LGBTQ+ Pride: Readings and Resources

"This book covers topics such as the history and background of transgender and gender-diverse health care, gender identity, primary, preventive, and specialty care, and community-building, advocacy, and partnership."

"Barry Reay explores this history: from a time before trans in the nineteenth century to the transsexual moment of the 1960s and 1970s, the transgender turn of the 1990s, and the so-called tipping point of current culture. It is a rich and varied history, where same-sex desires and identities, cross-dressing, and transsexual and transgender identities jostled for recognition. It is a history that is not at all flattering to US psychiatric and surgical practices."

"The author uses the overarching concept of queering, drawn from queer theory, as a way of looking at the lives of queer people across a range of concepts drawn from different academic and scholarly disciplines. The intention is to survey these disciplines, beginning with the foundational study of language, and then to examine a variety of human experiences, including education, the rituals of marriage, and advocacy for justice."

"Fine artist, activist, and Titans actor Chella Man uses his own experiences as a deaf, transgender, genderqueer, Jewish person of color to talk about cultivating self-acceptance and acting as one's own representation"

"... explores how fantasy-especially superhero comics, which are usually derided as naïve and childish-is a catalyst for engaging the black radical imagination. Such engagements prompt 'fantasy-acts' against antiblackness, a transgressive way of 'reading' beyond the comic-book page to envision and to experience alternate, and potentially more just, realities."

"This witty memoir traces a touching and often hilarious spiralic path to embracing a gay, Latinx identity against a culture of machismo—from a cockfighting ring in Nicaragua to cities across the U.S.—and the bath houses, night clubs, and drag queens who help redefine pride."

"... the first-ever comprehensive guide to understanding, supporting, and welcoming trans kids. Covering everything from family life to school and mental health issues, as well as the physical, social, and emotional aspects of transition, this book is full of best practices to support trans kids."

"A boldly drawn, unforgettable memoir about trauma and the barriers to gender affirming health care."

"The ultimate chronicler of New York's downtown scene, and therefore of a signal moment in gay culture, was Fred W. McDarrah, the first staff photographer and first picture editor of the legendary Village Voice. On the streets in the aftermath of Stonewall, at the first marches, and among the activists and artists who defined the movement through the 1990s, McDarrah's camera engaged with the period's chaos, anger, and intense optimism."

"The complicated realities revolving around the intersections of Blackness are rarely explored. In this book written with young adults in mind, Johnson covers one such intersectionality as a person who identifies as Black and queer. Recalling his own experiences with gender identity through childhood he addresses the significance of consent, masculinity, Black joy and allyship."

"... disrupts the myths of America's origins and contemporary America through her experiences as the queer Nigerian-born daughter of a Muslim Nigerian woman and a Black American man from a Southern Baptist family in Jim Crow Alabama."

"Part revisionist history, part historical biography, Bad Gays is based on the hugely popular podcast series. The book subverts the notion of gay icons and queer heroes and asks what we can learn about LGBTQ history, sexuality, and identity through its villains and baddies."

"There are growing numbers of youth who identify as transgender, and as a result, clinicians and counselors are in need of an informed resource that covers the basics of gender identity and expression. This book responds to that need by setting out clear advice and support on working with transgender and non-binary youth with regard to their identity, mental health, personal and family life and their medical and social transition as well as offering additional resources and reading lists."

"Beginning with the tragic story of Sumner Welles, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's brilliant diplomatic advisor and the man at the center of "the greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States," award-winning journalist and author James Kirchick illuminates how the idea of homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration, impacting everything from the creation of America's earliest civilian intelligence agency to the rise and fall of McCarthyism, the struggle for African American civil rights, and the conservative movement."

"Twenty-five narrative essays by contemporary LGBTQ writers reflecting on queerness in horror film, from Hitchcock to Halloween to Hereditary."

"... gathers twenty-seven speeches from the eight national OutWrite conferences held between 1990 and 1999. OutWrite conferences played a crucial role in defining, expanding, and amplifying LGBTQ literary culture by bringing together LGBTQ writers of the 1990s in raucous events highlighted by keynote addresses, plenary sessions, and workshops coupled late nights of drinking, dancing, hook ups, and other forms of literary revelry."

"Though often dismissed as frivolous spectacles, sociologist Katherine McFarland Bruce builds a convincing case for the importance of Pride parades as cultural protests at the heart of the LGBT community. Weaving together interviews, archival reports, quantitative data, and ethnographic observations at six diverse, contemporary parades in New York City, Salt Lake City, San Diego, Burlington, Fargo, and Atlanta, Bruce describes how Pride parades are a venue for participants to challenge the everyday cultural stigma of being queer in America, all with a flair and sense of fun that are absent from typical protests."

"Eighteen months before her beloved father died, Kathryn Schulz met Casey, the woman who would become her wife. Lost & Found weaves together their love story with the story of losing Kathryn's father in a brilliant exploration of the way families are lost and found and the way life dispenses wretchedness and suffering, beauty and grandeur all at once."

"Adeyemi's framework of "feeling right" instead offers a closer, kinesthetic look at how black queer women adroitly manage feeling itself as a complex right they should be afforded in cities that violently structure their movements and energies. What emerges in Feels Right is a sensorial portrait of the critical, black queer geographies and collectivities that emerge in social dance settings and in the broader neoliberal city."

"Explores the history of transgender and gender nonconforming people, with a focus on those who identified in other than a straightforward binary fashion; on communities in West Africa, Asia, and among Native Americans; and on cross-dressing in World War I prison camps and in entertainment."

