Controversy & LGBT Teen Collections

Homosexuality is a moral issue for many people and for these people, the very existence of homosexuality is an abomination, evidence of our immoral, evil society. This fact is further complicated when we look at books with LGBT content for young adults. To people who believe homosexuality to be immoral, the inclusion of it in literature intended for impressionable teenagers is an act tantamount to contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The American Library Association publishes lists of frequently challenged books and between 1990 and 2000, 515 challenges were brought based on LGBT content. Though the number of challenges for LGBT content is decreasing, the recent controversy surrounding the picture book And Tango Makes Three (about two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo raising an egg together) and a 2009 challenge to Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block (a coming-out story that was published in 1995 and weighs in at a whopping 105 pages) proves that homophobia and resistance to LGBT literature for young adults is alive and well.

Given this climate, it is particularly important for libraries to be aware that the shelving of LGBT books with the YA collection might come along with challenges by parents, teachers or even the youth patrons themselves. As always, a well-written collection development policy with clear definitions of the criteria through which books are selected for inclusion can go a long way to defend against a challenge. If citing the collection development policy is not enough for a challenger, library administration should be ready with information about awards that the book has received, best of and recommended reading lists on which the book appears and information about the literary merit and talents of the author. Finally, the local LGBT community can be a great help and organizations that work with LGBT youth can speak to the importance of seeing oneself reflected in literature.