Reading is a powerful way to open hearts and minds. Two of my favorite books with lesbian moms by queer authors are Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea, by Ashley Herring Blake, and The Stars Beneath our Feet, by David Barclay Moore.
Since it was published, many authors are writing in their own voices, representing their lived experiences. My slender book for young readers was once one of the few middle-grade books featuring LGBTQ+ characters. We must fight back against book banning, write letters of support to teachers and librarians, and vote for school board leaders who embrace truth in storytelling. We need to be loud in our defense of love. “We need to be loud in our defense of love.” What adult would hurl such vitriol at a child in real life? Sadly, that scene is almost quaint, compared to the open discrimination and attacks LGBTQ+ youth and adults experience today. The book was mostly well-received, although the confrontation scene between twelve-year-old June and a crowd handing out anti-gay flyers outside the library struck some readers as unrealistic. In 2000, some residents pushed back against the new civil union law (“Take back Vermont”), while others demanded that Vermont should keep “civil” our discourse and accept each other. The story takes place in Vermont, and I researched the reaction to the civil union law, the legal precursor to marriage equality. I’ve written here before about how I came to write this book. May 8 marks the tenth anniversary of the publication of My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer. Under the banner of “parents’ rights,” they are denying all children the chance to read the books they want and need. The new right-wing wave is organized, forcing teachers to remove books from their classrooms and endangering the lives of LGBTQ youth. In Florida, prejudice is being enshrined into law. Books, including mine, are being banned in Texas, Pennsylvania, and other states. Instead, LGBTQ+ hate is on the rise again. was like before same-sex marriage became legal in 2015. A few short years after its release in 2012, the book felt like a historical footnote about what the U.S. If people read about children in happy same-gender homes, I had reasoned, then they would see that love is all that matters. When I wrote those words in My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer, I was imagining the feelings of June, a child whose parents are attacked for their relationship. I’m just a kid with a mom who happens to be gay.”
“I pedaled crazily, ferociously, away from the hateful crowd.