#glbtrt

For Immediate Release  Fri, 02/24/2017

Contact: Macey Morales Deputy Director Public Awareness Office [email protected]

CHICAGO – Today American Library Association President Julie Todaro released the following statement strongly protesting the rollback of protections for transgender students in our nation’s public schools.

“The Trump administration’s decision to revoke important protections for transgender students couldn’t conflict more with the library community’s fundamental values and the principles upon which libraries are founded.  Transgender students deserve the right to use restroom facilities that are aligned with their gender identity.  On average students spend 6-7 hours per day at school, and every student deserves to learn in an environment free from discrimination.  We believe this federal policy must be reinstated because it ensures that all students are treated fairly nationwide.

“ALA, its members, all librarians and library professionals are committed to diversity, inclusiveness, and mutual respect for all human beings, and we will work tirelessly to ensure full representation of all members of society.

“ALA provides gender neutral restrooms at our conferences, and we will not hold our large and economically impactful meetings in states where ‘bathroom bills’ have been passed.  Our Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) division canceled one such program in North Carolina last year.

“We stand with our transgender members, colleagues, families and friends, and we fully support the work of our Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT), whose members continue to lead the fight to abolish intolerance for all of society.

“ALA will work closely with all of its partners for reinstatement of these protections as soon as possible.”

Update: In the wake of the tragic mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando in the early hours of June 12, our hearts go out to the victims, the injured, to their loved ones, the emergency responders, and to the LGBTQ and Latinx communities and spaces targeted by this attack and too many others like it.

Visit www.somosorlando.info and www.weareorlando.org for information on resources, events, and ways to help.

We invite you to support the Community Fund organized by the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida for victim relief.

Contribute your librarian skills to our Pulse Orlando Syllabus of resources, to the Pulse Nightclub Shooting Web Archive, and to the One Orlando Collection Initiative to preserve both the digital and physical memory of this incident.

And for those who will be in Orlando for ALA Annual:

Come share some love at Que(e)ry’s “Hug a Homosexual*” event on the Convention Floor at the Zine Pavilion on Friday 5:30-7:00pm.

There will be a memorial event for victims of the Pulse shooting, led by representatives of ALA, REFORMA, and GLBTRT. Saturday, June 25, 8:00am at the Convention Center Chapin Theater (W320), 

Consider patronizing other local queer bars and clubs who are coming together to support the Orlando Queer/Latinx community following the Pulse shooting.

This ALA page is being updated with Orlando Support activities and related resources for conference-goers, including blood donation opportunities for those who are eligible, other donation and advocacy opportunities, information on convention security, and health and coping resources.

And we again invite you to consider attending the Librarian’s Thing at BB King’s, BCALA’s fundraiser for the Cynthia Graham Hurd Foundation for Reading & Civic Engagement.  The Foundation was established in memory of Cynthia Graham Hurd, one of 9 victims fatally shot at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina last year. Hurd was a librarian for the Charleston County Public Library system.

See a full schedule of queer-themed conference programs and events below.

Fri. 6/24:

5:45-6:30pm: It’s Not Just a G Thing: Exploring LBTQ (and Beyond) in Middle Grade and Young Adult Literature, Exhibit Hall, Pop Top Stage

5:30-7pm: “Hug a Homosexual*” Exhibit Hall, Zine Pavilion

8pm-midnight: EveryLibrary fundraiser at Howl at the Moon

Sat. 6/25:

8-8:30am: Memorial for victims of the Pulse shooting, Convention Center Chapin Theater (W320)

1-2:30pm: We Need Diverse Books and More: Multiple Diversities: Capturing the Experience of Intersectional Identities, Convention Center, Rm. W101A

1-2:30pm: Serving up the Subversive, Convention Center, Rm. W103A

3-4pm: “The wedding heard ‘round the world: The Michael McConnell and Jack Baker Story,” Convention Center W109B 

4:30-5:30pm: “Queer Zines: Where We've Been, Were We're At, and Where We're Going”  Convention Center W102A 8pm-midnight: Librarian’s Thing at BB King’s, BCALA fundraiser for Cynthia Graham Hurd Foundation for Reading & Civic Engagement

Sun. 6/26: 

1-2:30pm: “No Room at the Library: The Ethics of Diversity,” Convention Center W105B

3-4pm: “Reflecting Realities: Trangender Fiction for Tweens and Teens” Convention Center W102A

6-8pm: GLBTRT Social, Blue Martini Lounge, Pointe Orlando

Mon. June 27:

8:30-9:30am: Jazz Jennings (auditorium featured speaker), Convention Center Chapin Theater (W320)

10am-noon: Stonewall Book Awards Program, Hyatt Regency Florida Ballroom

Also, we hope you’ll consider supporting these two great queer organizations in Florida:

Reading Queer: preserving and promoting queer literary culture in South Florida.

Unlike the Stonewall and the Lammys, the Rainbow Book Lists can recognize as many books as they want. Today, we're going to highlight some books that have been recognized as Top 10 titles (or, before 2012, books recognized as "exceptional and highly recommended titles") each year.

(Librarians, if you are trying to add breadth and depth to the LGBTQ+ representation in your J & YA collections, the Rainbow lists are a great place to check for lesser-known books!)

The Arts

Sister Mischief by Laura Goode (2012)

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills (2013)

Drama by Raina Telgemeier (2013)

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle (2014)

Fantasy

Ash by Malinda Lo (2010)

Huntress by Malinda Lo (2012)

Pantomime by Laura Lam (2014)

"Happy!"

Putting Make-Up on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright (2012)

Historical Fiction

Breathing Underwater by Lu Vickers (2008)

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland (2011)

The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth (2013)

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (2013)

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (2013)

Leap by Z. Egloff (2014)

Science Fiction/Dystopian Fiction

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (2012)

Adaptation by Malinda Lo (2013)

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block (2014)

The Culling by Stephen dos Santos (2014)

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson (2014)

Verse Novels

Originally known as the Gay Book Award, The Stonewall Award of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table became officially a part of the American Library association in 1986. Renamed in 1987 to the Gay and Lesbian Book Award, in 1990 the award split into nonfiction and literature. In 1999, the name of the award changed to reflect the round table, and was called the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Book Award. It wasn’t until 2002, over 30 years after the Stonewall Riots, that the awards were named after one of the biggest flash points in American queer history.

At that time, there were still only two awards: the Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award and the Stonewall Book Award-Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award. It wasn’t until 2010 that the Stonewalls were expanded to add a children’s award, and in 2012 it was renamed to the Stonewall Book Award-Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award in honor of the couple's gift to the endowment.

**Please reblog!!**

For the past three years, I've been part of the American Library Association GLBT Roundtable's Over the Rainbow committee. I'm currently the chair. This committee exists to create a bibliography of queer books for adults that come out every year, to help librarians doing collection development. They are recruiting new members to start in January 2015. 

The truth: if you join this committee, you will be inundated with review copies of gay books. Many of them are faaaaaantastic. Some of them will make you cry or pee your pants laughing. Some of them will not be your cup of tea. Still, serving on this committee is an opportunity to make queer voices more visible in libraries, and also to see the variety of queer books being published. It is also a way to get involved in ALA or the GLBTRT, if that's something you're into. 

If you're interested in applying, the details are here, the deadline is October 15. You do need to be a member of ALA, and of the GLBTRT. It's a two-year commitment. It is highly encouraged for you to come to Midwinter, but you can also attend virtually, if you don't make it in person. I am happy to talk with anyone who is considering applying. Not gonna lie, you have to read A LOT, but if you already read a lot of queer books, why not?