Disappear Queer, Continued

First Alabama, now Oklahoma. Red-state America’s idiocy is still on display. Oklahoma’s House just approved a measure asking public libraries to remove books with homosexual themes from children’s sections.

A resolution adopted by the Oklahoma House asks public libraries to remove books with homosexual themes from children’s sections.

Republican Representative Sally Kern is the author of the resolution urging libraries to restrict certain books to adult sections.

Not surprising, from a state where a bill last year not only prohibited gays and lesbians in the state from adopting children, but also prevented the state from recognizing granted in other states to same-sex couples.

So long Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate. Again, our families are rendered invisible. Though I guess a gay parent in Oklahoma (Are there any left, and if so why are they still there?) could venture into the adult section to retrieve those books for their kids. But I still wonder just why any gay parents would remain in the state with their kids, unless they just have to.

On a personal note, book and the library played an essential role in my coming out process. Not knowing where else to look for information on my burgeoning sexuality (my parents’ only recommendation was “read the Bible”) I turned to the library. I’d learned to take refuge in the school library as a way of avoiding the teasing and harrassment I usually faced on the playground. So I volunteered to shelve books, learned the Dewey Decimal system, and stayed out of trouble.

It served me well when I began coming out, because I knew where to find the books on homosexuality, including the one I credit with saving my life. Its title was A way of love, a way of life: A young person’s introduction to what it means to be gay, written for young people, it spelled out just what was happening to me, included a brief history of homosexuality, and ended with a series of bios of gays and lesbians—old, young, coupled, single, Black, white, Latino—all leading happy, successful lives. It was the first affirmation I got that life I wanted for myself might be possible. I don’t know what librarian ordered it and made sure it was on the shelf, but given the conservatism of my home town I’m amazed it was there, and I’m sure it wouldn’t have been if many people had known. Best of all, I didn’t need my parents to get it for me, and I didn’t need their permission to check it out.

In Oklahoma, at least, those books won’t be so readily available to gay teens who might be seeking the same kind of affirmation.