Once Again, HOORAY FOR BOYS WHO WANT TO BE GIRLS!

Seven-year-old Bobby Montoya identifies as a girl and wants to join the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts won't let him. His mother, Felisha Archuleta, thinks the organization is being ridiculous.

Archuleta says that Bobby identifies as a girl and she doesn't have a problem with it: "He's been doing this since he was about 2 years old. He's loved girl stuff, so we just let him dress how he wants, as long as he's happy." Bobby himself told CNN, "It's like hurting my heart. It hurts me and my mom both. Somebody told me I couldn't like girl stuff."

Fortunately, Bobby's mother and grandmother are telling Bobby that it's okay to like girl stuff! It's about time people figured out that girly-boys, however they grow up to be, shouldn't be shunned, discouraged, shamed, teased, beaten, or otherwise just because they're different. My life would have been a lot better had the adults around me, when I was a girly-boy, understood this.

Here's a great video about Bobby. All I can say is, just like with Livvy James, when I was a kid I would have killed for those fecking GORGEOUS boots Bobby is wearing!



My girly-boy story is here. I still miss that black cat costume an awful lot...

"Transgender Boy Tries To Join Girl Scouts, Rejected Because Of 'Boy Parts'" (Gothamist)

BTW, Bobby likes My Little Pony, so on top of everything else he totally rocks!

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Totally Awesome OPERA KID!

THIS KID IS AWESOME! Nine-year-old Aiden Sagerman loves opera and he wants to find other kids who love opera. He's not having much luck, though.

Most kids think of operas as long, boring plays that are in some language they don't know. Other kids think of operas as good chances to get some sleep. Still other kids think of operas as both. And then there are kids like me; kids who like opera, kids who understand the plot.

A lot of kids misunderstand opera. Once I told a friend the plot of "Die Walkure." I knew it was the kind of thing he might enjoy. As soon as I told him it was an opera, he stopped listening and tried to change the subject. That's what has happened with everyone else.

There are so many reasons why I like opera: the complex plots, the amazing music, the interesting characters, the battle scenes and just the stories themselves. I really don't understand why other kids don't like it. What idiot came up with the idea that operas were boring for children?

Reading his commentary is one thing, but you have to hear him deliver it for the full effect. Cripes, three-fourths of the adults out there couldn't deliver a short commentary with this much expression and feeling. Dang it, I think I see now why Aiden loves opera...

Good luck, kid! Eventually the opera lovers all find each other somehow.

"Opera Kid: Nine-year-old Aiden Sagerman likes opera, and he's not kidding." (KQED Radio)

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Hooray for boys who want to be girls!

This is a fantastic article about a terrific girl, her beyond-awesome mom and dad, and how they defied bigots to help their child be who she needs to be. Naturally, the worst of the bigots are adults. The kids are all right.

‘None of the other children called me nasty names and the boys accepted me as a girl. A few of them kept calling me by my old boy’s name, but I didn’t mind because it takes time to get used to something new. I have a small group of close friends — all girls — who would look after me if anyone tried to pick on me, so I’m not worried. I have as much acceptance as I need.’

Read the whole thing for an inspiring look at a world that, small hard-won bit by small hard-won bit, is changing for the better.

"Why I let my son live as a girl: Mother of boy who returned to school in a skirt bravely tells her extraordinary story" (Daily Mail)

BONUS STORY! Here's a look at a sweet world where boys want to be girls, girls want to be boys, boys just want to love boys and girls just want to love girls, and bullies get their comeuppance!

"Gryphon and Tiger and the Boy Filled with Dreams"

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Where the Wild Things Still Are; or, Children Are Beasts

A delightful and acerbic look at children's books today from one of my heroes, the irrepressible Maurice Sendak. What's wrong with kids' books today? They're too goddamn nice!

When your work first appeared, it was considered to be new, something different. What were you doing that nobody else had done?

I was developing a child who I recognized as myself as a child, from my observations of other children around me in Brooklyn. We were wild creatures. We did things that were objectionable.

Max, to me, was a very average normal kid, but he upset a lot of people at the time. He yelled at his mother, he talked back to her, she deprived him of food and then gave it to him. Children who fight back, children who are full of excitement are the kind of children I like.

Max was a little beast, and we’re all little beasts. That was what was so novel.

More terrific observations about the cowards that were and are our parents from Mr. Sendak here. God, I love this man!

"On the Phone With Maurice Sendak" (The New York Times)

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EAR PLUGS, LOUISE!!!

So we've all seen this, right?



Um-hmm. So what do I think?

You wanna know?

You REALLY wanna know?

