In this newly released short video, “Stand with Queer Youth,” authors and organizers from the 2015 Queer Young Adult Literature Conference reflect on how literature can be means to positively impact the understandings and experiences of queer youth in schools.
The conference was organized by the University of Colorado Boulder’s National Council Teachers of English (NCTE) student affiliate group. School of Education Doctoral Candidates Ryan Pfleger and Mike Wenk, together with Associate Professor sj Miller produced the video in hopes of transforming learning environments to honor, affirm and support queer youth.
The video features Julie Anne Peters, author of Luna, Malinda Lo, Author of Ash, Sara Farizan, author of If You Could Be Mine, and Alex Sanchez, author of Rainbow boys.
Nine out of 10 queer students experience harassment during school.
“[Queer youth] feel alienated a lot of the time. They feel a lot of loss,” says Peters.
What about literature can help to transform the current suffering of queer youth?
As Miller explains, “Literature is a way for students to see their lives reflected back in a positive manner, because they are so often seeing themselves portrayed negatively. They are experiencing bullying; they are not seeing positive representations of themselves. And literature is a vehicle—it is a pedagogical tool—to help students feel better about their own lived realities.”
Wenk adds, “In curriculum—for example, in reading and writing assignments—queer youth aren’t included; they are marginalized. There’s that sanctity of turning to a young adult novel and finding yourself in the novel to explore identities that you might not have had the opportunity to try on.
Queer students who may feel isolated or rejected can find solace in connecting with relatable characters in these young adult novels, but connecting with fictional characters is not enough. If classrooms can become an affirming environment that embrace inclusive curriculum, queer students will not be the only ones to benefit.
Lo believes, “Literature is a really wonderful tool for building empathy and compassion in people—people who have discomfort or anger or even hatred for queer people. I think that reading a book in which the main characters are queer can give someone an inside picture of what that feels like.”
Inclusive curriculum and instruction through literature is an important step toward ending the harassment of queer youth in our schools.
“No one ever starts out bullying; it’s taught. No one ever starts out racist; it’s taught. No one ever starts out being homophobic; it’s taught. Before something tragic happens or before something really damages people, it’s important to [initiate] conversation, dialogue and education,” said Farizan.
To find out more about this initiative or to offer your support, please contact Professor Miller at sj.miller@colorado.edu.
Related Faculty: sj Miller