OutCasting; LGBTQ youth fiction; media representation of LGBTQ people

it's been the senate passed the lower hudson river valleys dealing with lgbt q the struggles triumphs lifestyles entered are dancers and we don't want to be clear to be here i'm casting is a production of the immediate eight fm ninety point three and us mean you're in an almanac at the media teach dot org and to the public radio from europe's largest river valley hi i'm laura mr mike johnson talk with alex sanchez and author of novels focusing on lgbt q u among his books are the rainbow voice the god box and most recently boyfriends girlfriends travis and i were also discussed the trails of lgbt q people in the media but first a little palm beach first two thousand eleven dan savage was glitter bombed by a group calling itself the dan savage welcoming committee happened at the university of oregon during the question and answer session that have accused him of being transferred make and such a mistake the dan savage has not yet responded to the savant

he has in the past defended his role as an ally to all but accused of bigotry hi this is travis today we're talking with alex sanchez author of the award winning trilogy rainbow boys along with the god box getting it and the lumbar award winning middle grade novel so hard to say thanks for joining us it alex your book's cover topics that we don't normally see in literature what legit wanna write stories about kids coming out and dealing with religion well i think again it's spring from i am my own passion as speak out about things that i care about i wanted to be good people the national id defied with ryan it's like would be one of the most or you know most angry years that are happier joyful or whatever it is and for me a lot of that it's about growing up and then both the joys and the struggles i had when i was trying to figure out who i was and you know my my question is whether they know were you know on other guys for

girls and figuring all that out and then and then that encouraged talk about my attraction to other guys things so that in terms of you know they'd the game unfinished shooter a man in terms of points on religion issues around literally didn't and spirituality that that's that was also part of my life growing up and trying to figure out you know who did it i think god was in them out of that i do it with you know my sexuality or out and all of that's a really print out of my own desire to speak out about things that i care about and as a career as an author have you seen lgbt youth be more represented in books you have definitely one the one i was growing up or when i was in high school i played now in the early family that there were there were no books that are traded other you know other young people like myself i you know

or having discussions on the plain facts and so it was a very scary i'm only time if you like you know i don't i don't want to be like this why that happened to me and feeling like i was the only boy in the world having these feelings i had time you know to the dark ages before will and grace you know where there weren't any representation of openly gay people didn't even hardly even hear the word gay from kind of you know you hear someone with abramoff actual that would be it was very different from today when you know young people growing up in all hear about things sex marriages engagement in the military and and i cause i know you you know that are targeted about teenagers and the book

started appearing in that in the late eighties and nineties was sort of a fun spoken rule that if you have that if there was a gay lesbian main character had to be a secondary character and they have to you know either die die tragically or commit suicide law you know they only coming out after bad at that and flow when i was writing wind up with a couple things you know my first novel it clear that no one was going to die in those and also it i began to emerge in addition the book i wish i'd had read when i was a teenager and that you know kept on in terms of me whenever i think about writing a story of like you know writing about the thing that i don't think are being written about things that i wish had been available when i was growing up in which you know i'd like other young people now today be able three days in the past year we've seen the public suicides have too many lgbt youth and

how these death bess and their related media attention changed or not changed your writing well we in turn eighteen i think we never know you know exactly why a person commits suicide but we do know from you know those of us who haven't committed suicide how hard it can be to to live with us at another hatred and an ignorance of homophobia that that pressured a company the challenge of those in terms of you know that you were wrong you know fur for loving people of the same gender and so you know you know people are you know three times more likely to commit suicide or try to commit suicide like well you know there was something there the pressures of being gay lesbian in our muffled with for friday that can lead to suicide in terms of my own writing if i

in my book there's always been from element of of homophobia because i write realistic fiction story in which well that that part of growing up for so many young people are changing actually changing the hill you know and that would end either suicide for a lot of young people and you know i hear about it when i go to schools and i hear about in the email that i get out where young people are being harassed and bullied and called names and so it's been an element that the portrayal of homophobia that that i've included in my books and the same time you know she's a lot from when i was growing up when people didn't even talk about it but kids are still bullied and so now at least is more talk about it more openness about it and so i think i might try to prevent that in my writing in terms of of the hole change that is occurring and the fact that that well but not everyone does commit suicide and what

