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Vol. 35 No. 3 — April 2018

Librarians have an important role here. We provide the tools of education, community building, and acceptance, all of which are critical in the fight for LGBT+ rights.

Terminology

Cisgender. Intersex. Pansexual. Gender expression. LGBTQQIA. When thinking and reading about this subject, it sometimes seems as if you’re learning a new language. According to Jace Quinn, a writer specializing in gender issues, such learning is essential. “Labels,” Quinn told me in an interview, “may seem unnecessary or divisive, but they’re actually a pretty positive force. If you are asexual, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to go to a homosexual or bisexual group and ask for advice on asexuality. It would be counterintuitive, since someone who is a homosexual has no experience being asexual.” Beyond such practical considerations, taking the time to learn and use the proper terms validates people who are often treated without respect. “It’s good to have a place where you feel welcome,” says Quinn.

There are many websites for learning the terminology. A good beginner’s list is the glossary at We Are Family (wearefamilycharleston.org/lgbt-a-z-glossary), an LGBT+ support and advocacy organization (see the sidebar for definitions of terms used in this article). Beyond definitions, the site explains why certain terms are derogatory. Most people understand that words such as “faggot” and “she-male” are no-gos, but it might surprise you to learn that “homosexual” and “sexual preference” can be offensive. “Because of the clinical history of the word ‘homosexual,’” the site tells us, “it is aggressively used by anti-gay extremists to suggest that gay people are somehow diseased or psychologically/emotionally disordered. …” As for “sexual preference,” the term is “typically used to suggest that being [LGBT+] is a choice and therefore can and should be ‘cured.’”

A longer list is available at It’s Pronounced Metrosexual (itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/2013/01/a-comprehensive-list-of-lgbtq-term-definitions), a site that also has original articles, graphics (such as the Genderbread Person (below); bit.ly/genderbread), and videos on gender and sexuality topics.

Facilities

Gender-neutral restrooms are becoming more common. ALA, for instance, is great about having them at conferences, and other fields are catching up. I saw one in 2017 at the Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, known as C2E2 (why yes, I did write about my experience: conventionscene.com/2017/06/20/c2e2-con-report). It takes some getting used to, like with any socially modern practice. I watched as one guy walked toward the entrance, passed a woman walking out, stopped, looked up at the sign, looked around as if expecting to be arrested, and then darted inside. Finally, I felt brave enough to try it. There were no urinals, only stalls, and as I washed my hands, I saw men and women walk uncertainly in.

Genderless lavatories are actually a throwback. The U.S. had no laws separating restrooms by sex until Massachusetts enacted the first one at the end of the 19th century. By 1920, more than 40 states had joined in. The laws were part of a broader social trend that gave women dedicated spaces in photography studios, hotels, banks, department stores, trains—and libraries.

Libraries are now leading the effort to make restrooms safe places for transgender people, 70% of whom report that they’ve “experienced discrimination in restrooms, including being stared at, ridiculed, told to leave, or not allowed to use the facilities” (americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/10/30/libraries-gender-neutral-bathrooms). One method is not segregating restrooms by gender. Another is to eliminate community restrooms by making each one single-occupancy. The issue made headlines in 2016 when North Carolina passed the so-called Bathroom Bill, a law requiring individuals in government buildings, which include public schools, to use restrooms and changing facilities that correspond to the sex written on their birth certificates.

Since then, 16 states have considered similar legislation, and 14 have looked at limiting transgender students’ rights at school (ncsl.org/research/education/-bathroom-bill-legislative-tracking635951130.aspx). As government facilities, libraries would be bound by such a law, but it would be a mistake, says Katherine Weadley, director of the Lyons Regional Library District in Colorado. “If libraries offer gender-neutral bathrooms,” she believes, “it says, ‘I see you.’ It says, ‘We care about you, and this is a safe space for you to come’” (americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2015/10/30/libraries-gender-neutral-bathrooms).

Collections and Services

Here is an interesting quote:

Certain societies at certain times, usually in the interest of maintaining the baby supply, have discouraged homosexuality. Other societies, particularly militaristic ones, have exalted it. But regardless of tribal taboos, homosexuality is a constant fact of the human condition and it is not a sickness, not a sin, not a crime … despite the best efforts of our puritan tribe to make it all three. Homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality.

Sounds modern, right? Like something written in the last few years? In fact, these words appeared in Esquire in 1969. They were written by Gore Vidal, an early LGBT+ champion. The year before, Vidal had published Myra Breckinridge, a novel that gave the world something it had never seen: a transgender main character. Myra, a would-be actress, was born a boy named Myron, whose sex reassignment surgery goes awry.

Fifty years after Myra Breckinridge, “we’ve seen an increase in the number and diversity of materials on and about transgender issues,” writes K.R. Roberto in Library Journal (reviews.libraryjournal.com/2016/05/collection-development/beyond-caitlyn-jenner-collection-development-transgender-fiction-nonfiction-june-1-2016). Roberto lists and discusses works of fiction, politics, autobiography, and even comics. Another good source is the Lambda Literary Awards (lambdaliterary.org/awards), which “identify and celebrate the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the year. …” ALA bestows the Stonewall Book Awards, and its Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT; ala.org/rt/glbtrt) has book lists (for YA and 18+ titles), book reviews, and other selection tools. Public and academic libraries can help researchers and promote inclusion by adding some of these titles to their collections.

