Sunshine and Rainbows

[yachiru]

Title: Sunshine and Rainbows
Prompt: “The path is made by walking”
TW: Cursing, Homophobia

I moved to a small town three years or so ago. And by small town, I mean a rural Washington town so tiny it has one medium sized grocery store, no stoplights, and is an hour from the nearest Walmart.

I run a library in this town, I do displays and programs. I quite like being surrounded by trees and looking up at the stars at night. You forget what they’re supposed to look like in the city. You forget how to say hello to people or what berry picking with a group of really serious berry picking women look like. They all have secret Huckleberry spots that they’ll only take you to if you get up at five in the morning and agree to haul buckets down the mountain.

June is Pride month and it’s a month I love and dread in equal measure. June means I do Pride displays, colorful rainbow picture books and drag queen motivational books dot my shelves and my walls. I love seeing them but I dread listening to the vocal minority that begins to pop up.

Take those displays down.

Think of the children!

You’re too loud.

LGBTQ people don’t exist here.



It’s as though the displays remind people here that gay people live here. That they deserve representation. That the quiet unheard lives they lead should be enough right? Be invisible, be silent is the message I hear again and again.

The more vocal of them shout slurs at you if you walk through town wearing a rainbow sweater.

The less vocal get together on Facebook and sign petitions to remove books and displays because only straight white Christians should have a voice or be heard.

This year I took it, I took all of it and did something either brave or stupid. I kept the goddamn Pride flag up after June. I put it in the front window so that anyone who drives by sees it. Knows that in my library there is no “tolerating” of others. We accept everyone. We embrace everyone.

Libraries are not neutral, they are radical as fuck. MAGA books are shelved with All Boys Aren’t Blue. Mein Kampf is next to the Quran. No matter who you are, I guarantee your library represents you in some way.

One of the folks who works for our library board has made it their mission to get the flag down. Even threatened to take funding away from our library if we don’t take it down. She’s been recorded at meetings (yes this is a small town which are usually full of messy bitches who live for drama, who will record you saying stupid things) espousing this rhetoric.

Now I am conflict averse to a disturbing degree. I’m the kind of person who won’t send the wrong food back in a restaurant. But I can’t make myself cave on this. Our community is not all white Christian people who marry other white Christian people. Trans kids do exist. They commit suicide in towns like mine. Same goes for anyone on the LGBTQ spectrum. They deserve representation and respect.

Almost weekly someone comes in and asks me about it. Some are curious. Some are mad. Some write notes because they too are conflict averse but still need to get that point across.

It’s incredibly stressful for me. I think about taking that flag down many times. How much easier it would make my life. How I wouldn’t have to deal with angry white women or men who flap their hands to simulate limp wrists.

And I can’t do it.

I can’t take the flag down.

I can’t take that path.

My library has books for everyone. It has a rainbow flag. And you are welcome, no matter who you are or who you love.

Comments

[bleodswean]

This is exactly what libraries are SUPPOSED to do and be and reflect and create and generate and offer. Brava! And what an utterly perfect response to the prompt! I got into a spot of trouble when I was young for "contributing to the delinquency of a minor" because I recommended RE/Search publications to a customer at Tower Books....

Do you read A.G. Slatter or Angela Slatter? I think you would really resonate, especially the stories that deal with BOOKS! Sourdough & Other Stories would be a great place to dip a toe in.

[adoptedwriter]

"No matter who you are, I guarantee your library represents you in some way." I LOVE this line!

[tonithegreat]

Ah, this hits. I grew up in a town of that size/type. And just a few weeks ago one of my old besties from elementary school, who is an out lesbian who has moved back home with her wife posted a crazy “women’s sports are not for weak men” meme, which subsequently blew up on her social media. And I wanted to wade in so much- I mean this was my friend who wanted to be a fighter pilot with me in the Top Gun days when all the other girls just wanted Tom Cruise. How different might our lives have been had the librarians been like you instead of hiding away books with any hint of any kind of premarital sex in them. But we’re all 45 now. And another friend from high school jumped in there. . . I will say that when we went west this summer the park that we camped in outside Gresham OR had a rainbow flag prominently displayed and my daughter and I were very psyched on it.

[mollywheezy]

YAY for you!!! I really relate to this on two levels. My mother-in-law is a librarian in a small town in FL, so she is constantly up in arms about FL' trying to ban books, many by LGBTQ+ authors or with LGBTQ characters. My husband and I live in AL and while we are straight white Christians, we are 100% allies and attend all the Pride events we can to support the LGBTQ community. And get yelled at and insulted by protesters too. Like you, I will continue to stand up for the inclusion of all people.

[muchtooarrogant]

For all of those who spout toxicity and hatred, I guarantee there's someone on the opposite side who is grateful for what you're doing. Thank you for being the voice for a population that is so often under attack.

Dan

[reidharriscooper]

If they're going to spout facts such as 2% of the population they can't say jack shit about the library, because they aren't using it if that's the facts they have.

Same goes for anyone spousing any rhetoric. If they only use the library for books that the library is emberassed to have but have because of tolerance, then they shouldn't be allowed to be in the library or speak of it.

Period. Hold strong, keep standing and keep walking the path tall!

[halfshellvenus]

I'm from the Pacific NW, and those rural areas are everything we'd love to believe don't exist. Every bit as redneck as anywhere else, and very arrogant and vocal in the belief that everyone is just like them and that those who aren't should keep quiet and disappear.

This is a brave move on your part, and it has to be stressful. :(

[roina_arwen]

I'm glad your town has a librarian like you! Keep the flag up - representation matters. <3

[tigrkittn]

Your library is saving kids' sanity and their lives, even if they never say anything, and they'll remember you forever. Stay strong.

[drippedonpaper]

Thank you for making everyone welcome. My youngest kid is a lesbian. Everyone deserves love

[erulissedances]

OMG YES! I'm so very proud of you for putting the flag into the window and holding strong against those who want it taken down. Libraries are supposed to be a place of sanctuary, and inclusive and welcoming to all. You've got it!

- Erulisse (one L)

[swirlsofpurple]

Ugh, people like that are so infuriating. Thank you for fighting for the LGBTQ+ community in spite of them.

[rayaso]

I am so glad your library and your town have you. Stick to your guns. I have been following the book-banning and related issues for a long time now, and it sickens me.

[fausts_dream]

Libraries are one of the only places in public where people are permitted to exist without the expectation of spending money, as a guy who has recently been on the fringes of homelessness that is important to me.

Long may your flag wave.

[murielle]

Over the many years we have competed together on Idol I have loved your writing. I doubt that will ever change. You are a truly gifted writer.

I don't believe in censorship of any kind, and to me public libraries exemplify, or should, exemplify that principle. Libraries are supposed to be about knowledge and learning, exploration and expanding horizons. Big or small they are places of wonder and they should be safe places for everyone no matter their age, their race, their religion, their gender or their sexuality.

[static_abyss]

You are right, libraries are radical af. I'm glad you stuck to your choice even though so many people seem so bent on taking down this flag. As if there aren't other more important things they could be doing with their time.