Washington State University Vancouver has striven to promote diversity on campus, but the Cougar Pride Club, a group dedicated to advocating for the LGBTQ community, felt queer literature has been lacking within the Diversity Center.
The Cougar Pride Club has taken it upon themselves to host a book drive with the Diversity Center to request donations and suggestions to add to the library. Currently, there isn’t a set date on when the book drive will occur, but it is ongoing.
The Diversity Center, located in the Firstenburg Student Commons, has a bookshelf dedicated to an array of literature, such as autobiographies, theory and history of minority culture for students to check out. A log is kept near the bookshelf to keep track of who has taken out which books.
Queer literature, is often difficult to categorize due to the nature of intersectionality within the community, as well as varying cultures, histories, and experiences. Queer representation has not had a very positive history. The 20th century began the history of published novels featuring same-sex attraction. Though some presented happy endings, the majority ended in the death of a character, which has continued over to many modern movies and television shows, such as “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “Atomic Blonde” (2017), “The 100” (2014), and “The Arrow” (2012).
A few members of the Cougar Pride Club gave positive feedback on some queer literature that influenced their lives.
Ian Muck, student ambassador of public affairs and Cougar Pride member, said that “Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin was one of his favorite pieces of queer literature.
“It’s nice to have that escape and to really identify with the characters,” Muck explains.
Abbie Bambilla, Student Diversity intern, suggested the idea of a book drive after various conversations with members of the Cougar Pride Club about the lack of diversity in the queer literature section.
“Whenever I’m reading queer literature like autobiographies are the most salient things for me because it lets you know you’re not alone even if everyone has their own experiences—that you’re not just this isolated queer person in Vancouver. There are people all over the world who have experienced similar challenges, similar joys.”
Sky Wilson, the student diversity advisor, discussed the importance of queer literature, such as Audrey Lorde’s “Sister Outsider” and the vital role books like it play in social justice.
“Lorde’s poetic articulation, and theorization, of the radical intersection of the person and the political has played a vital role in my development, both as an academic and as a man of color,” explains Wilson.
Wilson plans to donate a few of his personal books to the queer book drive and request funds from S&A to purchase books that will be submitted as recommendations.
Queer students alone aren’t the only students who can benefit from an expanded library in the Diversity Center. For those interested in learning more about queer history, theory, and other subjects, the Diversity Center’s library is open to everyone.
“Even people who aren’t queer can read this stuff and, like, there’s an understanding that comes with that,” Muck explains.
Donations should be taken to the Diversity Center, and all book suggestions should be sent to Holly Varner at holly.varner@wsu.edu.