The Human Library Project
This past week, I had the opportunity to be a book. That’s right, I said be a book, not read a book. I participated in the Human Library night at Cleveland Heights/University Heights Main Library, where my son Leo is a reference librarian.  

The Human Library Project started in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2000 by two brothers, Ronni and Dany Abergel and their colleagues Asma Mouna and Christoffer Erichson. According to their website, “The Human Library is a global innovative and hands-on learning platform…to better our understand diversity in order to help create more inclusive and cohesive communities across cultural, religious, social and ethnic differences. The Library works to create a safe framework for personal conversations that can help to challenge prejudice and help to [decrease] discrimination. The Library is meant to be a safe space where typically “taboo” subjects can be discussed “openly and without condemnation” 

After a one-hour training course where we learned about what we would do, and discussed how to have open and honest and safe conversation, we met in a conference room at the library where we received a pin identifying us as a “book” and a placard that stated our “title” and the label we chose for ourselves. For me, those were “Don’t Take My God from Me” and “Gay Female Pastor” I chose the title because of the long fight in the United Methodist Church to accept LGBTQIA+ clergy and because many people wondered why I never left the church during that fight. I chose my label because most people don’t think that those three words go together! 

Then we each sat at a table and waited for someone to “check out” our book. I sat next to a 91 year old woman who began the modern dance program at Western Reserve University and an a process engineer who helped formulate the oil percentages used for making a famous brand of potato chips. There was a recent immigrant from Russia, an autistic person who had through hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Rim trail, a woman who has been living with stage 4 colon cancer for 8 years. There was a police officer, a trans man, and a woman who is caring for her husband with dementia.  

We had some leading questions that the patrons could ask, but mostly the conversation was up to us. I ended up talking to the dancer and the engineer for quite a while, but also had two patrons come and check me out – and we had fascinating discussions about everything under the sun! I love this idea of meeting new people in a non-stressful environment where no question is off limits to ask, and almost all will be answered. It is kind of like what I like to think the church can be – a safe place where all people can be just who God has made them to be, and our “job” is to share God’s love with everyone. Maybe we could make our own Human Library some day! 

Fear Not, 
Dianne