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Story of my life

BOOKS Ken Setterington on 'Branded by the Pink Triangle'

Rainbow flags and pink triangles scream "Happy Pride" to a generation that has never known suppression in the form of concentration camp persecution. But what does the pink triangle really mean and…are we forgetting our history?

Author Ken Setterington sets the record straight—so to speak—about the origin of the pink triangle and why even those in the LGBT community have, at times, overzealously tried to conceal its past. In his new book, Branded by the Pink Triangle, Setterington explores German culture during the Holocaust and percolates on the topic of homosexuality specifically relating to the pop-up death camps that exterminated generations in one fell swoop. Utilizing first-person accounts and mastering the art of storytelling through all forms of available media, Setterington bravely delivers a project unlike any other of its time. The result is a haunting narrative that must be shared.

Q: According to your book, Branded by the Pink Triangle, Berlin was one of the most accepting cities for gay people in the world before World War II and the rise of the Nazi regime. Why was this such an important story to tell?

Ken Setterington: I think it is important to remember that there was time in Germany that homosexuals lived in a relatively free and open society. A society that they didn't think was under threat. It is always important to remember that society can change and we must be vigilant in moving society forward with acceptance of the LGBT community and not complacent.

WCT: Is there a specific reason it's imperative to tell this story now versus 20 years ago?

Illinois Family Institute Analyst: Libraries Need Books About The 'Joy' Kids Feel When Their Gay Parents Die

Right Wing Watch points out a disgusting piece over at the Illinois Family Institute website, in which IFI "cultural analyst" Laurie Higgins writes about her displeasure with the upcomingBanned Books Week - railing against librarians for their "hysteria-fomenting" efforts to prevent the banning of children's books with pro-LGBT content.

She writes:

The ALA pursues its hysteria-fomenting goal chiefly by ridiculing parents who, for example, don’t want their six-year-olds seeing books about children or anthropomorphized animals being raised by parents in homoerotic relationships. (Scorn and woe to those parents who hold the now-censored belief that homoeroticism—even homoeroticism presented in whitewashed, water-colored images—doesn’t belong in the picture books section of public libraries). 

Higgins then asks if these librarians will be equally willing to promote "pro-heterosexuality" books:

Will they ask for young adult (YA) novels about teens who feel sadness and resentment about being intentionally deprived of a mother or father and who seek to find their missing biological parents?

Will they ask for dark, angsty novels about teens who are damaged by the promiscuity of their “gay” “fathers” who hold sexual monogamy in disdain?

Will they ask for novels about young adults who are consumed by a sense of loss and bitterness that their politically correct and foolish parents allowed them during the entirety of their childhood to cross-dress, change their names, and take medication to prevent puberty, thus deforming their bodies?

Will they ask for novels about teens who suffer because of the harrowing fights and serial “marriages” of their lesbian mothers?

Will they ask for picture books that show the joy a little birdie experiences when after the West Nile virus deaths of her two daddies, she’s finally adopted by a daddy and mommy?

Surely, there are some teens and children who will identify with such stories.

Hypocritical Christian Pastor in Texas Wants Public Library to Ban All Books He Considers ‘Demonic’

Sometimes I really do wonder how any liberals stay sane in Texas. Well, sanity was tested once again when I ran across the story of a pastor in Cleveland, Texas who is pushing for the public library to ban all of the books that he feels are “demonic.”

Apparently he feels that children will be “corrupted” by reading books containing supernatural beings who aren’t human.

Pastor Phillip Missick of King of Saints Tabernacle said, “This is dark. There’s a sexual element. You have creatures that aren’t human. I think it’s dangerous for our kids.”

One of the books he listed was the “ultra-demonic”… Twilight. You know, the one where the vampires sparkle. 

Library Director, Mary Cohn said that only around five percent of the 1,500 books (about 75) in the “teen section” of the library deal with vampires or other supernatural beings.

But apparently that’s enough to draw the ire of Mr. Missick.

Though why stop there? Let’s just ban all books people find “offensive.” Because that’s a real “enlightened” way to build a society, right?

My question is, has this guy read the Bible? Has he seen some of the horrific things that are written inside that book? But I’m guessing he has no problem with children reading about Armageddon or the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

What an absolute hypocrite.

The Bible isn’t exactly the most peaceful or “child friendly” piece of literature around. If someone were to actually read, and follow, many of the things that are written inside of the Bible, they would be “justified” in committing heinous acts. Take for instance the right for a husband to stone his wife to death for committing adultery. Not only that, but the Bible makes it clear that if you “mess up” in life, your soul will spend an eternity in torment and torture burning in the fiery pits of hell.

But, by all means, let’s worry about children reading about sparkly, metrosexual vampires.

Because that’s really something about which we need to be concerned.

I bet he thinks of himself as freedom lovin' too!

Handsome princes get married in gay-themed fairytale book

A new children’s fairytale book features a happy ending – for a couple of handsome gay princes.

The Princes and the Treasure follows the two princes, Earnest and Gallant, as they join forces on a quest to save a beautiful princess, Elena, who has been kidnapped by a horrible old woman.

