Discussion: Adding LGBT themed books

Many students and their families don’t realize that their right to privacy, free speech, and equal access are all protected under federal law. This means that any school that accepts federal funds (e.g., public schools and some private schools) must provide the same rights for all students regardless of sexual orientation (ACLU, nd).

Most recently California has announced that the public school systems will be adding LGBT themed books to their recommended reading list that have earned the “Stonewall Book Award” (ALA, 2013). Take some time to read the following article and brief synopsis for some of the new books included on the list:

Andersen, K. (2013). California dept. of education adds dozens of gay, transgender titles to recommended reading list. LifeSiteNews.com. Retrieved from http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/california-dept.-of-education-adds-dozens-of-gay-transgender-titles-to-reco

If your last name is A – M, defend the addition of this controversial topic to the recommended reading list to your class peers using at least one additional citation to support your defense.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.