Claire’s Catch

Pick a book. Pick any book in any library and I can guarantee something: if the main character is human, they are probably straight.

While there has been some progress with LGBT+ rights in our society and the world in general, there is still a plethora of stigma and underrepresentation of these youth in media and in literature.

I am currently taking the Library Media class this quarter. With my sudden proximity to the library every day, I found myself wanting to read more YA books with gay, bisexual, or transgender characters. I searched through the library’s catalog, and I could only find a dozen or so books that were classified as LGBT+. I was disappointed in my findings. Why are there not more books with characters that are not straight?

While the amount of coverage that LGBT+ characters are in, the majority of those characters were white. In Glaad’s 20th annual report in 2015, 69% of gay characters were white, 19% were black, 7% were Latino and 6% were Asian. On streaming and cable platforms respectively, 73% and 71% of gay characters are white.

According to the Williams Institute UCLA School of Law,  “Adults who identify as transgender are less likely to be white and more likely to be racial and ethnic minorities when compared to the U.S. general population. Adults who identify as African-American or black, Latino or Hispanic, and adults of another race or ethnicity are more likely than white adults to identify as transgender.”

Cody Smitley, 12, said, “I believe that underrepresentation of LGBT+ youth is not a myth. It has definitely gotten a lot better in the past couple years but not nearly as good as it should be. If you think about it sometimes straight people play gay characters rather than actual gay people. I commend those actors for being able to play that role and it doesn’t offend me that a straight person is playing them but why not just cast someone who is actually gay?”

As our society progresses, I think LGBT+ representation should evolve with it.