My Background: I am a former teacher and a librarian-in-training who loves to research. I identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community (biromantic, demisexual) and have a nine-year-old son who identifies as transgender. I am involved in advocacy groups in North Carolina to help educate others about transgender youth.
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Q: What does it mean to be transgender, gender nonconforming, and/or gender nonbinary?
Q: There aren't many trans people. Why should we have resources for them?
Q: What do I say to students/patrons who are scared of transgender people using the bathrooms?
Q: What are some resources for supporting transgender youth in my library?
Q: What are some resources I can recommend to parents to watch or read with their children?
Q: What are good book selections for my children and young adult library collections?
Q: What resources do you recommend for people who are struggling with their religious beliefs about LGBTQ+ people?
Q: What do I do if patrons/students request that I show "both sides of the issue" and try to promote materials that are incorrect, misleading, or hateful?
Coming soon: What are some "nonthreatening" reading materials I can print out and use in passive programming at my library? I don't think that my school or library branch can do a whole "Pride" display.
Q: What does it mean to be transgender, gender nonconforming, and/or gender nonbinary?
A: The super short answer (from Dictionary.com) is "a person whose sense of personal identity and gender does not correspond with their birth sex."
However, definitions and language usage are always evolving--it's important to keep up with definitions to avoid being accidentally offensive. I recommend these resources:
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Q: Can young people really be transgender? What do science and psychology say?A: The short answer: YES.
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Q: There aren't many trans people. Why should we have resources for them?
A: Yes, transgender people are a relatively small portion of the population, but from an educational and librarian standpoint, this argument has never made sense to me.
For example, books about world religions are present in libraries even when a community is primarily a single religion.
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Q: What do I say to students/patrons who are scared of transgender people using the bathrooms?
A: My snarky answer is "It's none of anyone's business who pees where! Chill out, people!"
My snarky answer is not sufficient for some 😑. So here are some resources that I recommend:
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Q: What are some resources for supporting transgender youth in my library?
A: A lot of information is available online! Most of these sites have printable PDFs that can be placed on library tables or hung up on bulletin boards for passive programming ideas.
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Q: What are some resources I can recommend to parents to watch or read with their children?
A: The following YouTube channel and websites are very young-child-friendly.
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Q: What are good book selections for my children and young adult library collections?
A: In addition to all of the fabulous reviews you will find here on Jen Reads the Rainbow😉, the following resources help librarians select LGBTQ+-themed books for their libraries.
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Q: What resources do you recommend for people who are struggling with their religious beliefs about LGBTQ+ people?
A: I have found through my experiences as a public school teacher and librarian that patrons will use their sincerely held religious beliefs as reasons to challenge the library's LGBTQ+ materials.
In my opinion (again, based on experience), this issue must be handled respectfully and sensitively, even if you are frustrated and angered by it. Jumping in with a defensive attitude (even if the patron/student has an attitude also) does not help your case.
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Q: What do I do if patrons/students request that I show "both sides of the issue" and try to promote materials that are incorrect, misleading, or hateful?
I ended up creating a whole series of pages for this question.
Click here for more-----------------------------------------------------------------
Coming soon: What are some "nonthreatening" reading materials I can print out and use in passive programming at my library? I don't think that my school or library branch can do a whole "Pride" display.
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