Mentoring Young Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Writers:
A Panel Discussion
Presented at the 2007 Annual Convention of the
National Council of Teachers of English
Javits Convention Center, New York, NY November 16, 2007
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LGBTQ students are in many schools a silent, often oppressed minority. Whether they are out or in the closet, their experience as writers differs in recognizable ways from that of their straight peers. Essays turned in for a grade may be edited versions in which the writers' experience as LGBTQ youth is disguised so as to represent not too great a departure from the norm. Common English words carry different meanings for LGBTQ youth. Some of these are "boy," "girl," "school dance," "prom," "boys' showers," "dressing up," "going out," "dating," "my boyfriend," "my girlfriend," "my partner," "husband," "wife." Negotiating the interface between LGBTQ language/culture and straight society may in many cases promote these students' creativity. Yet, in contrast to their straight peers, LGBTQ youth may feel they have no audience for their most creative work. Teachers who understand how to work with LGBTQ youth can help these students become good writers making positive contributions to the school and the community.
Students will benefit from a larger effort to
- make writing instruction more friendly for and welcoming of LGBTQ youth,
- "appreciate the link between the ability to articulate experience and the depth (indeed nature) of experience" (Eugene McAvoy),
- foster the development of young LGBTQ writers, and
- advance English teachers' understanding of
- LGBTQ identity,
- the place of LGBTQ youth in the school community, and
- the nature of effective writing instruction for this minority group.
Panelists
Joseph Dial* is director of the Queer Foundation and the author, recently, of "' Steigend auf so wie Gestirne / Gehen sie wie Gestirne nieder': Brecht's Hegelian Conception of Death as Life's Contradiction and the Mutability of Everything," Brecht Yearbook 32 (2007): 199–210.
Felicia Luna Lemus is the author of two novels: The Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties and Like Son.
Eugene McAvoy* is faculty advisor for PC Alliance, the LGBTQA support organization at Pennsylvania College of Technology, coauthor with Sture Sigfred of Dead Reckoning: A Reminiscence of Life during the Golden Age of Aviation, and assistant editor of the Harrington Gay Men's Literary Quarterly.
Billy Merrell is the author of Talking in the Dark: A Poetry Memoir and co-editor (with David Levithan) of The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing about Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities , which received a 2006 Lambda Literary Award. He is currently the web coordinator for Poets.org, the website of the Academy of American Poets.
Rachel Pepper is the Coordinator of LGBT Studies at Yale University and coauthor of the recently released Gay and Lesbian Guide to College Life, from Princeton Review press. Her newest book, The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals, will be published in the spring. She is also the author of a lesbian pregnancy book and long-time Book Editor at Curve magazine.
Nancy Schwalb, founder of the D.C. Creative Writing Workshop, is the author of " East of the River: Crossing Borders through Poetry in Middle Schools," English Journal 96, no.1 (Sept. 2006).
*member of NCTE's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Academic Studies Advisory Committee