Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden features two young girls who begin a secret relationship while trying to navigate their personal lives and academic expectations. This novel offers quite a revolutionary glimpse into lesbian relationships and the various struggles and conservative perspectives hurled at such relationships. In this case, when Liza and Annie's relationship becomes known, authoritative figures, along with Liza's classmates, share their hurtful, negative opinions. During Liza's trial, the principal of Foster Academy, Ms. Poindexter, relates Liza's outside "activities" to Foster's reputation and its eligibility to continue to be a school. While I was reading this particular scene, I was extremely agitated by this relation trying to be made, thinking to myself how ridiculous this all sounds. One's relationship, gender, and/or sexuality should not be connected to a school's image. I felt bad for Annie and Liza, mostly Liza since she had to receive the brunt of the negativity.
Given that this novel was one of the first LGBTQ novels to be published in the early 1980s, the concept of "chosen family" being included was really fascinating. The two teachers at Foster Academy, Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer, provided Annie and Liza a sense of belonging and normalcy. Despite both couples being forcibly outed, they were able to make do with the horrible situation and find their own paths. Annie and Liza both went off to college and later reconnected while Ms. Stevenson and Ms. Widmer accepted their inability to become teachers again and deciding to move. Not trying to say that this is a life that they had to accept, but their being able to do all of this in spite of the cruelty and homophobia they faced, that in itself is incredible.
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