See Spot.
See Spot run.
See Spot lose his spots.
See a very worried Spot.
If you see Spot, a gay-positive
children’s book, in libraries across the country, Todd Tuttle will be a happy
man. Tuttle's book, which he wrote and illustrated, was published in June and
has gotten a mixed reception, since then. Children seem to like the book, but
some on the Religious Right clearly don't.
Spot is a puppy with a big problem. As he grows older, he begins to start losing
his spots. Knowing that the other dogs in Barksville don't like dogs without
spots, he tries all kinds of resourceful ways to cover-up his desperate
situation. If his secret gets out, he's afraid he'll be asked to leave
Barksville.
"The message of Spot applies to anyone who is different," Tuttle wrote me in an
e-mail exchange, "but it also shows rejection by Spot's family and friends once
they discover that he is a spotless dog. In one of my favorite children's
stories, Ferdinand the Bull, Ferdinand's mother was always supportive of her
son's uniqueness."
Who could possibly find anything objectionable about a book that encourages
getting along with your neighbors? Stuart Shepard of Focus on the Family's
Family News in Focus, that's who. Shepard is offended by Tuttle's desire to get
Spot "into every library and school." According to Shepard, Tuttle "told a gay
publication the camouflage [of the children's story] is necessary 'if you want
to get a book into the hands of kids around the country.'"
And just what is Tuttle, a former fundamentalist Baptist who attended Jerry
Falwell's Liberty Baptist College in the 1980s, trying to camouflage? Not much
actually. The book, he says, is clearly a message about tolerance.
Even Tuttle, who is intimately familiar with the inner workings of the Religious
Right, was "rather surprised" by the criticism. The Focus on the Family piece
"came from left field," he said. "I am glad they feel threatened by this book
because it was my intention all along to create a story that reflects the GBLT
[gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgendered] journey that wasn't GLBT specific," he
added.
Peter LaBarbera, a longtime anti-gay nudnik, now over at Concerned Women
for America's Culture and Family Institute, thinks that Tuttle's tolerance theme
is just a subtle way for Tuttle to set "kids up for a pro-homosexual message,"
which will then follow them through "junior high or high school."
Spot has received praise from such diverse national groups as the Unitarian
Universalist Association and PFLAG and by Dr. Grethe Cammermeyer and actress
Betty White of Golden Girls fame. For Tuttle, the "most important comments …
have come from kids from around the country who email Spot." At the end of the
book Tuttle asks kids to "share their thoughts about the book." He says that
he's received many positive comments from kids and groups, including a
second-grade class from Springfield, Missouri.
Up from fundamentalism
Todd Tuttle is a veteran of many tussles with the Christian Right. In fact,
sometimes it seems like he seeks them out. Along with his partner, Marc Adams,
he's co-authored an 80-page paperback book called "Do's and Don'ts of Dealing
with the Religious Right." According to the blurb at the Windows Books website,
the authors "draw from their experiences as fundamentalist Baptists to help
educate others on how to be most effective when fighting the Religious Right."
For the past few years, Tuttle and Adams have traveled the country speaking
about their experiences on behalf of
HeartStrong, the Seattle, WA-based organization they founded in 1998. In
their journey, they've thus far logged over 170,000 miles. The Texas A&M
University College News Briefs writes that the two aim "to provide truthful
information and support to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered and allied
persons who have attended, are attending, employed by, or associated with
religious educational institutions through support, education, and advocacy."
They've chosen this "ministry," because so many gay, lesbian, bisexual and
transgender students and alumni of religious-based universities have been
abandoned or ostracized by those schools. In a late-June appearance at Ohio
University, Adams told his audience that he and Tuttle decided "to reach out to
students in religious schools who are still being persecuted in the way … [they]
were when they were growing up." According to the Athens News, Adams "described
instances of students being outed by principals in school assemblies after going
to them for support; of people being given the option to turn in other suspected
gays to escape punishment; of people being expelled and shamed and publicly
humiliated."
Currently, HeartStrong is seeking participants in its newly created HeartStrong
Network. "We are looking for everyone in our GLBT communities who has ever
attended a conservative religious educational institution," says Marc Adams,
executive director and cofounder of the organization. "All of us who share this
history must join hands so we can help to empower those who are still struggling
to survive. Those of us who have survived these institutions and who have come
to love ourselves in spite of what they tried to do to us, must come together."
"Your parents decide where you're going to go to school," Tuttle told Southern
Voice. "And [the students] are also told that at a lot of these schools that
they can find change if they draw close to God. [They] think [being gay is] a
spiritual issue -- it's not something you are, it's something you're afflicted
with."
According to Southern Voice, an Atlanta-based GLBT publication, HeartStrong's
mission has taken Tuttle and Adams to places they haven't been invited to. If
you don't think it's a challenge to drop in at Bob Jones University unannounced
and with a gay-positive message, just try it sometime. "We go on campuses of
schools… [and] we leave materials around -- gay-positive tracts," Tuttle said.
"We also go into religious bookstores and leave them around. We're very
proactive, not reactive, which is something we're proud of."
Tuttle says that he got the idea for the gay-positive tracts after seeing all
sorts of religious people handing out fire-and-brimstone literature at colleges
across the country. They "usually tell people how to go to heaven or avoid
hell," Tuttle said. "My partner and I used to pass out those awful tracts all
the time when we were fundamentalist Baptists," he added.
"I wondered why the Religious Right should have a monopoly on that idea." Tuttle
says. "One day I decided that we should create non-religious, GLBT-positive
tracts, that like the religious tracts, would provide a space to write or stamp
the name of a gay positive group, church or Web site. The best part is that
school administrators don't suspect our tracts because they look just like the
religious tracts. There are no rainbow flags or any gay imagery. Just a headline
like, 'Choose Love,' with an ambiguous graphic, like a heart, that do not stick
out as being a threat."
The idea for Spot developed organically out of Tuttle and Adams' travels.
Southern Voice reports that "they're often asked to speak at churches that
include a special part of the service for children." It was during one of these
services Tuttle decided that instead of reading someone else's stories to the
kids, he'd write his own. "I [wanted to] come up with an original story to give
the message, the parable, of what's it's like for a gay person to grow up and
feel like they're different, "Tuttle said. "And that's how Spot was born."
The
previous excerpts are provided for promotional purposes only. Final edits to the
book may result in slightly altered copy. Before reproducing any portion of
these excerpts please obtain written permission from Window Books at
bookstore@meetmarcadams.com.
Copyright Todd Tuttle.
(Spot and other books by Todd Tuttle and Marc Adams are available from
Window Books.
HeartStrong
is located at PO Box 2051 Seattle WA 98111.