GAY PEOPLE'S

Chronicle

LGBT Pride Guide 2000 ▼ Section B

It's Heather's tenth birthday

She gets a new edition of Jesse Helms' favorite book

by Michelle Tomko

Just in time for Pride, a new edition appears of the book that Sen. Jesse Helms called "Disgusting, obscene material that's laid out before school children in this country every day." Alyson Wonderland has published a tenth-anniversary edition of the nationally debated children's book Heather Has Two Mommies, by Lesléa Newman, illustrated by Diana Souza.

The book has been slightly amended based on reader feedback. The new version is shorter, and is missing the portion dealing with Heather's conception by artificial insemination.

This writer recently spoke with the author.

Michelle Tomko: Whose idea was it to make the cuts?

Lesléa Newman: It was my idea. After ten years of talking about the book with lesbian moms, and teachers and librarians, and all kinds of people, I just decided it made the most sense. It made the book more user friendly, intentionally less controversial in public schools and libraries. I didn't think it detracted at all from the overall message of the book.

If you were writing the book today, would you have not included it?

Actually, when I originally wrote the book, that whole section was not in the book. I had sent it out to about fifty publishers. One editor was interested in the book. But he said that

I had to address that issue. He said, "Kids know that two women can't make a baby." So I put in.

I understand why you took it out. But do you think the removal of that section buys into the complexes that society at large puts on sex, both homosexual and heterosexual?

I think it makes Heather a better book. And that was my intention. What's been the reaction

of children that have read

the book?

I don't get a lot of mail from kids. But, one mom told me that her son said, "How come I have a mom and dad? Why don't I get to have two moms?" He though it was kind of cool. I know of a child with two lesbian moms whose response was, "Can I get a cat and a dog like Heather?"

Some one sent me a really sweet photo of their daughter. She was wearing a homemade T-shirt that said "Heather has two mommies," and on the back it said "and so do I." I did get a letter from a six-year-old girl that said,

"Thank you for writing

MARY VAZQUEZ

Lesléa Newman

Heather Has Two Mommies. I know that you wrote it just for me." Once a woman brought her child up to me and said, “Look, this is the woman who wrote your favorite book," and the child said to me, "How did you get the letters so straight?"

Did you collaborate with the illustrator?

No. Since the book was a venture with a small desktop publishing business, we did not have the money for color illustrations. I though that she did a remarkable job using texture with the black and white.

Have you been pigeonholed as a writer?

Sometimes. It's been worse for me in the world of adult books. When I've tried to write books for adults that don't have lesbian content, people have said, "Your fan base isn't gonna go for this." I haven't gotten that in the world of children's books.

Was it hard for you to be on Jesse Helms' hit list and be thrust into the limelight?

Papretty out there. It wasn't a problem. I felt like if I'm not going to defend my book, who is? That was part of my job.

Are you in a relationship?

Yes, twelve years.

What is your writing process?

The simpler it looks when you read it, the harder it is to write it. Coming up with ideas is a very subconscious process. I just trust that whatever needs to rise to the surface will at the appropriate time.

Do you have children of your own?

I'm not interested in being a parent.

Newman is interested, however, in her career. She talked of several projects in the works presently. One of these is Thea's Throw, a book due out next year which the writer describes as being "about a little girl who gets teased for throwing like a girl. And her two lesbian next-door neighbors teach her how to throw like a woman.'

HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES

WRITTEN BY

ILLUSTRATED S

LESLEA NEWMAN DIANA SOUZA