Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2020

Publication Title

Knowledge Quest

Volume

48

Issue

3

Pages

10-17

Abstract

School libraries should be a space where students of all ages feel welcome and safe. I (Lisa) can speak from experience when I say this is not always the case, not in the 1980s and not today. Even in the school library, a place I now cherish, I was fearful of ridicule and harassment. I was frustrated because I did not see myself—a young, questioning, and confused lesbian—in any of the books. Gay and lesbian characters didn’t exist on those high school shelves. “But that was the 1980s,” you say. It hasn’t gotten much better for much of the LGBTQ community.

Comments

© 2020 American Library Association

Original Publication Citation

Gay-Milliken, L., & DiScala, J. (2020). Going beyond book displays: Providing safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. Knowledge Quest, 48(3), 10-17.

ORCID

0000-0003-4718-6124 (DiScala)

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