At least she sounds better than Charlotte Church, but you can tell she’s been trained to do this like a trick – she can sing that one aria (and maybe a couple of others) because she’s listened to recordings and is imitating them. How can you tell? She sang two notes and I said, “Renée Fleming.” SHE’S JUST IMITATING RENÉE FLEMING’S RECORDINGS!!! Right down to some of the little things about Renée that some critics don’t like. Even Charlotte Church had better knowledge of the mechanics of how to sing (even though she couldn’t do it very well). And our 10-yr-old divette (can’t be bothered to remember her name) is gonna tear up her vocal cords before she’s twenty if she keeps singing things like “O mio babbino caro.” Heck, HANS BUCHHIERL knew more about singing than this girl does (and he did it far better, too). So I am unimpressed. Lil’ Miss Divette will have her fifteen minutes and when she turns 13 they’ll tart her up like they did with Charlotte Church after someone finally told her, “Honey, you ain’t no feckin’ Callas!” And we’ll all forget about her by the time she’s twenty, unless she implodes like Lindsay Lohan. I hope Lil’ Miss Divette’s stage mother is happy. Grump. I’m gonna go put on a Renée CD!

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P.S. Oh, Jackie darling, Renée Fleming called? She'd like her hair back.




Hans Buchhierl, best boy soprano ever. He could sing rings around Lil' Miss Divette. Freaking...RINGS!!!

Gay Teen Blogger Blasts School, Public Librarians

An outstanding interview with Brent, the awesome author of the post on LGBT YA lit that I highlighted a couple of weeks ago. I love this bit:

How did it make you feel when your middle school librarian told you LGBT novels were inappropriate?
Can I cuss in this interview? I felt disgusted. And pissed at her.

Here's your chance to get it off your chest. Say something to her.
Get over it. Get over your prejudice. It doesn't matter. It's not your place to judge what kids should read based on your prejudices.

Read the whole thing; it’s well worth it.

"Gay Teen Blogger Blasts School, Public Librarians" (School Library Journal)

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Books with gay themes for young readers take off

Okay, so recently I started writing short stories featuring young gay people, thinking that the tales would be too quirky to get published but, what the hey. Well, so far one of these stories has been published and another one is on the way. A third very nearly got published, and I have high hopes for the gay teen vampire story the same editor is considering right now. Then last week we saw the excellent post from Brent about LGBT YA books. And I realized -- wait a minute. There are people actually doing this already. And the LGBT kids love it! (I had some positive feedback from a couple of them regarding my story "Wolf Dreams.") Anyway, here's a good overview of the entire phenomenon, kicking off from -- you guessed it -- Brent's excellent blog post from last week. Check it out -- I have to get back to writing more of these stories!

"Books with gay themes for young readers take off" (MercuryNews.com)

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What's Life Like For Gay Kids In Public Schols?

Last week, NPR's Talk of the Nation did a segment on gay kids in public schools -- their experiences, fears, hopes, and what people are doing to help them. Here's a link to a recording of the segment along with a transcript. It's quite good, although some of what you will hear about what these kids have to go through I find terribly angering. If you want to look at the depths of shitty behavior amongst people who think they're far more righteous than the rest of us, look no further than the way gay kids get treated today. Here's an excerpt of what gays, and not just the kids, have to go through:

BRANDON (Caller): Hi. I am a queer teacher in Columbus, and the big thing I've noticed, the big problem that I have had, is I live in a state where it is still legal to fire someone for being gay.

So I cannot fully support my students who are going through the same troubles I went through in high school without risking my job and my livelihood. I cannot come to them without drawing attention to myself, and always worrying what will be the ramifications of that and what will ultimately be the lesson that they get from that - when they see someone helps them and then gets punished for it.

I so often have to support the right of students to say things in my classroom that I find abhorrent, that are insulting and discriminatory against me, but it's under this guise of every voice has a right to be said. But at the same time, I don't have the right to really give the ability for students who need the voice, who are so invisible, to have that safety without putting myself at risk.

Another excerpt focusing on the bigotry gay kids experience (emphasis mine):

While there are protections under the umbrella of Title 9 at the federal level, there are not non-discrimination protections for employment for LGBT people at the federal level. That's why we're trying to pass a law called ENDA. And in fact, in eight states in this country, there are laws that specifically prohibit positive discussions of homosexuality in public schools.

Now, these laws vary in terms of what they actually cover, but what we see in our research is that in laws - such as Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas, the effect of that law is that teachers in those states, whether they are LGBT or straight, are less likely to intervene when they witness anti-LGBT harassment and name-calling in their schools. And they also, sadly - in those states you are more likely to have students report that teachers themselves are making derogatory comments.

So the prohibition on positive comments is also seen as a license to say negative things themselves.

Nationwide, we have a problem with teachers not intervening when they witness this behavior. Eighty percent of LGBT students report that teachers who witness this behavior rarely or never intervene. And half of LGBT students report that they don't bother telling anyone when they face name-calling, harassment or assault at school because they don't think anything will be done.

