The Gay History Behind Your Favorite Childhood Books

Did you know many of the authors who wrote some of history's most famous kid's books were gay? Come learn with me about some queer icons of youth literature, and the politics that kept them in the closet.

I'm on TikTok @ kazrowe

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Sources

“On spies and purple socks and such” by Kathleen T. Horning

“Sissies, Dolls, and Dancing: Children's Literature and Gender Deviance in the Seventies” by Ricky Herzog

“We’re Here, We’re (Not?) Queer: GLBTQ Characters in Children's Books” by B.J. Epstein

“"Too Realistic" and "Too Distorted": The Attack on Louise Fitzhugh's Harriet the Spy and the Gaze of the Queer Child” by Robin Bernstein

“Over the Rainbow: Queer Children's and Young Adult Literature” edited by Michelle Ann Abate, Kenneth B. Kidd

“The Oxford Handbook of Children's Literature” edited by Julia Mickenberg, Lynne Vallone

“Queer (and Not-So-Queer) Childhoods” by Peter E. Cumming

“For the Little Queers: Imagining Queerness in “New” Queer Children’s Literature” By Jennifer Miller

“Innocence, Heterosexuality, and the Queerness of Children's Literature” By Tison Pugh

“Queer Seriality, Streaming Television, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power” by Kelsey Cummings

Chapter 97: Queer Children’s Literature, Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education, Jill M. Hermann-Wilmarth

”Fear of the Queer Child” by Clifford J. Rosky

“Queer Kids are Not Alone: Searching for 2S-LGBTQIA+ Representation in Children’s Animated Television” by Katelyn O’Brien

“Homonormativity in Children's Literature: An Intersectional Analysis of Queer-Themed Picture Books” Jasmine Z. Lester

“We're Here, We're Queer, but We're Just like Heterosexuals: A Cultural Studies Analysis of Lesbian Themed Children's Books” by Jennifer Esposito

”Rethinking Innocence,” Chapter 7 in The Cute and the Cool: Wondrous Innocence and Modern American Children’s Culture by Gary Cross

“Curiouser: On the Queerness of Children” by Steven Bruhm and Natasha Hurley

[empressmarowynn]

In my toddler classroom the other day I had four boys and one girl in a group. All the boys insisted on putting on princess dresses and prancing around the room, spinning and pretending to be ballerinas. When they went up the stairs of our little playhouse they made sure to daintily pull up the fronts of their dresses just like a princess. Meanwhile the little girl was chilling in the playhouse reading a book. No parents or children walking past had a single thing to say about it. When the boys' parents were told later they thought it was adorable. One dad was even super excited because the mom used to be a ballet teacher so they're hoping their son is developing an interest too. I wish for more parents like these all over the world, raising their kids to be comfortable with themselves no matter what.

[aeriselove]

I want “no one is born hating, it’s taught to them” on my WALL

[JC-gbnv]

Just letting you guys know, there Is a FROG AND TOAD SHOW AND IT HAS A MOST WONDERFUL SOUNDTRACK(and they are so in love and they hold hands)

[Coffbeans]

Saw snufkin and moomin on the thumbnail and was instantly fixated lmao

[nattmazzoni]

For a group of people that preach that a child learning about gay people will make them sexualized, these adults really were constantly trying to push ME into having interest in heterosexual sex, when I really was never interested in sex at all! (I'm aro ace)

[SkyeID]

The people who say, "think of the children!" don't really care about the children. They care about their own beliefs and hating everything they don't understand. "Kids need to be protected" indeed. But some of those kids need to be protected from their bigoted parents, who won't let their 4 year old wear dresses because "those are girl's clothes", and won't accept their 13 year old who came out as gay because "he's too young to know".

EDIT: I was not expecting this level of 👍 and responses over something I said! But it is a heated topic.

[unnotabelle]

Just a note! Hazel Marr doesn't show up in Anne of Green Gables, but in one of its sequel novels, Anne of Windy Poplars. Her statement of love to Anne is especially buck-wild because it's one of the first things she says, having never been mentioned at all before she first appears mid-way through the book. She literally pops in for a couple of chapters to cause some wild drama, and then is never seen or heard from again. Montgomery just really, really wanted a girl to confess her love to Anne I guess.

