I’m so glad when YA writers & book people speak positively about queer-ness

If you know much about me, you’ll know not only am I a survivor of abuse and used self-harm to cope, but I’m also a lesbian and a feminist–and proud of both. Glad to be who I am–and glad to be speaking out in a world where there can be injustice and homophobia.

Kendra, my main character in Scars, just accepts her being queer as normal–which I intentionally wrote. While I think we’ve needed coming-out books in the past, I think it’s more important now to show lesbians/gays as just part of society. Normalazied. Because we are. We’re your neighbors, your friends, your family.

I’m always happy when another YA writer writes positively about lesbian/gay issues–most especially when I already really love and respect that writer’s work! So I was delighted to read the fabulous Ellen Hopkins’ post on Why I Support “Gay”. Ellen is clearly straight, but she is very aware of issues that affect people, and she shares a bit of personal info in her post as well. Thank you, Ellen, for being one of the strong championing voices out there!

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4 Responses to “I’m so glad when YA writers & book people speak positively about queer-ness”

Amy Says:
July 11th, 2010 at 1:50 pm
Thanks for pointing out that post, I’m off to read it now. I love that characters now can just BE gay and that isn’t the whole point of the story. Because being gay / lesbian / bi / whatever is not the only defining thing for a person, it is simply who they are. I can’t wait to read Scars, I had no idea, actually, that Kendra was lesbian (And it is normal, so good for her, and good for you!)
Cheryl Rainfield Says:
July 11th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
I’m glad you’re off to read Ellen Hopkins’ post! I think she’s fantastic, and I love what she said. And yes–I love characters in books that can just be gay, too. And just have it be a good, positive part of the story–but not the only story.

I’m glad you’ll check out Scars, too! Let me know what you think (if you want to) after you read it.

take good care,
Cheryl
Jai Farris Says:
July 11th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
I am glad to hear someone stand for “normal” stories. Years ago I wrote a lesbian romance that also included a storyline about an abusive ex girlfriend in the storyline and you would be amazed at how many lesbian publishing houses rejected it as “too violent” and sending the wrong message about lesbians, as though we don’t ahve normal problems like everyone else. It was frustrating at best. It’s nice to see things finally changing. Thanks for living out loud.
Cheryl Rainfield Says:
July 11th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
Jai–I think it’s SO important that we have books that reflect our lives! I’m sorry a bunch of lesbian publishing houses rejected it as too violent. I wonder–I hope and think–that they’d respond differently now?

I’m thinking–that years ago, we had hardly any reflections of us in the media, in books and TV and art. So…some people wanted what there was to be all positive. Maybe because we had so little–and because there was SO much homophobia and hatred out there?

But now, i think we’ve got a lot more reflections of ourselves and visibility (though we still need a lot more–it’s not anything like equal to straight stuff in the media).

Of course there are abusive lesbian relationships. And that’s important to talk about–even for our own safety. And…it sounds like a neat thing, as a side storyline.

And thank you for your kind comment.