Two new books help fill the long-sparse landscape of LGBTQ histories for teen and tween readers—but one has some problems beneath the surface.
I wrote the below for my Mombian newspaper column and am publishing a slightly revised version here, based on some helpful answers from Nick Adams, Director of Programs, Transgender Media at GLAAD, about transgender terminology. Any errors remain my own.
GLSEN’s 2013 School Climate Survey notes that LGBT-inclusive curricular resources help increase acceptance and reduce the number of negative remarks related to sexual orientation and gender expression, so it feels doubly appropriate to be posting this on Spirit Day during LGBT History Month.
While the number of LGBTQ-inclusive fictional titles for young people has been growing steadily (if slowly), the number of non-fiction titles is far less. Two new books look to address that gap.
Bausum takes us through the confusion of the night itself and then explores the momentum that the uprising gave to the struggle for equality. A chapter on the AIDS crisis shows both how the disease threatened the community that Stonewall had catalyzed, and how it further drew the community together. A final chapter describes more recent wins in marriage equality and hate crimes legislation, the increasing number of youth exploring their gender identities, and of “same-sex parents” (though “LGBTQ parents” would have been more inclusive).
She rightly observes that “gay rights didn’t start with Stonewall,” but had existed for decades—which enabled a larger movement to flourish after the riots. She also notes the influence of the Black civil rights movement.
Her terminology is problematic, however. She refers to “same-sex preferences” multiple times, not explaining that “preference” is a historical usage supplanted now by “orientation.” She uses “he” in reference to Stonewall participant Yvonne Ritter, who was “exploring life as what would now be called a transgender person,” without saying whether the pronoun was based on Ritter’s own usage at the time. (All other sources I’ve seen refer to Ritter as “she.”)
Bausum also writes of the “men who proudly called themselves queens, adopting feminine mannerisms and, on occasion, wearing women’s clothing. Such individuals were labeled transvestites or cross-dressers during an era before the existence of the more inclusive and broader term transgender.”
Although some of those people might now call themselves transgender, the problem is that not all of the people who cross-dressed at Stonewall would refer to themselves as “men,” as Bausum does. If Bausum was using the term historically, because that’s how they referred to themselves at the time, she should have said so. Otherwise she is (however unintentionally) perpetuating the myth that transgender women are really men.
Additionally, a little more explanation around all of the terms would have been useful. “Transvestite” has not just become subsumed under the term “transgender,” but is generally now considered derogatory. And while “cross-dressers” now fall under the broad transgender umbrella, cross-dressers “do not wish to permanently change their sex or live full-time as women,” as the GLAAD Media Reference Guide notes. A “transgender woman,” however, “identif[ies] and live[s] as a woman.” GLAAD cautions, however, “Transgender women are not cross-dressers or drag queens.” Those are important distinctions. In a book for teens who may be encountering LGBT terminology for the first time, Bausum’s wordings seem misleading at best.
Another issue is representation. She mentions by name a number of mostly White gay men who were at the uprising, but overlooks transgender activists of color Sylvia Rivera and Marsha Johnson. Even though historian David Carter has cast doubt on Rivera’s presence during the riots (an issue on which I take no position), that shouldn’t matter, because Bausum devotes several pages to gay activist Craig Rodwell, who she says was not there either. In any case, Rivera and Johnson were undoubtedly motivated by the event to form Street Transvestite (later Transgender) Action Revolutionaries (STAR), an early transgender and gender nonconforming activist group that deserves a mention in any book about the impact of Stonewall.
Bausum’s book has gotten rave reviews from major publishing journals—and deserves them for its captivating tone and for giving young people a much-needed look at an important piece of 20th-century history. I hope, however, that a second edition will clarify its terminology and discuss Rivera, Johnson, and Stonewall’s impact on transgender activism.
We meet activists, athletes, actors, scientists, and writers, including not only big names like Harvey Milk, but also lesser-known figures like Edythe Eyde, publisher of the first gay magazine in the U.S., politician José Sarria, and gay Vietnam veteran Leonard Matlovich.
A series of activities throughout the book, like finding songs by blues singer Gladys Bentley on YouTube, or creating a logo for a social justice cause, add fun and engagement.
Despite the “Gay and Lesbian” main title (which I hope the publisher changes in a future edition to either “LGBT” or “Queer”), Pohlen is inclusive of the whole LGBT spectrum and its racial and ethnic diversity, including transgender pioneers like Rivera and Johnson.
The book packs in an enormous amount of detail. As with any historical survey, though, there are some omissions. For example, although Pohlen mentions early efforts to form Gay-Straight Alliances, he doesn’t discuss the actual origins of such clubs, which might have been interesting to his young audience. Same goes for the formation of LGBT parent groups. Definitions of “lesbian,” “gay,” “bisexual,” and “transgender” would have been useful, too.
Still, it is an impressive effort, and more inclusive of the full spectrum of LGBT life than an earlier history for teens, Linus Alsenas’ 2008 Gay America: Struggle for Equality
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