BANNED: Novel about Gay Teens
November 22, 2005: While we as a generation of LGBT parents are fostering tolerance and acceptance of diversity, others are still fighting against progress. In Washington State, a school has banned a novel about gay teens for somewhat spurious reasons. This is from the Advocate.
In banning Geography Club, superintendent Patti Banks said she was alarmed by the “romanticized” portrayal of a teen meeting a stranger at night in a park after meeting the person—revealed to be a gay classmate—in an Internet chat room. She said her decision was not due to the gay theme of the novel, written by Brent Hartinger of Tacoma.
Banks pulled the book despite what she described as its “a strong anti-harassment theme.”
The AP describes Geography Club thusly: “In the 2003 book, a teenager thinks he’s the only gay student in his high school until he learns that his online, gay chatroom buddy is a popular athlete at his school. The teen meets others, and they form the school Geography Club, thinking the name will be so boring no one else will join.”
Geography Club is a hugely popular book that has received numerous awards and wonderful reviews. It deals with gay adolescents in an accepting and matter-of-fact way.
It’s the kind of book I wish I had available to read during my teenage years, and it’s one I will definitely encourage my son to read…once he learns all his phonics, that is (he’s only five!).
I don’t believe for a minute that the banning of this book was due to its use of the Internet as a plot device. Do you?
Of course, the reason gay teens rely on the Internet to meet is because it is still so unsafe for them to come out at their schools. Instead of BANNING BOOKS, Banks should focus on making her school a safe place for LGBT kids to be honest about thier lives. That would accomplish a lot more than her ad hoc censorship.
By the way, I first read about this on PageOneQ, a wonderful aggregator of all things LGBT. I get a lot of my news about our community from that site.