What the Heck is a Letter to the Editor?
Howdy y’all, and happy Friday!
Today, for me, feels like I’m walking out of a cave for the first time in a while and being shocked at things like sun and other people. For the last 35 days, I’ve been attempting to complete the National Novel Writing Month Challenge, where authors attempt to write an entire first draft in one month.
At times it’s made me feel like I’m losing my mind, but I am incredibly proud to report that 98,000 words later, I have completed draft 1 of the Trophy Husbands! It’s a funny, heartfelt romp through the adventures of medical school from the perspective of 4 boyfriends learning about masculinity, partnership, and themselves. I can’t wait until it’s ready to be out there in the world!
The good news is that now that this is done, I’m shifting to my next priority: high quality writing on a more consistent schedule for all the wonderful people here at Good Queer News. (also, to responding to my texts. Sorry!! I’ve been hermit-ified!)
Let’s Make Some Change!
I’ve heard from folks that they really enjoy when GQN includes actions people can take to make a difference, so today we’re diving deep into one great, easy action you can take right from your couch!
A dear friend of mine, Taylor Beaven, is a human rights and climate justice activist from New Hampshire who helped piece together today’s newsletter. He’s a brilliant, dedicated advocate and I’m so grateful he helped put this together!
What is a Letter to the Editor?
A Letter to the Editor (LTE) is a section of a newspaper where people in a given area can write on local happenings. You’ll find everything from a celebration of the recent high school graduation to an echo about a councilmember’s voting record. Letters to the Editor are intended for local community discourse, and they’ve been an important part of US LGBTQ+ history.
While many mainstream newspapers didn’t publish queer LTEs, magazines like ONE Magazine (1953 – 1967) and The Ladder (1957 – 1972), had extensive letters sections for their readers to submit gay and lesbian experiences. These letters sections gave queer people the opportunity to respond to medical publications and legal actions, warn of unsafe places for the LGBTQ+ community, highlight workplace discrimination, build communities within disconnected and often rural spaces, and discuss other important aspects regarding queer existence.
By the 1970s, after Stonewall, some mainstream newspapers began featuring LTEs written by and for members of the queer community, enabling a larger space for LGBTQ+ discussion. For many people outside of the community, a Letter to the Editor written by a queer person was their first real exposure to LGBTQ+ movements. We can also see from publications like Out of the Closet, Into the Archives at how tracing LTEs throughout our country’s history can give us a stronger understanding of LGBTQ+ experiences in our country even before the movements we’ve come to know. In the collection’s introduction, editors Amy L. Stone and Jaime Cantrell quote Christopher Nealon to drive home the importance of these writings:
I was struck by the strangeness of witnessing that dreamed-of collectivity realized long after the fact, in the archive: a history of mutually isolated individuals, dreaming similar dreams, arrayed before me in the aftermath of collective struggles and new identifies. This two-part sense of queer sodality—fluid in the present, expectant in the past—led me to write about “historical emotion.” That phrase seemed to name both those earlier dreams of belonging to “History” and the feeling a latter-day queer subject might have reading the archive of those dreams.
Letters to the Editor, and letters exchanged between individuals and published in newspapers later, have been an important part of LGBTQ+ history, especially within the United States. And while it may feel like they are a thing of the past, their influence can still very much be felt today.
Why write them?
In a time when digital reigns supreme, and the print seems to be dying, why spend time writing an LTE? There a few reasons:
More people are reading and writing them than you think. Not only are the LTEs usually available on the newspaper’s website, the generations that grew up without social media are still very much alive. There are still people perusing the LTE section of the local paper, and it’s those people we need to reach with our messaging.
You’ll reach a different demographic. To piggyback on the last point, some people engaging with LTEs may not be active (or even on) social media. That means they’re likely missing large parts of progressive movements that tend to cater towards younger, more tech-friendly generations. Exposing people to your story, your perspective, and your passions is how we create cultural and systemic change.
The local legislators you’re writing about will hear about your LTE. Many politicians, even ones on the local level, either have Google alerts tied to their name or they keep up to date with local papers. This means writing an LTE is going to do more than a Facebook post that gets buried in the muck.
It shifts the public narrative. With how limiting algorithms can be into the true perspectives of the world, it can be very easy to fall into the belief that progressive movements aren’t supported by the general public. One of the most effective long-term strategies of any successful movement is shifting the narrative in their favor. By writing LTEs and flooding as many papers as we can with support for the LGBTQ+ community, victims of ICE, and others in need, we’re able to build a foundation of support visible to more people—without social media dictating what is and isn’t seen.
You can post it on social media. That being said. . . Social media is still a very effective tool for getting the word out, and that doesn’t stop with LTEs. You can share the Letter to the Editor to your social media. It’ll appear as a link to the newspaper, giving it authenticity and letting it break up from a usual social media post with just text.
It can help you break your paralysis. This is the most important piece. If you’re feeling stuck, like there’s nothing you can do, but you know you have to do something, start here. Seriously! Writing something to put out into the world with your name on it can be intimidating, but it’s an effective tool for contributing to the right side of history. All you have to do is start writing about something important to you. It doesn’t have to be bad either! A lot of LTEs are celebratory, taking a moment to highlight the good that has happened. And if you’re still not sure how to start, then make sure you read the next section!
How do I start? What do I write about?
You can write about how the Fix Our Forests Act is actually harmful to environmental sustainability, but you need to make sure you’re connecting it to your community and your legislators. How are they voting? Are they breaking promises? How will the bill, if passed, harm your town, city, state, etc.?
You can even write about other states’ legislation, like this trans rights house bill in Colorado. Are there legislators in your state working to pass pro-trans legislation? Do you feel your representatives, your city, your schools, have been outspoken enough about their support for the trans community? People are fighting for trans rights in Colorado, why aren’t we doing that here too?
You can also write about yourself. You’re a member of your community, your story and perspective are as important as your neighbor’s. Helping your neighbors see trans and queer folks not just as statistics but as everyday people is an amazing way to reduce bias. Just remember: Your newspaper is looking for current local discourse, so the important bit is to connect the problem or praise to you and your local community. The template structure is as follows:
Cause or Connecting Event
What is the thing that happened that led you to writing this letter? You don’t have to know this part first; you can always know the topic you want to write about and then find a local connection to give you an excuse to write the letter.
Problem / Praise
What is right or wrong about what happened, and why does it matter?
Call to Action (CTA)
What can people do? This is essential, because you want to make sure people who are driven by your writing don’t just hit a wall of paralysis. Shout out a non-profit, encourage readers to reach out to their representatives, etc.
It’s a pretty straight-forward template, and once you get started on a topic you’re passionate about, you’ll realize how very little 400 words actually is.
One last note is to avoid using AI for your LTE. It can be very tempting to start pumping out letters in seconds, tweaking them so you think they look human, and submitting them to every paper across your state as often as you can. However, disregarding the ethical issues with AI, it’s important that the letters are entirely human. If newspapers suspect your letter was written by AI, they won’t accept it due to copyright concerns and AI’s erosion of human discourse (the very thing the LTE section is trying to achieve).
What’s next?
Get writing and submit your letter! There is always news to comment on, and there’s no need to wait before you get your voice out there.
If you ever have any questions, or would like some help with writing, editing, or submitting an LTE, please don’t hesitate to fill out this form. It’s a free resource to get you in touch with the brilliant author behind this piece, Taylor Beaven, so he can help you hone and submit your LTE!