Catalogers also have a role to play. There are, for example, 39 Library of Congress subject headings relating in some way to transgender experiences, including:

• Transgender musicians
• Christian transgender people
• Jewish transgender people
• Transgender librarians
• Transgender people—Violence against
• Transphobia
• Gender nonconformity

All have been added in the last decade. They are, and maybe always will be, a work in progress. The vulgar and offensive “Trannies” heading was a variant for “Transgender people” until shockingly late: July 2016. “Gender nonconformity” includes “works on the various manifestations of cross-gender orientation, such as transvestism, transsexualism, male or female impersonation, intersexuality, etc. …” There are two problems with this: 1) “cross-gender” implies a binary system—male and female—that does not reflect some people’s experiences, and 2) the idea of transgender people “impersonating” males or females is … no. Just no.

Classification-wise, transgender materials (HQ77–HQ77.95) fall under “Sexual life,” along with some dubious company: “Sexual deviations,” “Sadism. Masochism. Fetishism, etc.,” and “Prostitution.” This practice reduces transgender people to being defined by their bedroom activities. It also conflates sexual orientation with gender, a common misconception. Sexual orientation is “an inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction [or lack thereof] to other people” (hrc.org/resources/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-terminology-and-definitions). In other words, it’s who you like (or don’t). Gender is “one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither—how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves.” It’s part of who you are.

Another concern is privacy. LGBT+ people are circumspect about how, when, and to whom they come out. They have to be. A library should be a safe space for them to meet their information needs, and we have to do everything in our power to ensure that safety. This could include private rooms for reference transactions. Or circulation slips that don’t print a person’s name. If you were born, say, as Darlene but now go by Dan, you don’t want Dan showing up anywhere if your transition is incomplete and vice versa. Calling someone by their pre-transition name is sometimes known as dead-naming, and it can be painful (huffingtonpost.com/entry/deadnaming-a-trans-person-is-violenceso-why-does_us_58cc58cce4b0e0d348b3434b). Finally, it may be tempting to keep LGBT+ materials in a special collection, but this isn’t ideal, as those who ask to see the collection have possibly outed themselves. Better to keep the materials in open stacks. Many libraries have had success with Pride Month displays, although there are risks of backlash. One Texas library was challenged by the group MassResistance, which claimed that its Pride Month displays “targeted children with psychologically intrusive homosexual propaganda” (rightwingwatch.org/post/massresistance-goes-to-war-against-pride-month-library-display-in-texas-town).

A generation ago, little was understood about LGBT+ people, their needs and desires, and their place in society. We have made progress since then, and there is more work to be done. Libraries, those cornerstones of equality, are vital elements of that progress. Librarians should educate themselves about the issues, putting us in prime position to educate others, thereby effecting change.

Definitions

asexual: A sexual orientation generally characterized by not feeling sexual attraction or desire for partnered sexuality.

bisexual: An individual who is physically, romantically and/or emotionally attracted to men and women.

cisgender: [A] term used to describe people who, for the most part, identify as the gender they were assigned at birth.

gay: The adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attractions are to people of the same sex. …

gender expression: Refers to how an individual expresses their socially constructed gender. This may refer to how an individual dresses, their general appearance, the way they speak, and/or the way they carry themselves. Gender expression is not always correlated to an [individual’s] gender identity or gender role.

gender neutral: This term is used to describe facilities that any individual can use regardless of their gender (e.g. gender neutral bathrooms). This term can also be used to describe an individual who does not subscribe to any socially constructed gender. ...

gender-nonconforming: A person who is, or is perceived to have gender characteristics that do not conform to traditional or societal expectations.

heterosexual: An adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction is to people of the opposite sex. Also straight .

intersex: People who naturally (that is, without any medical interventions) develop primary and/or secondary sex characteristics that do not fit neatly into society’s definitions of male or female. … Has replaced ‘hermaphrodite,’ which is inaccurate, outdated, problematic, and generally offensive. …

lesbian: A woman whose enduring physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction is to other women. Some lesbians may prefer to identify as gay (adj.) or as gay women.

LGBTQQIA: An acronym used to refer to all sexual minorities: ‘Lesbian, Gay/Gender Neutral/Gender Queer, Bisexual/Bigender, Transgender/Transvestite/Transsexual, Questioning/Queer, Intersex, and Allies/Androgynous/Asexual.’ [It is often shortened to LGBTQ or LGBT. In its long form, this acronym still isn’t complete—it doesn’t include Pansexual, for example—which is why Information Today uses LGBT+. —Ed.]

pansexual: [N]ot limited in sexual [attraction] with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity.

queer: Traditionally a pejorative term, queer has been appropriated by some LGBT people to describe themselves. However, it is not universally accepted even within the LGBT community and should be avoided unless someone self-identifies that way.

transgender: An umbrella term (adj.) for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from the sex they were assigned at birth.

transvestite: An umbrella term, which refers to people who wear the clothing of the ‘opposite’ gender. These individuals can be transgender, transsexual, cross dressers, Drag performers, or individuals who express their gender in a unique way.