Ellen Wittlinger: Writing the GLBTQ Book...


As the author of a number of books featuring GLBTQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning) characters including Hard Love and Parrotfish, her latest, Ellen Wittlinger maintains that a writer does not have to be gay to write gay characters, but must possess the skills to write with thoughtfulness and do some research.

Wittlinger expressed the need to book for young readers with GLBTQ characters beyond coming out stories (although those are important as well). Her goal is to normalize homosexuality and transsexuality and show it as one of the many ways we are different from one another. She says she feels we lull ourselves into thinking that homophobia is going away and said that there are much higher rates of skipping school and suicide among GLBTQ kids. She's actually been dis-invited from industry events when organizers find out she's written about gay characters and has been instructed not to discuss her books that include gay characters while doing school visits. (She agrees to not base her speech on such books but will always answer questions from young readers in the audience when they reference her GLBTQc haracters.) Very interesting discussion.