‘The most important thing is to make sure Trump isn’t elected’

‘The most important thing is to make sure Trump isn’t elected’

AT one point in David Levithan’s latest book, protagonist Mark finds himself in a gay nightclub which fills him with a deep sense of pride for his queer sexuality.

Levithan believes moments like this have since taken a different reverberation after the recent mass shooting in Orlando, where 49 people were killed in a gay nightclub.

“I do think that – sometimes intentionally, sometimes inadvertently – my books reflect the changes of American queer teen life over the times in which they’re written,” he told the Star Observer.

“Sometimes quite ecstatically and sometimes with a tinge of sadness.

“In my latest book I wanted to show two queer teens who were dealing with love issues, not sexuality issues, because that’s how so many teen’s lives are now.”

The book, You Know Me Well, was co-authored by Nina LaCour and works to upend the usual he-said, she-said conventions in novels.

“If he and she are both queer, the story becomes about something else completely,” Levithan said.

“Friendship is as important as romance, along with pride and community being as important as finding ‘the one.’”

The United States-based Levithan has a longstanding career as an author, and has written a slew of queer fiction for young adults over the years, including the popular novels Boy Meets Boy and Two Boys Kissing.

He has also advocated for LGBTI rights through his work, and helped to raise the visibility of younger queer identities.

However, despite his outspoken support for the LGBTI community, Levithan believes writers and artists are never obligated to become activists.

“For me, telling stories and sharing stories and publishing stories has always gone hand-in-hand with my activism,” he said.

“And this is with the belief that this is the only way we can get society to encourage empathy – not just for ourselves, but for everyone.”

Levithan is slated to appear at this year’s Melbourne Writer’s Festival as part of a number of sessions on queer young adult fiction and his work.

These appearances come on the heels of the Margaret Edwards Award he was recently given by the American Library Association.

“Every time I hear from a reader, it makes me feel very proud of what books can do, and what queer authors and books can do,” he said.

“And to be honest, it doesn’t matter if it’s me hearing about one of my books, or one of the authors I know hearing from one of their readers – it’s all incredible.

“It was astonishing to win [the award] as well, and to know it was being given to me, largely as an ambassador for queer young adults… it made me proud of all of us.”

As a strong queer voice in young adult fiction, Levithan added the importance of having more diverse queer voices represented in fiction.

“I think we’re at a point where it’s not a question at all as to whether queer voices should be included in our literature,” he said.

“It’s now about getting as many diverse queer voices as possible to be a part of our literature.”

When asked what social issue currently affecting the LGBTI community he feels most strongly about changing, Levithan’s answer was simple:

“Here in America, the most important thing is to make sure Trump isn’t elected,” he said.

“Everything else takes a backseat to that.”

David Levithan will appear at this year’s Melbourne Writer’s Festival, which runs from Friday August 26 to Sunday September 4. Book your tickets here.

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2 responses to “‘The most important thing is to make sure Trump isn’t elected’”

  1. If your ‘Q’ueer’ your just not there …. Pride
    Time we put these regressive philosophically decayed fringe leftist ideas to rest once & for all

  2. Yes I fully agree Democrat Hillary Clinton (or as I call her Obama 2.0) needs to win in the November POTUS Election! Donald Trump hates gays, Muslims, homeless, poor people, war heroes or veterans, women, Latinos, blacks, Native Americans. He creates a power vacuum of division and hate. Donald Trump used the Orlando terrorism attack to further his agenda of hate and division (what a sick man). Donald Trump speeches reminded me of Adolf Hitler. He wants to ban 1.5 billion people of the world from coming into the US because they are Muslims, he wants to build a wall on the US/Mexico border and get Mexico to pay for it, he committed an ultimate act of treason by saying Russia should have all the Hillary Emails and use them against the US. And on top of that has attacked war heroes and veterans personally!

    Do we really want out of control Donald Trumps finger and crazy mind on the nuclear missile buttons in Area 51?

    I as a gay man would want to go back in time to Abraham Lincoln when slavery was abolished by this once great GOP party, now today in 2016 the GOP is the party of hate, division, Neo-nazism, Denies citizens universal access to healthcare, crimilized woman’s right to abortions, and anti-gay rhetorics. The GOP only loves rich, white men and hates everyone else!

    Now to the Democrats party, this was a party in Abraham Lincon day that actually defended slavery, had control of the Confederate South and was the party of wealthy rich white masters people. It all changed when religion started to control government in the 1940s – just before the Second World War, then the tables have turned now the Democrats are pro-everything and the GOP are anti-everything. In Illinios in 1962 the first US state to legalise gay sex and Colorado and Connecticut followed and Hawaii and Oregon and then 21 states by 1979 (ten years after the famous Stonewall Riots in 1969). The Republicans changed then to an anti-gay, anti-healthcare, anti-abortion after the 1973 Roe v Wade SCOTUS ruling. Then AIDS hit in the 1980s and some Republicans even went so far to say “gays deserved this because it is gods punishment for sodomy” [what total bullshit]. Fast forward to today and the GOP are now more hate filled then ever before and even want little children going to conversion therapy to turn them straight – what a disgrace the GOP has turned into! I know my history and if we do not learn from it we are doomed to repeat it over and over again.

    – Paul Mitchell of Forbes NSW.