[chrissyschhhh]

My favorite teacher was my kindergarten teacher, she would read a lot of these books to us. Her girlfriend was also a teacher, and their relationship being normalized to us by her and our parents at a young age was so important.

[hungryepicboys]

As a str8 little kid doing ballet in Florida I totally related to the bit about adults being uncomfortable about children not falling into gender roles. Knew a lot of conservative dads who did not want me being friends with their sons back then just because I was one of three boys doing dance in that town, even if I also played lots of other sports and was traditionally masc in most ways

[originofclothing]

I’m a librarian in a middle school, when I first came in 2 years ago the first thing I did was make a section of books with LGBTQ+ representation of all kinds and have books where the storyline isn’t just about the character coming out. I’ve had such a positive reaction and it makes me so happy when kids tell me that they love the section and that they feel seen❤️🏳️‍🌈

[NouveauArtPunk]

As a children's bookseller and a certified big fat gay, this was made for me. I'm always waxing poetic about the gayness of canonical children's books to my clientele lol

[cairosene]

in tears over your cat crying in the background for like 8 minutes. i love her

[essi]

I definitely do not hate you for planning a video on Tove Jansson. I'll happily wait for it.
Tove is my favourite author and one of my favourite artists. I'm Finnish and I met her a few times during my childhood and teenage years and she really was a true, genuine artist and had an incredible talent of reading people.
Her book "Tales from Moominvalley" has a story called 'The Fillyjonk who believed in disasters' which, and I'm not exaggerating, is the most important piece of literature for me. That one story changed my life when I was 15. I still read it once or twice a year.

[crazyratlady]

Children 200 years ago were what, working in the mines at six years old, watching their mother give birth to siblings conceived in the one room where the whole family lived and then watching those siblings die of consumption. I think "Sometimes people love each other and want to live together and help each other with stupid boring adult things like ironing and taxes" is a concept that modern children will be absolutely fine with.

[jamesoniris]

There should be a law that everyone Anita Bryant is discussed or mentioned- the clip of her getting a pie in the face and then her crying about it should always be played

[danielcouturier]

I had the privilege to work on the Frog and Toad show for apple tv❤it was such an amazing production

[Ren-kwcg]

When you explained your experience with covering your actual attraction(s) as "picking out the only boy who was nice to you" as a comphet move, I felt that. 100% did the same thing, too. Except from an Ace lens of "oh shit… I guess I've got to pick my... boy....? Y'all weren't joking about this? Fine. That one."

[korecfirk]

Here in Argentina we have María Elena Walsh who wrote so many kids stories, poems and music we all grew up with and lived most of her life with her partner Sara Facio who just recently passed away

[RobinGoodfell]

I was crushing on Peter Pan while simultaneously wanting to be peterpan, same for Alice in wonderland, and then Tim Burton’s mad hatter, and Merida from brave. It was genuinely confusing. I remember having a conversation with my mother when she picked me up from school somewhere between 2nd and third grade. I was trying to express I didn’t really feel like I fit with the girls or that I fit with the boys. I only had the most basic concept of gender so the words I used were “Tom boy” and “girly girly”. She told me that was okay, and that people can exist in all kinds of ways, and that she wasn’t a tomboy or a girly girl. While she definitely meant that under the umbrella of womanhood, I really appreciated that, and it helped me accept myself in that moment.
I didn’t realize until college that I was pansexual and non-binary.
I was so very lucky to have parents that always treated me as myself. Not as a gender. So many people aren’t that lucky. While I wish we could trust all parents to raise their children to exist as themselves, I’ve learned from comparing my childhood with others that you just can’t.

Adults who do not accept themselves will not accept their children either. It’s so very important that children learn that there IS a place for them in this world. And that they aren’t alone.

[queenmotherhane]

Tomie DePaola grew up half a mile from my house! My daughter and I adored “Strega Nona, ” and were delighted to learn that Tomie is a native son. Our library’s children’s section is named after him. He came back to town every few years to give talks (including little art lessons) and sign books. He was a lovely man and is deeply missed.