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Exploring the Ties between Gender, Sexuality, and Self-Censorship in the Classroom think critically about a queer novel's political stance on sexuality if they refuse to read it? Even more so, could I get into trouble for assigning such a novel to my students in the first place?These concerns are addressed in this edition of "Right to Read," where I have asked my friend and colleague Robert Bittner to share his perspectives and research on the complicated enmeshment of identity, censorship, and young adult literature. In particular, Robert and I discussed the possibility of focusing this column on the responsibilities that educators and librarians have in proliferating narratives that will assist young readers to challenge normativity in contemporary society. Robert is an expert on LGBTQ young adult literature who has taught courses at the university level, served on various literary awards committees (including the 2016 Michael L. Printz Award), and worked closely with the American Library Association, thus enabling him to share a unique perspective on identity and censorship in young adult texts. In the following column, he shares a compelling discussion that asks readers to think carefully about the ethical and cultural issues that arise during acts of self-censorship in our professional practices. Robert not only paints a portrait of the broad issues of gender and sexual identity that lead librarians, teachers, and scholars to engage in acts of self-censorship, he also makes a persuasive imploration for us to let young readers know that texts with emancipatory and groundbreaking representations of sexual and gender identity do exist.This article is also available in an online format that allows direct access to all links included. We encourage you to access it on the ALAN website at http://www. alan-ya.org/publications/the-alan-review/the-alanreview-columns/.

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This article examines how Showtime’s Queer as Folk uses the space of the kitchen as a way of staging a negotiation and, at times, contestation of the normative image of gay domesticity that was emerging in American television during the early to mid-2000s. Through a close analysis of the programme’s representation of queer architecture, food preparation and misuse of kitchens, this discussion highlights the ways in which Queer as Folk complicates the assimilationist perspective of gay kitchens as a heteronormative, wholesome, family-oriented space. This article first traces the ways in which the kitchen functions as a locus of gay identity and domesticity in mainstream American television and then proceeds to unpack the ways in which kitchens in Queer as Folk comply with or challenge dominant narratives of gay domesticity. It will be shown that the programme’s use of kitchens pushes viewers to recognize the ways in which different models of gay home life are negotiated through spatial means.

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