June 2010

I walked into the Pueblo City-County Library wondering if the public library stocked homosexual romance novels, non-fiction books written to help that teenager struggling to come out of the closet, or everyday novels written by lesbians or gay men. With one simple search of the key word "homosexual," nearly 150 selections were found in Pueblo alone - covering every topic previously mentioned.

While starting my journey, I was able to sit down and talk with Midori Clark, the library district's Community Relations Manager. She was very enthusiastic about my exploration, even walking me right into the children's section to introduce me to the "controversial" children's book, And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.

If you've never read this book, it's adorable! It's the true story about two male penguins that choose each other to mate with for life, even finding an abandoned egg to hatch. Apparently, this illustrated children's book has found a regular spot on the American Library Association's "most-challenged" list because of the homosexual content.

I was shocked to hear of this list and filled with even more questions: So just how often does a book with "homosexual content" land on the most-challenged list? How does it get on such a list? And, what happens here in Pueblo when a book lands on the list? Clark assured me that the library as a whole stands firmly against the censoring of any material, sighting "intellectual freedom" for the public.

But, if for some reason a book - like one about cute, fuzzy penguins - offends you, all you have to do is file a complaint at the library or online. From there, it's reviewed by a committee at the library to determine if the book should be removed from the shelves. But taking a book off the shelf almost never happens, according to Clark.

So what if there is a particular book, magazine or movie you're looking for and the library doesn't have yet? "Simple," says Clark. "Request it." Again, you can easily fill out a form or go online at www.pueblolibrary.org and request it. The library fills nearly 98 percent of requested items.

For example, if you're familiar with the L Word, you know it's not necessarily a mainstream television series outside the GLBT community. Thanks to someone's request, our library now carries DVDs of all of the seasons. This means that all of the hard-to-find pieces of literature you hear about or read about can be available at your fingertips for no cost. And let's face it: the library operates partly off of our tax money, so you might as well take advantage of it.

I wondered how many other people weren't aware that this was all available, or like myself, never thought to go out and explore a public library for work from the queer community. There is a whole genre of literature out there just waiting to be discovered. In fact the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered pieces of work may actually surprise you. It did me. And even more surprising, I discovered how easy it is to find different books - both fiction and non-fiction - for and about the gay community.

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