Om ingenting. Eller någonting.

I used to take a kind of perverse pleasure in the fact that, at my local Anytown, USA Barnes & Noble, the Gay & Lesbian section (as well as the New Age section) neighbored the Christian Inspiration and Bibles sections.  One could sit in one of two comfortable chairs and surreptitiously watch the reactions of the modest housewives when they accidentally overshot A Purpose-Driven Life only to find themselves among inspirational tales of coming out or, Heaven forfend, erotic novels.

In recent months, however, the Christian Inspiration section has been gobbling up more and more floor space.  The section catering to LGBT folks was bounced across the aisle, nearer to psychology and self-help (go figure) and that was only the first step.  I found yesterday, to my horror, that the Christians are now fully insulated from unpleasantness by bays full of educational (and not-so-educational) toys.  The comfortable chairs have been stricken from the store all together (buy or get out! no idle reading!).  “Fine, whatever”, thought I after lamenting that a Christian bookstore and a Toys ‘R’ Us had permanently displaced current issues and sociology in addition to the LGBT shelves.  But then, I discovered that the gay rack was no longer to be found even in its second home.

I looked everywhere for it and finally wandered into the children’s section to ask my friend, an employee, what became of it.  She had to call to discover its fate.  “It’s still here,” she said and led me on a long and winding journey past the new noisy, child-filled toy section (which is outside the already sizable children’s section), past the music and movies section, and the sci-fi and bargain sections, to the corner by the bathrooms, far from the front doors.  Once in this alcove, I was pointed past the large print books, past the reference books to the corner of the corner where one single bay of lesbian and gay books were hidden from the view of the decent.  Also in this alcove were pulp novels, bodice rippers, and countless generic mysteries.

Just as our polite, sensible Midwestern society tries to do with us, our section was hidden away where it couldn’t offend.  It was there and even visible with its little labels on the shelves, but certainly in no one’s face.

Worse yet were the combination of books available.  As I mentioned before, in the same sparse collection appeared both inspirational coming out stories and gay erotica.  Along with these were gay parenting guides, books about gay theology, guides to better gay sex, etc. etc.  Could you imagine if I picked up a couple of periodicals from the “Men’s Interest” section and tucked them in with What to Expect When You’re Expecting?  Maybe a little Chicken Soup for the Soul next to the Kama Sutra and then a book about the Civil Rights movements behind a Playboy.

And so it is that I’m torn between the fact that they’re hiding their Gay & Lesbian section away and the fact that they have one at all.  Why aren’t books on gay parenting simply in the parenting section?  Why aren’t guides to better gay sex filed unceremoniously in the sexuality section?