There is hope, though -- the straight classmates of gay kids do learn when it's pointed out to them:

Just the other day, I was working with some students and there were a fair - I would say over half the class would go(ph), well, what's the big deal? It's OK. You know, whatever, kids are gay. And then there were others in the class - and this was so inspiring - they said, you know, I never realized when I said "that's so gay" that I was really hurting somebody. I'm not going to say that again. So I saw hope, and I see change.

Take time to read or listen to the whole thing. And keep in mind, you may well know one of these kids who are suffering from this and cannot tell anyone. What you say and how you act count for so much in their lives.

What's Life Like For Gay Kids In Public Schols? (Talk of the Nation, NPR)

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Gay Teen Pwns Gay-cist Librarians!

This blog entry by Brent, a fifteen-year-old bibliophile who is also gay, brought tears to my eyes and made me want to jump for joy. With more and more confident gay kids like this, the world is certain to become a better place -- I dare any bigot to look into this young man's face and try to shame him. You can't. You...simply...can't.

When I set out to find more LGBT titles, I turned to my school’s library. Honestly? It was pathetic. There was not one single LGBT novel. But oh, of course the librarian went out of her way to buy books about gangs, drugs, and teen pregnancy. Like, for real, the people who actually do care about gangs, drugs, and teen sex sure as hell don’t read–they’re too busy (note: gangs, drugs, and teen sex. Yeah, they’re going to interrupt all that fabulous action to sit and read a good novel!). When I asked her about it, she replied, “This is a school library. If you are looking to read inappropriate titles, go to a book store.” Uhm, how in the hell is LGBT YA lit “inappropriate”?

I mean, think about it. Let it register: The librarian claimed LGBT novels were inappropriate, yet she approved of books that had heterosexual sex. Yeah, she was being gay-cist! It wasn’t until May of 2009 (my last month of attending that school) that she bought a book that mentioned gays. It was Ellen Hopkins’ Impulse. FINALLY!

.....

The world needs more librarians who serve the purpose of finding the right book to put in the right person’s lap. Not librarians who think that they can decide what’s “inappropriate” and what’s not, based on their personal prejudices. There are tons of gay teens, struggling to find a group to fit in. LGBT YA lit helps us find out that no, we aren’t alone and no, we aren’t worthless or disgusting. It helps us discover that we are part of a group. The LGBT group. Which is the group to be in. Tons of brilliant people, doing brilliant things, fighting for brilliant causes (Straight people with gay tendencies included).

Read the whole thing. Astonishing and wonderful! Check out Brent's own blog here.

"Gay teen blogger/book reviewer takes librarians to task over LGBT lit" (Pinched Nerves)

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h/t Andrew Sullivan

"How do they get to be that way?" Ebert on Race in America

Somehow over the years I never noticed that Roger Ebert could write like this about topics other than movies – touching, insightful, heart-wrenching, angry. This column by him is about race, and it is about as emotionally devastating as anything I have every read. Ebert kicks off from the racist attacks on that school-wall mural in Arizona.

That brings me back around to the story of the school mural. I began up above by imagining I was a student in Prescott, Arizona, with my face being painted over. That was easy for me. What I cannot imagine is what it would be like to be one of those people driving past in their cars day after day and screaming hateful things out of the window. How do you get to that place in your life? Were you raised as a racist, or become one on your own? Yes, there was racism involved as my mother let the driver wait outside in the car, but my mother had not evolved past that point at that time. The hard-won social struggles of the 1960s and before have fundamentally altered the feelings most of us breathe, and we have evolved, and that is how America will survive. We are all in this together.

Ebert magnificently sums up everything I beleive about injustice in this country. The last two paragraphs of his essay will shred your heart.

“How do they get to be that way?” (Chicago Sun-Times)

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h/t Andrew Sullivan

Utah Youth Founds GSA

All right, what the heck is going on in Utah? This is the second mostly-positive update on LGBT youth issues from that state in the last couple of weeks.

James Bennion, 15, began his project at the start of the year. Six months later, he’s got a GSA well on the way to being started at South Davis Junior High, having gathered 120 signatures from students at the junior high.

High schools were once the domain of GSAs, but in recent years such groups have also become more commonplace at junior high schools, as GLBT youth come out at younger ages and awareness permeates the culture that anti-gay taunts, harassment, and attacks do not have to be accepted as a young gay person’s lot in life.

"I just think people should be able to go to school without fear of being assaulted," Bennion told the press, going on to note that young GLBTs "shouldn’t have to miss days of school for fear of being bullied."

This keeps up and who knows? Maybe seeing the hope-filled faces of these brave gay kids will shame into silence the kind of nasty bigots talked about in the article.

