From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:47:07 -0500

Arthur, your comment underscores the significance of the "casual inclusion" of gay characters in fiction, as well as the importance of novels with "gay point of view" characters displaying complex emotional lives.
  You've articulated and clarified what I attempted to say.
  Best, Ginny
 

Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
 



One of the things I loved about Martine Murray's THE SLIGHTLY TRUE STORY OF CEDAR B. HARTLEY was the casual inclusion, on Cedar's block, of two guys whose lives have been happily turned upside down by the arrival of a baby that they are raising. They aren't idealized, they are only bit players, but they are there, part of the neighborhood fabric that so richly holds the main character's life.

I think that for Gay and Lesbian Kids, and Kids of Gay and Lesbian parents, and kids with friends who are gay, these kinds of casual inclusions make life easier. It lets them know that it's ok to be relaxed about it. Of course it's also important for all these groups to find gay pov characters with complex emotional lives, and it's nice to hear a discussion of the increasing body of literature that welcomes such characters.
Received on Fri 18 Jun 2004 10:47:07 AM CDT