Writing Queer and Trans Identity with Lexie Bean

Lexie Bean (they/he) is a queer and trans multimedia artist from the Midwest whose work revolves around themes of bodies, homes, cyclical violence, and LGBTQIA+ identity. They are a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, member of the RAINN National Leadership Council with 10+ years of facilitation experience, and a Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Written on the Body for their work with fellow trans survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse. Their debut novel The Ship We Built is noted as the first middle grade book at a major American publisher centering a trans boy to be written by one. Their work has been featured in Teen Vogue, the New York Times, The Feminist Wire, Ms. Magazine, Them, Logo’s New Now Next, Bust Magazine, and more. www.lexiebean.com

Lexi's debut MG novel, "The Ship We Built"

Lexie's breakout session is called "Writing Queer and Trans Identity: Going Beyond the Binary of Victims and Perfect Heroes."

Lexie Bean (top) presenting, also shown is Lucy, the session's ASL interpreter.

Lexie opens with a question, what does each of us consider child appropriate?

Lexie explains it's a question they get a lot - their novel has a ten year old Trans protagonist. The story includes child sexual abuse. It's also set in the 90s... Their book has been banned, and that, as well as the rash of anti-Trans legislation happening in the US, as well as the media and our publishing industry's portrayals of Trans people, all feed into their presentation.

He asks us to consider the first examples of Queer and Trans storytelling we encountered in our lives. For them, Lexie remembers the show "Cops" in the 1990s was their introduction to Trans women - “someone blurred out and arrested.” They didn't know Trans boys existed until college. Their first exposure to gay people was on the news, news about AIDS and the fights for Gay marriage. Those exposures influence storytelling, and memory...

Something that makes Queer and Trans literature for youth, for those of us who create that literature, is that so many of us are raising ourselves in different ways now.

Lexie's book, "The Ship We Built," was the first middle grade novel about a Trans boy to be written by a Trans author from a major publisher - and Lexie speaks to the meaning of that.

On the false binary of the Victim vs. the Perfect Hero:

If you're going to tell a Queer or Trans story from a first person perspective in YA, there's the idea that there needs to be trauma, trauma, trauma... “Sometimes trauma is put forward as a strange attempt to humanize us.”

On the other end, especially for young readers (MG and picture books) everything needs to be perfect at the end, and the Trans child is the one who saves everyone. “That can be dehumanizing, too.”

The lack of nuance is often so far from people's lived experiences, it makes it hard to connect. Like “we can only speak to our experiences if they've been resolved already.” A lot can be lost in that strive for 'perfection'.

“Falling in either road can be dehumanizing. This is a call asking for something in-between.”

As to the books for kids that already are out there, there are lots of stories about Trans girls, though they are often written by cis people and the 'happy' resolutions convey that the Trans experience needs to be understood and fall within the binary. “Not everything about being Trans is visible.”

There are not many stories about Trans boys.

There's a difference between “Trans people are here to save us all” vs. empowerment. There's a lot going on for Trans kids - “Where are the adults who are helping them? We need to see examples of this. And kids not always knowing how to save others and themselves. It can be a great service to our community to know it's not always on us.”

On ideas of marketability and the role of the publishing industry:

Lexie speaks to the pressure put on them to either take the childhood sexual abuse out of their novel completely or to heighten it so it would fit better into the victim/hero binary.

The specificity of having their book include both actually meant they were not narrowing their audience, but expanding it by including people who have other ways to enter the text. “It is not limiting.”

“Children are really freakin' smart, but they also have feelings deep enough to want to die. They have experiences that need to be reflected.” Lexie's answer to the opening question, as a trans survivor of childhood sexual abuse themself, is:

“As long a child is experiencing something, it is child appropriate.” 

Letting children know can help them by leading to resources that can point them to hope, and letting them know they're not alone.

There's lots more shared, on Lexie's experience of having their book banned for multiple reasons, the pressure they felt about the ending to their book, and advice for authors to follow our instincts – and know what parts of our story we want to protect as we go on our publishing journey. Lexie reads their author's note from "The Ship We Built" and finishes the session with a Q&A.