is the what is that that does keep us going we have been allowed is going on we're talking with alex sanchez here on how testing we don't have to be true to be here alex what you think is the hardest part about writing books on lgbt youth move the hardest part i think is just getting getting the voice right you know getting that sort of balance the struggle for growing up and they think i'm the big duration of being you're a young person and an expedient thing you know love and crushes the mix it is an all time so in writing we talk about getting the voice of getting the voice right and so part of that find that balance between how hard it can be and how chronic and they go in that you want the ground the hardest part a lot of

celebrities and rock stars today identifies bisexual and they have a huge influence on youth what you think are some of the effects on the same relationship to your new book boyfriends and girlfriends well that book about that today in a colorful fun and pain to really struggling to me to you know you should they put a label on themselves what would be the label that they put on themselves and it came out of you know hearing from today for many young people now you know my books to writing about their own confusion about well you know they're attracted to boys but they're also attracted to girls and and so i think what happens a lot of young people because it is more acceptable to be gay or lesbian now than it was when i was growing up then it's her like on one hand they're more willing to take on that that identity as an ideologue and operas but it's thin tenors days and they're like well but at the same time now have an attraction the opposite effect so what does that make me

oh my at my response history of wells all your heart you don't have a label on who you are i think and forced me to oftentimes day we are thinking of the challenge for black white jewish survivor your day or your straight one the reality is that that for motive of flathead hardiest is very compact fluid and end and then not tell you to keep it down you know whether we actually another now we may have a feeling for the famed fact where they are and no one whoever didn't come out of as bisexual i think that's getting young people another option of how to define themselves and not none in the fund for the toy giveaway and haitian history is what it is you know we are what we are but what we do get to choose what label we put on herself and hull

you know young people are like well why black the label myself a gay or straight why can't i just be me in and if i am by factual and nine by actual i think it's great when one levees highlight that and i thought what i want to write about and in their most recent book about you know you know young people grappling with that in terms of harder to find help identify themselves your books covered a variety of different topics like religion and just coming out bullying those sorts of things and i are different books written with different messages to readers or with the general message in mind well when you know what when i write a book you know what i kind of fearless what the what the story you know who are the characters in and what the story what happened between them and how they change and grow where you know where do they were doing math up what they'd learned

how they've changed their relationships change how they affect each other and then the acts out of that can come from sort of some sort of message and i don't i don't i don't see how writing with her with the kicker message and that happens or what people tell me of that much my books are very young people who figure out how to be true to themselves so if there is any any message in my book that is fundamentally that about you know being being true to yourself do you ever imagine a future where there's a normalization of lgbt youth where stories of gay teens falling in love are just stories about teens falling in love well i think that's already happening when you know when my first won my first manuscript to the publisher the publisher was really excited about it in terms of those rainbow boy is the story of you know three

school gay and bisexual high school boys you know falling in love and finding friendship is andy a recurrent up they were low concerned about whether there would be enough of hail had a book because you know big lgbt says painter raked small segment of the population what none of fervor for strong first thought was what has turned out to be the biggest audience for the for my book from the straight straight teenage girls they say the debates they are basically you know and going well you have their basically reading stories about painful a lot and that you know they happen to be eighteen years sort of an avid interest for them is i think what happens with so many young people nowadays is that unlike when i was growing up because they know someone who's openly gay or lesbian whether it's you know friends or relatives or parents are or whoever do further curious about well what does that

mean to be clear with him and throw it they like reading those stories and it's so it was in that time for the nomination and the crying it had to when i got to school i mean there's so much harassment i'm going in school that no one i minimize fats but i also hear from latinos how many young people that that in their school not it's not a huge issue it's still something of a nation they get annoyed with thirteen about ok i've come and they don't always put the ninth inning i'd be dubs and i you know administration teachers and counselors are standing up for them so it is changing and so i can actually see a future where you know it will be more and more accepted and agitator of normal life that that well you know teens are teens and people are people and we follow is that we follow with a

