Four years ago I sat in a theater watching We Will Rock You, and I was fuming.
Though this rock musical is based on the music of Queen, not a single LGBT character appears in its cast of "Bohemians." I was fine with that, if perhaps a little disappointed, but midway though the show Galileo, the male lead, made an unintentional reference to gay sex, a mild innuendo. Pop, a crusty hippie character, then mugged for the audience like his rear end hurt, and the crowd roared. Roared! After the laughter died down, Pop said something like, "Whatever floats your boat, man."
Really? You appropriate the songs of Freddie Mercury to cash in on the good will of his fans, then make a middle-school joke about how icky gay sex must be? Was I the only one offended that this brilliant bisexual singer was being straightwashed out of this show?
Luckily I went to see Matilda the Musical the following night, where more than once the plucky lead sings, "If you always take it on the chin and wear it, nothing will change." She was right. So there in the theater, I promised myself I would write Gay & Lesbian History for Kids.
I had been mulling the idea for some time, having just written a kids' book on Einstein and relativity, another subject some adults wrongly believe is beyond children's abilities to comprehend. But unlike Einstein, most children have queer reference points in their own lives on which to build their understanding. Today there are LGBT characters on TV and in movies, as well as out and proud actors, athletes and musicians. The news routinely discusses issues such as same-sex marriage and the fight for LGBT rights. At school, they've probably been involved in antibullying campaigns and have friends who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and, increasingly, transgender, or they are LGBT themselves. Yet there are very few history books to help children make sense of it all. For the upper elementary/middle school audience I hoped to write for, I couldn't identify a single mainstream nonfiction title that explored the LGBT community's valuable contributions to society.
The research took two years, and despite being a history buff, I quickly realized there were gaps in my own knowledge. Not only that, there were gaps in the LGBT community's knowledge of itself, even about iconic events like the Stonewall uprising. If the histories written about that 1969 riot agree on one thing, it's that nobody knows for sure who threw the first brick, even if we know who threw most of the rest.
Luckily I had plenty of help telling the story from the community, people like photographer Dan Nicoletta, who as a young man worked in Harvey Milk's Castro Camera and whose iconic photos you have likely seen many times, and Suzanne Manford Swan, surviving daughter of Jeanne and Jules Manford, founders of PFLAG. There were also modern-day heroes, like Theresa Volpe and Mercedes Santos, two of the plaintiffs in the Lambda Legal lawsuit to overturn the same-sex marriage ban in Illinois. On and on, everyone I contacted generously gave of their time, resources, and memories, without exception.
It turned into an embarrassment of riches, and even after convincing my publisher to make the book longer, plenty of the material still had to be cut, including Freddie Mercury. But because it is such a rich history, it wasn't a difficult book to write. Its heroes are underdogs, its villains come right out of Disney central casting, and the heroes ( mostly ) win. Their stories are dramatic and sometimes humorous, and illustrate the importance of honesty, courage, hard work, creativity, love, and determination. For a children's author, it was a lavender gold mine.
The only challenge I faced was deciding where to stop. Fortunately the U.S. Supreme Court made the decision for me. When we learned that it would be ruling on same-sex marriage last spring, I left a hole in the manuscript with the plan to fill it at the last minute before going to press. On the June day that the book was announced at the American Library Association convention, I got the ending I'd hoped for. And that evening, President Obama provided the rainbow-lit White House that appears on the back cover. Talk about lucky.
I sincerely hope that more authors will write about LGBT history for children. The community has so many stories yet to be told, and so many different ways to tell the stories I included in my book. And if I've learned anything from the LGBT community over the years, it's that through our diverse voices that we find our strength.
Jerome Pohlen will be signing copies and reading from Gay & Lesbian History for Kids at Open Books, 651 W. Lake St., Saturday, Oct. 17, 1—3 pm. The event is sponsored by Windy City Times as part of LGBT History Month. Event link: www.open-books.org/event/lgbt-history-celebration/ . General book link: www.indiebound.org/book/9781613730829 .
