LGBTQIA+ Issues Discussion #5: Queer Programming
02 August 2024
Thinking of the library you work for (or one you'd like to work for), what programs would you like to create for the LGBTQIA+ community in that area? What local organizations could you partner with? Try to think outside of the usual story time box.
Funny bit of ALA history I stumbled across at the start of the semester: at the 1971 conference, Barbara Gittings, coordinator of what would become the Rainbow Round Table, organized a "Hug a Homosexual" kissing booth, pushing for more visibility of gays and lesbians in the profession at the time. It saw almost no use, but taking advantage of media presence at the time, Gittings would rope author Isabel Miller into a live lesbian kiss on camera, to be broadcast on news programs around the country (West, 2013). Surely, with queer visibility and acceptance at an all time high, adult programmers could organize their own hugging booth to give queerness a tangible, personal presence, even despite the transformed notions of personal space brought on by a pandemic, right???
....anyway, my completely serious answer would only court as much controversy as a given event's content. Another kind of queer programming I'd want to put on is a sort of queer showcase or movie night with an arthouse-y, focusing on mediums beyond the usual feature film if possible. Music concerts, performance pieces, artwork, videogames, zines, fashion shows, fully-fledged drag shows—you name it, if it's feasible for the library to showcase it, we'd put it on. Depending on the medium, this could even feature multiple artists showcasing or even selling their art all at once like a convention alley. This would probably end up being used a lot more by local writers and comics creators given that it'd all be held at a library, of course...but I'd hope the spirit would still let it be something that can put more radical forms of queerness out there, that says "hey. queer art is here. queer artists are here. there (can be) a more vibrant queerness here, if given a place to shine."
References
West, J. (2013, March 30). Barbara Gittings, that lady in the “hug a homosexual” booth. librarian.net. https://www.librarian.net/stax/4070/barbara-gittings-that-lady-in-the-hug-a-homosexual-booth/