stranger or fire or you can transport be that that big of an issue anymore so it's trying to watch it happening and cutting to be part of an uncomfortable to what i write and hear from young people how you know you know i write about young people who and army and then fighting to hear how my book buyer other young people are a circle of operation where we do encourage each other a long time we've been talking with alex sanchez you're an outcast and we don't have to be true to be here alex sanchez is the author of the award winning trilogy rainbow boys along with the god box getting it and a middle grade novel so hard to say alex thank you again so much for joining us people would like more information goes into my arms

hi i'm laura and i'm here with travis have a discussion about how the media portrays lgbt q community and specifically on how the lgbt community is portrayed in literature on both in the past and i think contemporary literature so the first thing i think that would be interesting to bring up is how each of us perceive it the lgbt q committee are through what shown in the major media in mainstream culture like if you turn on your television and say it's okay right now i don't see a lot of trans people being represented but there's a decent amount of bisexual if you watch hbo shows in ok day on the field the internet portrays lgbt children in terms of internet forums and websites that sort of thing forces have major media doesn't because these internet is a very sort of uncontrolled our system of wire where is the major media for the most

part is a corporate and well controlled system oh i think things on the internet move a lot faster than regular mainstream media definitely does on the internet someday someone can just talk about something and then that can change people's viewpoints like snap snap snap quickly but in mainstream media can take big executives to realize what's really going on with people before we see this shaft and then we have like revolutionary shows like american horror story where they're just like gay characters and it's not that big of a deal mainly i just like i said it's about the internet to move a lot faster in some ways it's almost like a few years ahead of mainstream culture but i think it's just the nature of mainstream media like television but it takes so long for to realize what's going on with people or what what can surf the mainstream really they're in

two specific communities on the internet that are relatively popular on the first and the most popular being on the tumbler the flooding platform and for the most part it's a very very lgbt youth friendly on blogging space and even though you have your own blog there's a lot of interaction between other users that sort of thing and lgbt youth could easily go there to express themselves and be supported by the key whether it's straight allies or thirty there's so many lgbt youth out there already own blog in about the wise or just simply expressing themselves in whatever way they feel is right the opportunity i think is a little bit smaller buy arm just as powerful and it's the sub reddit i'm from the main road website reddit r for the lgbt people it's sort of ai an internet forum thank you can share pictures you can share

stories you can share links on and so forth it's a whole hodgepodge of arm news and mike traverse cetera what you said earlier about how fast moves i mean you do your wife read it for four hours in the whole discussion changed pretty much read it is doubly place where people are able to seek advice even though it's from anonymous gary internet strangers for the most part especially in the lgbt community is that there's a lot of support i think it's comforting when you're on the internet and you see this anonymous hope that people give where you go on a web site like tumblr people set up a blog and they post about themselves or they could just take things that other people are posted and put them on their blood and when you have this discussion between random teenagers about things that may be bothering them where i see were people arrive all their blogs or they've got an anonymous messages of hope saying something's going on with their lives that you can get through it and i i like to think that this anonymous hopefulness

can outside in the anonymous hate that you see on the weird websites like four chan when we have these websites like tumblr where people are like we're talking about jimmy hughley who recently committed suicide if you read his tumbler his blog one of the few things that was posted before he committed suicide was an anonymous message saying just hold on don't worry you can get through this it really does get better believe me and it just shows that there are some people that really do care these people come from going on the internet and probably educating themselves about things that they may not know about so they can show that they really care about others you know one thing that i actually just remembered and a really interesting story that i don't think a lot of people know about is actually connections between red and tumbler is a predator and who had a tumbler as a gay man he came across the tumbler of a young boy who lives in canada and he saw how desperate he was

how essentially suicidal he was and he set up a tumbler called we love you ten or dot tumbler dot com and he posted it to read it so that the whole lgbt community i found out about it and was able to access it anti semitic messages of hope to it and just basically inform tell tenor how much he's loved and how much even though the even though these are anonymous people for the most part that he has support and this kid was really on the brink from what i read i spent a lot of time going through his tumbler prior to the public public so interventions and you could see the development of how first he was horrified that people had found out about this he was being tortured by kids in this school that sort of thing and it seems like he's in a better place and that he knows that their support for him in that he got his oh because there is a blog dedicated to telling him and other kids who

