Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
The following is an interview with KATHRYN KANIA, Head of Teen Services at Robbins Library in Arlington, MA. What is the title of your program? Queer Teen Drop-in Program or outreach description: Providing a monthly casual hang out with snacks, books, and a small craft for LGBTQIA teens and allies. Describe the planning and promotion […]
In 1996 a group of people rallied to demonstrate outside of the American Academy of Pediatrics conference in Boston, Massachusetts. It had become too much to have doctors approving non-consensual surgeries on children and discrediting the realities and feelings of those born with intersex traits. The road has been long and rocky for this community, […]
The following is an interview with AMELIA VANDER HEIDE, Supervising Librarian at Solano (CA) County Library. What is the title of your program? Drag Queen Storytime Program or outreach description: A special storytime for families with children featuring drag performer Apple Adams and done in collaboration with the Solano Pride Center. Describe the planning and promotion […]
In 1996 English play and screenwriter Alan Bennett declined to accept a knighthood from the Queen of England, on the grounds that “it would be like wearing a suit every day of your life.”1 He had similarly refused the award of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (or CBE–because what a […]
February 17 – 23, 2019 What better way to follow weeks of commercial bombardment of hearts, kisses, and cupids with arrows than by acknowledging and celebrating the fact that some folks don’t experience romantic attraction at all! Heck yes, I say. Aromantic representation is still a growing trend in literature and media, with more representation […]
In November of 1999, Gwendolyn Ann Smith organized what would become the first Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR). Smith began the then-virtual TDoR project as a way to honor trans woman Rita Hester, who had been murdered in her Boston apartment in the winter of 1998. Now, nearly 20 years later, Transgender Day of Remembrance […]
There are many ways LGBTQ+ persons have advocated for themselves throughout history, whether it be with friends or family, in the workplace, or on the political stage. One of the most personal forms of activism in and of itself has been “coming out”–revealing to the world through an act of self-disclosure that one identifies as […]
The following is an interview with TANVI RASTOGI, teen librarian at Ames (IA) Public LIbrary. What is the title of your program?’ Camp Drag, All Ages Drag Show Program or outreach description: Camp Drag is a drag workshop for youth in grades K-12. The workshop was created to: provide interested young people with a unique […]
By A. Mattonen Activist, essayist, novelist, playwright, poet–there are many titles that spring to mind when hearing James Baldwin’s name. His bibliography contains a myriad of works that lend themselves to modern day literary critics, wordsmiths, and public speakers. There is even a Buzzfeed article dedicated to Baldwin quotes that can “feed your soul.” What […]