I do not agree with Bryan Blalock’s recent editorial, but respect the debate about including LGBT literature in the classroom.
Do they imagine that all LGBT literature is about lurid sex scenes? In my high school we read “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin — a classic novel by an acclaimed (and gay) author, about alienation and complex relationships. Is it not “appropriate” because some of the relationships happen to be gay? Are works by LGBT authors OK, as long as they discuss heterosexual characters? If not, you remove from classrooms the classics of Oscar Wilde, Truman Capote and others.
It’s one thing to debate the feasibility of implementing such works. It’s another to suggest that all literature that even mentions homosexuality is “grossly inappropriate” and should only be available in special locations. By doing so, you tell LGBT students that their identity is not and should not be normal or public. I am a former graduate student and now instructor here. I am also gay. Should I not hold my partner’s hand on this campus because it might make Bryan Blalock uncomfortable? Should my students have to visit me in a guidance office or LGBT-marked setting? Or is it only OK if I never give any public indication that I am gay?
Consider being asked — even for a day — to refrain from any indication that you are straight on campus. I challenge you: either tell me that I am “grossly inappropriate” at this public university, or think more deeply about the claim you are making to the LGBT and ally community around you.
— Alyssa Hesse, English Instructor