Beginning in 2003, Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern attempted to ban what she broadly described as undefined “Gay Themed” book, brought people‘s attention to the fact that with all the books in Oklahoma City’s high school libraries on diversity in America, there weren‘t any that included Gay people unless as footnotes, or as characters that did not end their stories well.

Gay characters were comic relief, predictably malicious, lonely,  and most likely dead before the final chapter to allow for the cautions about straying from nature as defined by the author. 

I had found a few books in the high school library at my school that dealt with the topic of Homosexuality. Among these were a book with suggested debate topics with essays on the pros and cons of various controversial topics including Homosexuality along with promiscuity, alcohol and drugs use, and diseases; a book on AIDS where all the heterosexual couples were in normal relationships with some minor varying details which elicited pity for any of them exposed to HIV while the sole Gay teen had decided on a life of promiscuity involving a lot of older men; and one where a conservative televangelist treated the topic of teen sex with cautions about those abominations that might lead them astray. But as far as any history, biography, or work of fiction not related in any way to sex, unlike such books involving heterosexual characters, there was nothing.

Money was raised from individuals and organizations within what was referred to at the time as the Gay Community so one copy each of the books “Stonewall” by David Carter and “Forgotten Profit: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin” by John D‘Emilio could be bought for each high school in Oklahoma City and presented to the School Board in the summer of 2005 as a gift to to the district to cover this void. With two shopping bags filled with books bound in pairs by rainbow ribbon, one set for each high school, members of the community presented the books to the Board at one of its public meetings.

The books had been chosen because of their historical value, and because there was nothing in either that could be even remotely objectionable, with the target audience being high school students so as to avoid any possibility that someone could accuse the books of being recruitment tools from which children would need protection. 

Indirectly the actions of the state representative regarding the books in the public libraries also guided the choice of the books and the audience as we followed her proposed requirements for age appropriate Homosexually themed books placed appropriately. The books would be only for high school students, and, being histories, were relevant to the curriculum. They were not sensational.

Neither book is mythological as the virtues and flaws of all involved in both books could be judged individually by their own actions within the larger Community and events, and even at Stonewall the reality is that there were those on both sides who were not the best examples of who made up each group. Neither book attempts to create a false story peopled with heroes and, at times, seems concerned enough to err the other way.

In short, there was no “promoting” of ideas.

We decided on a public presentation as opposed to going to the individual schools as a way to make sure the books were not just silently put in a closet somewhere with no central person or department to keep after to get the books on the shelves if it ever came to that, but their existence would be publicly known and interest in their fate followed.

Various members of the Gay Community spoke to the Board about the importance of such books, and how information may not only have helped the speakers, themselves, make better decisions in their youth, but might help the students avoid some of the pitfalls involved in figuring out on your own what it meant to be Gay and where they fit into the big picture in a society that systematically designs correct information in favor of an agenda based on religion and politics. Both books contained flawed individuals whose errors were not glossed over, so it was not a question of presenting a false, rosy picture, but one that was realistic and at times embarrassing.

     I had been to many Board meetings and the procedure for Community Comments had always been first come, first served, before the accepted agends was addressed. However, that night the acting chair grouped people according to topics, listing the book donation last even though I had been the first person to sign up to speak. Usually at Board meetings when any one group and its members spoke and finished their business, those people left. To have artificially placed us last ignoring the Board‘s own procedure guaranteed that when we got up to present the books the audience would not be there and we would be addressing ourselves and those Board members who had not left or taken a bathroom break. This would deny us both the drama of the moment, and witnesses beyond ourselves and the Board.

Those who usually attended School Board meetings like the Union officials and lower on the administration ladder officials noticed this change.

As it was, due to some confusion experienced by a group called before us when the person with the necessary papers was caught off guard having gone into the foyer to review some papers assuming he was further down the list of speakers having signed up just before the meeting began and had to be retrieved, the book presentation moved ahead of a Union issue only to have the acting chair, after announcing that there were four speakers, naming only three, absenting himself from the room, we assumed for a call of nature, so that after the third speaker was finished there was a very awkward pause that almost brought our presentation to an ignorable standstill since by procedure the chair announces the next speaker but had still not returned. Since I was the fourth intended speaker whose name had not been called, I went to the podium anyway, made my remarks, and presented my set of books to the members of the Board along with the other three speakers who came forward from their seats with theirs.

By the time the acting chair had returned, the books had been presented in spite of him.

The irony was that the acting chair who gave many people beyond us the impression he was trying to interfere or at least minimize the book donation was a Black man who benefited from the Civil Rights work of Bayard Rustin, a Black man, or he may not have been sitting on the Board. Yet, obviously being ignorant of who Bayard Rustin was, he tried mightily to censor us and the presentation. This was demonstrable ignorance of Black History, and oddly enough fit well into Strom Thurmond‘s attempting to control Black History as he did in 1963, and as politicians are attempting to do now, and showed that even supposedly informed people were woefully uninformed about their own history. 

I was embarrassed for him and his lack of knowledge about someone like Bayard Rustin and his obvious assumption that Rustin was a bad thing.

We did not ask for special, but for equal treatment, and did not expect these two books to be treated any differently than any other books, nor would we accept if they were treated less than any other book. Before even presenting the idea of a book donation I had checked on the school district policy about such donations and found there was none.

The televised media covered our presentation in a positive way, showing the two books presented, and asking those responsible for their motivation for donating the books and their hopes for the books‘ impact on students.

The books were passed on to the administrator in charge of district school libraries. Convinced that someone would come forward to make some impossibly unfounded and bizarre claim that the “Homosexual Agenda” was being promoted in the schools, and that the “Homosexual Lifestyle” was being taught as an acceptable alternative to Heterosexuality, the director of libraries wanted to have a few people read the books to see if there was anything to which anyone might choose to object. Her intention was to anticipate any objections that might arise by coming up with answers to them before they were voiced.

The District‘s initial inability to let the book donors know where the books had ended up when asked a few weeks after their presentation gave the impression that there may have been some reluctance in accepting the books, and they had been conveniently lost in the labyrinth of school headquarters. It would have been a good way to dodge having to deal with them or any backlash toward the donation.

When the books were located, they were just where they were supposed to be, in the office of a person who wanted the books in the libraries but who also found herself facing a possibly awkward and unsought position. The District‘s existing procedure for addressing complaints from parents or students about any book in any school library was applied in anticipation of their being placed on high school library shelves, and when all was said and done, and all arguments that could be were anticipated, the books went into the libraries after a six month process.

Upon checking after the date given as the day of delivery of the books to the high school libraries, I found most high school librarians contacted had received the books with some already having placed them on the shelves. One newly built high school had the two books as some of the first to be placed on the new school library‘s shelves.

As with the Gay History Month displays and other materials that had found less support in the past, these books did not bring down any storms of fire and brimstone, and if they were responsible for the loss of souls or any other demonic mayhem, no one has yet mentioned it.

It is now twenty years since we gave the books and many people made donations toward their purchase. One person, Jim Prock, who swore me to keep his secret, bought the lion’s share of the books when he inquired and found out there were still some books needing purchase and made it happen. The main detail is that he did not wait to see how things were and then stepping in to make it finally happen, but inquired almost immediately and made it happen within hours.

One “little guy” who took a major action, not for praise, but for the benefit of others. Some Kid read one of those books and has no idea a quiet man made the difference.

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