“You’ve have to give people hope.” – Harvey Milk

Utah Youth Founds GSA (Edge Boston)

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Bigots Continue to Hammer on Gay Kids

Because life for gay kids is such a bunch of roses and rainbows (ha) anyway, some states feel it's quite okay to make sure that sensitive young people know just what horrid sinners they are.

There are, however, several states that are mandated to refer to same-sex orientation and homosexuality as negative. Some of those states include Utah, South Carolina, Mississippi and Arizona. Oklahoma is required to "instruct students that engaging in homosexual activity or promiscuous activity is now known to be primarily responsible for contact with the AIDS virus."

The most conservative state in this regard, Alabama, is required to reference state laws that ban sodomy, must refer to same sex activity as a public health risk and must state homosexuality is not acceptable to the general public, according to SIECUS.

Although California lawmakers approved Harvey Milk Day, Save California and other organizations continue to boycott it.

Unbelievable. This just goes to show that the fight still continues. And someone needs to let Alabama know that Lawrence v. Texas struck down sodomy laws in the U.S. I think the first reader comment below the article pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole thing.

Harvey Milk's work is not yet over.

"States continue to mandate anti-LGBT curriculum in the classroom" (Edge Boston)

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LGBT Kids Coming Out Earlier (Salt Lake Tribune)

An excellent article about kids coming out as LGBT. When I was young and discovering for myself that I was different, it was both an exhilarating and terrifying time – exhilarating to realize who I really was, and terrifying to be so alone. The joy I felt when I came to terms with being gay as a teen was soon overcome again by the terror, and both emotions played a hide-and-seek against me for many years. The joy has returned for good, but my anger at those who made me feel terror still remains. That anger is now directed at those who continue to spread hate for LGBT kids, which is one of the reasons why stories like this continue to fascinate me.

Jason Osmanski knew he had to tell his mom, but he didn't know how. He was 14 years old and had spent half his life sensing he was different. Now, he had the words for it. Wanting to break the news somewhere public, someplace safe, Jason tagged along with his mom on a shopping trip to Walmart. But he still couldn't say it. He took a pad of paper from the pharmacy counter and wrote, "Will you love me no matter what?" Carolyn Osmanski gave him a quizzical look but answered, "Of course." Jason scribbled another note, crumpled it, handed it to his mom and bolted to a nearby aisle. She looked down at the wrinkled paper: "I'm gay."

… After Jason passed his mother that crumpled note in Walmart, she found him shaking on the floor in the cosmetics aisle, beneath rows of mascara and eye shadow. Carolyn Osmanski lifted her son to his feet and gave him a hug.

She told him, "I love you no matter what."

That a newspaper in Salt Lake City published this is good news, but the endings are not always happy. Read the article for more details.

"LGBT kids coming out earlier"

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"You have to give people hope." -- Harvey Milk

"Keep it gay! Keep it gay! Keep it gay!"

The story of how outspoken sex columnist Dan Savage and his husband Terry Miller adopted a kid has been turned into a musical!

Perhaps reality TV isn’t the right venue for teachable moments that could be easily misconstrued by Savage haters. Like the time 9-year-old DJ, who thought girls were icky, jumped to the conclusion that he must be gay, until Miller showed him a photo of himself, surrounded by girls, on his 10th birthday. “If you liked girls right now,” he said, “that would probably mean you’re gay.”

I love that quote. One of the first things that made me realize that I was different, when I was about seven or eight, was that I actually liked playing with girls.

The Kid Stays in the Picture

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"Cruddy JD's" Sentenced to Perform Shakespeare!

Interesting article about a program in the Boston area where juvenile offenders are sentenced to put on a Shakespeare play.

Tonight, 13 actors will take the stage at Shakespeare & Company in “Henry V.’’ Nothing so unusual in that — except that these are teenagers, none older than 17, and they have been sentenced to perform this play.

The show is the culmination of a five-week intensive program called Shakespeare in the Courts, a nationally recognized initiative now celebrating its 10th year. Berkshire Juvenile Court Judge Judith Locke has sent these adjudicated offenders — found guilty of such adolescent crimes as fighting, drinking, stealing, and destroying property — not to lockup or conventional community service, but to four afternoons a week of acting exercises, rehearsal, and Shakespearean study.

Fascinating. Of course, I'm all for bringing young people and fine art together. This program has to have a some good effect on these kids, even if only a small one. The newfound sense of responsibility alone may make a huge difference in their lives. Plus, they may wind up loving Shakespeare!

Caught in the act: Juveniles sentenced to Shakespeare

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Kids Talking About Evolution

This is just far too cute to actually be scientific...and yet it is!

Plainly these children have either great schools or great parents, or both.

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