LISNews: Librarian News

Here from Proud Parenting GLBT Youth, comes a history of literature with lesbian themes for young adults. Publishers of the earliest title mentioned, "Spring Fire" (circa 1951) told author M.E. Kerr that the book could not have a happy ending otherwise the postal service would not allow it to be sent through the mail.

A recent title is "Keeping You a Secret" by Julie Anne Peters, who commented “A wide disparity of attitudes exists at the school library level. I’ve had a librarian tell me, ‘I’d never put your book in my library [a Colorado high school library] because no kid would be caught dead carrying a book like that around.’" But, she maintains, "there are growing numbers of teachers and librarians who are vocal advocates for serving the needs of LGBTQI youth, and their passion is contagious."

For the acronym-challenged, here's a definition of LGBTQI from this website; it means "a common abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersexed community."