aren't it's puzzling that situation or haven't been found out in that situation to see how much people are interested in protecting lgbt youth when i was a kid i was really quite amazing and other points about mainstream media's that was the internet i feel like people can express themselves and lgbt youth a person can find themselves in mainstream media and they can go online and express themselves and find people that are like minded and this is a really good if someone is having issues with arab that's how they feel about themselves in the long run i think it's these things there will start to outshine mainstream media as lgbt youth and all other people in minority groups start to find themselves and find other people that can help them get through difficulties or just express themselves and celebrate who they are one thing that i would like to sort of bring up is our experiences on in english classes studying

literature on and how our home or racism or homosexuality is portrayed in how its disgust with in a class i think sometimes a teacher mario void bring up the topic of homosexuality as there's an issue of kids being the chair on the subject so for example leicester my english class red room and juliet like every other ninth grade class in america and my teacher was nice enough to bring up a house some scholars believe there's the underlying tons of colorado says i'm in love between the character of ricky joe and romeo and i think it's important to bring up these things go is homosexuality exists and if we don't have our english teachers talking to us about it and we don't have them bringing up these things and acknowledging that these people exist to schools are a very important place for kids to learn and get past being young and not knowing things then kids will learn about these things and that will be able to identify them when they grow up or when they're reading books on

their own the one book that i would like to bring up that has a sort of different videos differently with homosexuality is home right now in a class that i'm taking we're reading the no exit and which is miami john paul sartre and there's a character who's a lesbian and i start to doesn't have the characters do with it like it which is a fickle nature and this this bomb this book was that the play was written i'm not forties i believe nineteen forties and it was interesting to read the scenes where she is really coming onto another character and none of the kids in my class really bothered by i mean what she was saying was a very seductive says in a funny light to have someone read i was actually reading her back which was funny just a way that's arthur just dealt with the eyes something normal was really interesting and we don't really spend a lot of time talking about it because were focusing on it for the existential as i'm not for that because sexual orientation gender identity sort of thing but i was really impressed by the fact that

sort himself didn't really care that she's lesbian there was just a part of who she was as a character and just made her more distinct and more three dimensional by my classmates were really not bothered by apple i'd like to mention alex sanchez is a trilogy rambo boys you had three different characters who fit the whole spectrum was one was a very flamboyantly gay boy one of them was kind of a rip clues is not really fitting into a stereotype of being dead and another woman's is very much showed dealing with the sexuality character there was so interesting reading these books and relating to the characters and just feeling like this is like my life in some ways do you think that media perpetuates a tolerance for the lgbt q three or ends up sort of pre trained caricature is or stereotypes of the lgbt community well i think it's a very subjective thing to think about that because we have shows like glee where they're all about tolerance yet a lot of the storylines of the show end up

being about stereotypes and focusing on either making jokes we're just coming back to stereotypes interpreters of minority groups like focusing on some of the asian characters and affluent and that they're sort of like you said there's a very intense subject to many to the situation and people can complain about it but i feel as long as they're being as honest they're visible and they can give up to develop that visibility gary is you dudley hope to dispel stereotypes so even though you might it might start off with a flamboyantly gay male gay character on a new comedy shows like glee there's a room for development of characters who are more normal so to speak or more assertive the military someone like kurt they he's a much travis shoot me on

an r and we've been having a discussion about the media and how we don't have to be creative that's it for this edition of out casting the lower hudson river valleys only event radio show dealing with the lgbt struggle is ryan's lifestyles and dividends because we don't have to be here to be here if you're having trouble whether it's at home at school or just their so called cover hotline at eight six six forty eight seven three eight six workers at them online at the trevor project dot org center for project is an organization dedicated to lgbt youth suicide prevention again that number is eight six six or eighty seven three eight cents in different as a reason to hate or hurt yourself podcasting is a production of the beauty of age ninety quickly awesome in your nominate at the median age to or community public radio free europe's

laura hudson river valley for more information on this program and a list of resources including the trevor projects is that hotline visit us adult media cage dot org and click on odd casting thanks for joining us