When her daughter came out in 2020, Sharon Rotblatt turned to the internet for support. She quickly found a community of mothers in the Ohio Mama Bears, a resource group for mothers of queer children in Ohio.
“This has not been my world before, but I was open to it. I have to do what I can do– especially given the political climate in Ohio right now– to support my own kid,” said Rotblatt, a social worker living in Chagrin Falls.
Ohio Mama Bears is the local chapter of the Real Mama Bears, an international network of “mama bears” looking to connect over raising queer children. On Facebook alone, Ohio Mama Bears has over 500 members and the Real Mama Bears has over fifty thousand members.
Ohio has seen a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in 2023, all of it targeting young people. Rotblatt considers herself lucky to live in Chagrin Falls, a part of Ohio she believes is more progressive than others.
“To live in the community where I live, where my child is fully accepted by all members of our family… I recognize how so many other people in the United States don’t have that,” she said.
In 2023, Rotblatt got the idea to start collecting books featuring LGBTQ+ storylines to fill little free libraries in the community. Little free libraries empower residents to set-up free book stands outside their houses or businesses. Anyone can take a book, and anyone can leave a book.
“We understand the power of books, the power of representation and being able to read something that explains your own story,” said Rotblatt, a social worker specializing in mental health and substance use by trade.
The Buckeye Flame caught up with Rotblatt to hear about the Ohio Mama Bears efforts to make sure LGBTQ+ Ohioans see themselves reflected in the pages of little free libraries. Click play directly below to listen or read our conversation below.
Can you tell me about the Real Mama Bears?
I joined up with Mama Bears a couple of years ago. It’s a worldwide organization of moms of kids who identify on the LGBT spectrum. They started out with one mom whose son came out to her and she was a very religious Christian. She really struggled with it and then started to find other women– other moms– who were struggling and thought the best way for us to support our kids is to support each other.
Their real goals are support, advocacy, empowering families and educating people so they can help their kids live their life to their full potential.
What motivated you to get involved?
My child– who we call our reason for being here– is my youngest daughter. She is proudly out and queer. She came out to us when she was an undergrad and is very active in the LGBT community.
I thought, “This has not been my world before, but I’m open to it.” I have to do what I can do– especially given the political climate in Ohio right now– to support my own kid.
What has your interaction with other moms in Ohio been like?
It’s been great. They’re an amazing group. We’ve had a couple of get-togethers statewide. The Cleveland chapter got together and we marched in Cleveland Pride. The Ohio Mama Bears are just an amazing crew.
I want to talk to you specifically about the work that you’re doing with little free libraries. Can you tell me about the Real Mama Bears efforts to increase queer visibility?
Full disclosure, I stole the idea from someone else. I heard about someone in Florida who decided that this was what she was going to do to fight back against all the anti-LGBT legislation there. Ohio is going down that path and I’m fortunate to live in a liberal section, but I know most of the state isn’t.
I started to pull this together and kind of threw it out on the Ohio Mama Bears page. Immediately people started ordering books.
How do you go about choosing the books?
A lot of the books are ones that LGBT individuals have recommended to us. For instance, we had one mama bear who ordered the books that her child used to explain how she was feeling [when she was coming out].
A lot of these books are not just bestsellers, but they’re books that really delve into the journey of not just figuring out who you are in this world, but then how you incorporate that with the rest of the world.
It sounds like it’s more word of mouth and things like that.
Yeah, absolutely. We’re always open to people suggesting a title that has been meaningful to them.
If someone wanted to recommend a book or even better donate a bunch of books, how would they do that?
Well, right now we have a social media presence, both on Facebook and on Instagram. Within both of those, there are links to a number of different wish lists that we have. Whether you wanna buy new books or used books– they’re all okay.
There’s also a PayPal account if you wanna donate. There’s an email address if you wanna reach out to me and we can meet up, drop off books, etc. That’s the best way to reach out to us right now.
We understand the power of books, the power of representation and being able to read something that explains your own story, your own journey, and have that be really validating and normalizing for a lot of kids.
Are you all focused on any specific age range with the books?
We are focusing on books for all ages, all individuals from children’s picture books, which are really great, especially when young children are beginning to explore their gender identity or their sexual orientation.
We also understand that there are LGBT folks in Ohio who feel like they still can’t be out. This gives them private access to reading and books that reflect their lived experience. Maybe they’re not comfortable going into a bookstore or a library, so this way they can access those books as well.
Do you have a favorite book that you’ve come across while doing this work?
I think my favorite is The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. He is an incredible author and his book makes my heart happy. It’s such a comforting story that it’s one of those books that I own and I’ve read more than once.
What’s the best way to find the Little Free Libraries that might have some of the books that you have donated?
Well, the little free library or nonprofit, the organization has a fabulous tool on their website www.littlefreelibrary.org.
There are many out there that are just folks who decide this is important to me and I’m gonna build this little box and put it in the end of the driveway.
Are you focused on particular parts of Ohio?
I think at this point, our focus is trying to get these books into communities where kids might not have access to them in other ways.
So, a rural community, a community that’s much more conservative, where a school library probably isn’t gonna have too many books like this or a child might not have access to driving around the corner and going to Barnes and Noble with mom to buy books.
We’re trying to get out into those very red parts of Ohio because we understand that politics doesn’t necessarily influence who’s living there.
I wanna go back to when we were talking about your own personal journey and your relationship with your daughter. What do you think contributed most to being open-minded?
I have always been very liberal, I guess, if you wanna use that word. I feel like each of us are on our own journey and no one is in any place to judge anyone else’s. We are all put on this earth to just try to love each other and get through this as best we can.
Just even going onto the Mama Bears website and reading about what other people had gone through also made me feel really fortunate to have the values that we have. To live in the community where I live, where my child is fully accepted by all members of our family, feel safe in her community, and recognize how so many other people in the United States don’t have that. I really appreciate who I am and where I am at times like that. 🔥
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