Luv Ya Bunches

My first reaction to the news that Scholastic had agreed to sell a “cleaned up” version of Myracle’s Luv Ya Bunches was, “Hmmmm, how cleaned up is it?”  I didn’t honestly think that Myracle would cave to absurd hetero-normative pressures, but I was suddenly unsure.  Thankfully, the gay parents of one character were left in, and the word crap was taken out.  Fair trade?  Myracle thinks so.  The book is still unavailable at elementary schools, however.  And Scholastic has yet to actually admit to any mis-judgement or to apologize for its bigotry.  On a brighter note, Scholastic has “committed to a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) characters and same-sex parents.”  Well, it’s about time.

The books that children read inform their world-view.  The characters and events they encounter help to shape their idea of how the world is and how it should be.  What a shame to actively eliminate an entire population from children’s literature.  To deny the children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren of same-sex couples the experience of seeing their reality reflected back at them is unforgivable.  Equally atrocious is denying this reality to children who know no homosexual people.  Narrowing our children’s horizons creates narrow adults.

When a powerhouse like Scholastic demands that same-sex partners be removed from books aimed at the upper-elementary/preeteen set, they are upholding the hateful position that there is a right and wrong kind of love - a right and wrong kind of family.  Or that homosexuality is fine, but only for older kids, and somehow harmful to children. Memo to Scholastic: Homosexuality =/= pedophilia.  Let’s move into the twenty-first century together.