating” them, or “forcing” them into an identity. Nobody in the LGBTQ community is insisting that every child be gay or trans. In fact, common knowledge in the community is that discovering your identity takes time. You may believe you’re straight until you’re middle aged, and then discover you’re gay or bisexual. You may identify as trans as a teenager and then later decide you’re cisgender or gender fluid. You may one day discover that you enjoy being referred to with a particular set of pronouns, or that you’re more romantically attracted to a particular gender over another. Understanding LGBT topics from a young age can make this process smoother.
At the same time, the normalization of LGBTQ identities can make it easier or safer for young people in the community to discover who they are. Reading about LGBTQ people will not inherently make you LGBTQ, but it will help people who may be LGBTQ discover their identity sooner.
This is why it’s so important for preteens to have access to hormone blockers, by the way — forcing a trans teen to go through puberty as a gender they don’t identify with can be traumatic. Nobody is “forcing” teens to be trans, but allowing trans teens to present themselves and experience life as the gender they identify with is better overall for their mental and emotional health.
This is why the Pride Month book section is so vital and important — it aids in the normalization of the LGBTQ community. It helps people of all ages feel safe in exploring who they really are. If you don’t agree with me, feel free to restrict what media your children have access to, as parents across time have done when faced with issues they disagree with. But attempting to restrict what media ALL children have access to is incredibly selfish. Whether you believe LGBTQ issues are “appropriate” for youth should not affect how other parents choose to raise their children. Forcing your views on people like this makes you no better than the LGBTQ people you complain won’t “keep all that to themselves,” doesn’t it?
Categories: Opinion
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