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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 2003)
rent Hartinger would like to accentuate the positive. “Adults always remember the angst of being a teen,” says the 38- year-old from Tacoma, Wash. “But they don’t remember the fun and humor.” So, in his new bcxsk Hartinger explores the world of gay high schcxilers with a twist. "There’s always a hashing, or someone commits suicide," he says of most gay teen bcxiks. “They’re such downers." Instead, Hartinger has written Geography Club, a comic page-turner about a group of very diverse kids who get together and find they have something in common: They’re gay. This is a theme that is very close to Hartinger, as he is a founder and facilitator of Oasis, a 200-member gay teen support organization, as well as an adviser to a Gay Straight Alliance at a Tacoma high schcx)l. Hartinger struggled for 15 years to he dis covered as a writer. “1 had the worst luck in the world. 1 learned that when the check clears, that’s when you celebrate.” Tixlay the author has plenty to celebrate, as sales of Geography Club have exceeded expecta tions, and he’s been signed to write a sequel and two other young adult novels. 1 caught up with Hartinger as he was finaliz ing plans to sign bcxrks June 15 at Portland Pride 2003. B Floyd Sklaver: Where did the idea for Qeography Club come from? Brent Hartinger: In many ways, it’s based on my own teen-aged years...and my experi ence with a group called Oasis. For the first meetings I’d walk in and see this really diverse group of kids— suburban kids, farm kids, drag queens, butch lesbians, fern lesbians— and I’d Queer as Folk, Iteens] spend time wondering whether they’re gay, but it happens much younger. Teens tixlay accept themselves just fine. The challenge is how to get the rest of the world to accept me. Accentuate the positive Newly acclaimed Tacoma author sets up at Portland Pride b y FS: What was your high school life like? B H : There was nastiness. 1 remember it being pretty dog-eat-dog, pretty brutal, physi cally and emotionally. There was a lot of name-calling and harassment.... I heard from a lot of adults who said I liked your book, but I didn’t really want to go back to such an unpleasant time. F lo yd S klaver think, “This is going to be a disaster. What do these kids have in common?" Then they’d begin to speak, and it was magic. FS: Tell me about your stack of earlier works. BH : I used to write...every sort of jour nalism you can imagine— for AdvrKate Men, Honcho, Mandate, every magazine you can think of. I wrote pom stories for a while, but in order not to be classified as obscene, there had to be one nonpom article. Those paid more because every Young adult author Brett Hartinger thinks it’s the best one wants to write the of times and the worst of times for gay teen-agers pom .... I got a frantic call from an editor once. “Butt plugs," she said. “I other. 1 hate books about teens need a story about butt plugs right now.” So I where...the adult comes in and saves the wrote a story about butt plugs. My goal has day. These are problems of teens, and they always been to make a living as a writer. need to be solved by teens. FS: Why are there so few adult characters in Geography Club? B H : I did that on purpose. I believe there’s the world of teens and the world of adults, and the two have no idea what’s going on in the FS: Do you think it’s harder to be a gay teen-ager today than 2 0 years ago? B H : When I was growing up, 1 could take being gay, lock it away and not think about it at all. There was no Internet. I never saw a picture of a naked man until I was 19. There’s so much pom on the Internet, and, when you look at pom, you know wh ich works for you.... You’re 16, 15, 14 when you are dealing with these issues, but you’re still in high school where people are not necessarily liber al. T h at’s what I mean when I say it’s the best of times and worst of times for gay teen-agers. j n FS: Why doesn’t the main character strug gle more over his sexual identity— question it more? BH: That isn’t the issue facing teens today. Because of the Internet, Will & G race and will sign Geography Club from noon to 5 p.m. June 15 at Waterfront Park. B r en t H a r t in g e r FLOYD S klaver is a Portland free-lance writer. 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