The SCBWI Gay (GLBTQ) Mixer Pulls In A Crowd!

25 of us - published, pre-published, and supporters, gathered at Uncle Charley's Bar to talk with Simon And Schuster Art Director Laurent Linn, Scholastic Associate Editor Jody Corbett, and T.S. Ferguson (a former editor at Little Brown) to mix and mingle and meet as a sort of professional Gay-Straight Alliance of the kid lit world.

After a round of introductions and some schmoozing, we got our drinks, settled down in a big circle, and took over the bar!

We spoke about the distinction between writing books that were all about a character's being Queer (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and/or Questioning) and books where GLBTQ characters were just part of the fabric of the world of the story - just as GLBTQ teens are part of the fabric of our real world.

Questions we tackled included "how do I handle dealing with my main character's being gay if I'm not?" (short answer: read what's out there as a starting point, with the ALA's Rainbow List and my blog both mentioned as resources.)

"How can I introduce books with GLBTQ content in my middle school to support the kids that need it, without getting slammed for it?" (short answer: Books like James Howe's "The Misfits" that have ensemble casts of main characters where one of them is Gay offer an opportunity to start the discussion of GLBTQ identity within the larger discussion of "otherness" and "us versus them." And the sequel, "Totally Joe" focuses on the gay character, which gives kids who are interested in reading more about him the opportunity to do so.)

And many questions about "Is this kind of book out there?"

We spoke about illustration and the special opportunities in illustrations to represent diversity - and celebrated Marla Frazee's recent Caldecott Honor for her illustration of "All The World" (written by Liz Garton Scanlon.)

We talked about the courage it takes to include GLBTQ characters and themes in your work, and also about how so few submissions (agented and non agented) that editors receive have any GLBTQ content. (Which led to the realization that including GLBTQ content might actually HELP your work stand out!)

We discussed the recent whitewashing controversy (where publishers put white representations of the main character on the cover of books where the character is a person of color) and how the voices raised outside the specific disenfranchised group can help effect change.

We spoke of allies and success stories, upcoming releases, and the emotional truth that all characters need to have - gay or straight!

It was a lively discussion of passionate people, and talk of future sessions on craft had the room pumped up and excited for the future.

Thanks to everyone who attended!


--Posted by Lee Wind

GLBTQ Poolside Lunch Chat

I had a great time covering the GLBTQ (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning) Poolside Lunch Chat about the craft of writing children's books, YA novels, as well as the politics behind the GLBTQ label - some topics included having realistic characters that aren't "fake" (i.e. too perfect), how to market GLBTQ YA novels to the widest audience possible, the special challenges to writing and illustrating picture books featuring GLBTQ characters, etc.

Author Emily Wing-Smith participated in the conversation. She is the author of "The Way He Lived." Also present was author Malinda Lo, whose YA novel, "Ash," a re-telling of the Cinderella fairy tale with a twist (Prince Charming is a girl) debuts this September. (She's pictured above in the green shirt).

Scholastic Inc. VP Arthur Levine emphasized that all characters, gay or straight, should be realistic and authentic. "Imperfections are what make characters feel real," he said. "An idealized character doesn't feel real to anyone. You want your reader to believe in your character and for your character to be fully real."

Lee Wind discussed whether GLBTQ YA books are starting to move away from focusing solely on the "coming out" identity theme. He mentioned that transgender books are still focusing still on coming out but GLB YA may focus on other issues. For example, Levine edited Lisa Yee's ABSOLUTELY MAYBE in which one character may or may not be gay (I don't want to give away the spoiler) but his identity is NOT the main point of the story. Malinda Lo felt there are newer ways to tell the "coming out" story that can still make this theme timeless and fresh to new audiences. 

Overall, it was an illuminating conversation about these issues and more among both aspiring and published picture book and YA/mid grade novel writers. It was clear everyone appreciated this open, candid and very supportive environment to discuss these issues along with craft of writing issues. 

Plus, it was really sunny and we were all sitting by the pool. What more could you ask for a beautiful day! :)

Posted by Paula Yoo