Earnest is described as a “shy bookworm” who “loved a great adventure, but only in books”, while Gallant is “handsome, and dashing, and the most desired man in town”.

During their quest to save the princess, opposites attract and the two men end up falling in love with one another.

Then at the end of the story, Earnest and Gallant cement their love for each other by getting married.

The Rainbow List is Here!

The 2014 Rainbow Project Reading List, a project of the American Library Assocation's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) and Social Responsibilities Round Table (SSRT), is a wonderful resource and powerful tool to:

Let readers know what's really great in terms of kid and teen books with LGBTQ characters and themes that was published last year (2013) and

Give librarians and other professionals who buy books for library collections a list of LGBTQ-inclusive and themed books recommended by the American Library Association as being "high quality."

This year, 30 books were selected out of 150, and here are the Rainbow List's top ten (noted with a star, not in order)

Juvenile Fiction
*Federle, Tim. Better Nate than Ever. 2013. 275p. Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, $16.99 (9781442446892). Grades 4 and up.
Thirteen-year-old Nate runs away from his small town in Pennsylvania to New York City to audition for E.T. the Musical. With the help of his best friend, can he come back home before anyone notices he’s gone?

Teen Non Fiction
*Bornstein, Kate. My New Gender Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Achieving World Peace Through Gender Anarchy and Sex Positivity. 2013. 312p. Routledge, $39.95. (9780415538657). Grades 7 and up.
This updated edition of Bornstein’s original gender workbook shows the reader how to deconstruct not only gender, but other societal values and morals with candidness, compassion and humor.

*Setterington, Ken. Branded by the Pink Triangle. 2013. 158p. Second Story Press, $15.95. (9781926920962). Grades 9 and up.
Jews were not the only ones persecuted and executed by the Nazis in World War II. Instead of a Star of David, homosexual men were marked with a pink triangle, which now stands as an international symbol for gay rights.

Teen Fiction
*Block, Francesca Lia. Love in the Time of Global Warming. 2013. 240p. Henry Holt and Co., $16.99 (0805096272). Grades 9-12.
In post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Penelope (Pen) has lost everything, and everyone, she’s ever cared about. In this Odyssey-esque journey, Pen embarks on a search for her family, finding unexpected adventures and survivors along the way.

*Clark, Kristin Elizabeth. Freakboy. 2013. 448p. Farrar Straus Giroux $18.99 (9780374324728). Grades 7 and up.
Three lives intertwine: Angel, a transwoman who works at an LGBTQ center for teens; Vanessa, a high school girl who’s on the wrestling team; and Brendan, Vanessa’s boyfriend who has just started having dreams that he is actually a she. Brendan feels at home in his female-bodied dreams, but what does that mean for his relationship with Vanessa, and how can Angel help him?

*Dos Santos, Steven. The Culling. 2013. 420p. Flux, $9.99 (9780738735375). Grades 9-12.
In a post-apocalyptic America, the government has absolute control of its people, complete with a barbaric and gruesome tradition known as Recruitment Day. Lucian “Lucky” Sparks thinks his boyfriend, Cassius, will save him from being selected as a Recruit, but when Cassius proves untrustworthy Lucky must fight for his life.

*Egloff, Z. Leap. 2013. 223p. Bywater Books, $14.95. (978-1612940236). Grades 9 and up.
In the summer of 1979, Rowan Marks is just waiting to leave for college. In the meantime, she deals with her disconnected family, her best friend Danny who is in love with her, and stuck up, closed-off Catherine.

*Farizan, Sara. If You Could Be Mine. 2013. 256p. Algonquin Young Readers, $16.99 (9781616202514). Grades 9 and up.
Sahar and Nasrin are two women in love with each other whose lives are complicated by the fact that they live in Iran, where homosexuality is forbidden. When Nasrin’s parents arrange for her to be married to a handsome doctor, Sahar comes up with a risky plan to save their relationship.

*Johnson, Alaya Dawn. The Summer Prince. 2013. 304p. Arthur A. Levine Books, $17.99 (9780545520775). Grades 9 and up.
Set in futuristic Brazil, the people of the city of Palmares Tres have elected a new Summer King, Enki. Everyone is in love with him, including June who knows better then to get tangled up with a man who she knows is destined to die.

*Lam, Laura. Pantomime. 2013. 400p. Strange Chemistry, $9.99 (9781908844378). Grades 9 and up.
Fleeing from her life of nobility, marriage and forced gender, Iphigenia joins the Circus of Magic, facing issues of identity that stretch beyond anyone’s imagination.


Congratulations to everyone who made the Rainbow List!

And for the rest of us, Happy Reading!

Cover Creation

Over the last few years I've been creating novel covers for several authors. It is a lot of fun to do because I get to take the author's writing, usually someone else's photos and my own imagination and create something that hopefully will help the author sell his work. Sometimes I just have to take a stock photo and add the author's title and name but sometimes it requires much more work. Blending multiple photos together seamlessly to get the desired results. Thought I'd share some of my creations here.

Best Friends At That!