"In recent years, there has been substantial progress on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) civil rights in the United States. We are now, though, in a time of incredible political uncertainty for queer people. LGBTQ Social Movements provides an accessible introduction to mainstream LGBTQ movements in the US, illustrating the many forms that LGBTQ activism has taken since the mid-twentieth century. Covering a range of topics, including the Stonewall uprising and gay liberation, AIDS politics, queer activism, marriage equality fights, youth action, and bisexual and transgender justice, Lisa M. Stulberg explores how marginalized people and communities have used a wide range of political and cultural tools to demand and create change."

"Captures the true story of the LGBTQ civil rights movement from the 1960s to the present through richly detailed, stunning interviews with the leaders, activists, and ordinary people who witnessed the revolution and made it happen. These individuals fought battles, both personal and political, often without the support of family or friends, frequently under the threat of violence and persecution. By shining a light on these remarkable stories of bravery and determination, The Book of Pride not only honors an important chapter in American history, but also ensures the LGBTQ movement can never be erased. These stories remind us to resist all forms of oppression with ferocity, community, and, most importantly, pride."

"Autobiography of an American woman, a pioneer civil rights activist and feminist. Granddaughter of a slave and great-granddaughter of a slave owner, growing up in the "colored" section of Durham, North Carolina in the early 20th century, she rebelled against the segregation that was an accepted fact of life in the South."

"Over 85 Deaf and hearing people from all over the world share their stories, interviews, poems, and more in this anthology .... Subjects cover coming out, family, identity, relationships, community, and activism."

"A memoir about being free—sexually, politically and artistically—chronicles the tumultuous yet luminary life of the author, from his poverty-stricken childhood in rural Cuba to his imprisonment as a homosexual to the events leading to his death in New York."

"... T Kira Madden's raw and redemptive debut memoir is about coming of age and reckoning with desire as a queer, biracial teenager amidst the fierce contradictions of Boca Raton, Florida, a place where she found cult-like privilege, shocking racial disparities, rampant white-collar crime, and powerfully destructive standards of beauty hiding in plain sight."

"This collection of case studies that model LGBTQ+ affirmative social work practice offers real-life scenarios from a range of social work scholars, educators, and practitioners, representing diverse sexualities, genders, and intersectional identities. Together, they demonstrate contemporary, multi-level, queer-affirming social work practice with LGBTQ+ people and communities."

"A vibrant story collection about Cambodian-American life-immersive and comic, yet unsparing-that offers profound insight into the intimacy of queer and immigrant communities."

"Anvi, Kate, Bette, Keiko, Gaia, and Day are six queer, mostly trans women surviving and thriving in Brooklyn. Visiting all the fixtures of fashionable 21st century queer society-picnics, literary readings, health conferences, drag shows, punk houses, community accountability processes, Grindr hookups-The Call-Out also engages with pressing questions around economic precarity, sexual consent, racism in queer spaces, and feminist theory, in the service of asking what it takes to build, or destroy, a marginalized community."

"A dazzling literary debut novel-within-a-novel, in the vein of The Prophets, about a young author writing about the forbidden love affair between E.M. Forster and Mohammed el Adl--in which Mohammed's story collides with his own, blending fact and fiction."

"... a girl goes missing and a community falls apart and comes together. When twelve-year-old Esther disappears on the way home from school in a small town in rural Australia, the community is thrown into a maelstrom of suspicion and grief."

"Sahara, a queer, half-Nigerian college sophomore who feels like an all-around failure, finds hope, answers, and unexpected redemption when she sets out to find the truth about The Unfortunates--the unlucky subset of black undergrads who have been mysteriously disappearing."

"... offers a moving appraisal of lives buffeted by personal and systemic traumas; a deep dive into the good, the bad and the ugly of self-serving corporate culture; and no shortage of “wait, what the heck just happened?” thrills."

"With each tale, K-Ming Chang gives us her own take on a surrealism that mixes myth and migration, corporeality and ghostliness, queerness and the quotidian. Stunningly told in her feminist fabulist style, these are uncanny stories peeling back greater questions of power and memory."

"... a funny, joyful, and spiteful debut collection of seriously playful poems; they carry on with impish provocation, engagement, and mourning for what has been done to our living practices."

"A dazzling, genre-bending debut about one woman's coming-out, coming-of-age, and coming undone."

"With an energetic eye, Nicky Beer thumbs through our collective history books--and her personal one, too--in an effort to chart the line between playful forms of farce and those that are far more insidious."

"The book's social encounters and exchanges, its responses to the work of artists, its figures in a landscape, and its considerations of food and desire, work as capsule narratives and as an exhilarating extension of that lyric tradition."

"Vibrant, humorous, and fraught with entanglements, Rasheed Newson's My Government Means to Kill Me is an exhilarating, fast-paced, coming-of-age story that lends itself to a larger discussion about what it means for a young, gay, Black man in the mid-1980s to come to terms with his role in the midst of a political and social reckoning."

"When a chance encounter with Marina ignites an electric romance, it looks like salvation-if only they can overcome the lie that threatens to undo the trust they've built. A novel of working lives, friendships, and self-discovery in flux,All This Could Be Different is a wry, intimate, and redemptive exploration of the freedom and fragility of youth, and what it means to devote oneself to others in search of a better world."

"Shelley Wong's debut, As She Appears, foregrounds queer women of color in their being and becoming."

"This riotous romp of a picture book follows a frantic family as they try to get some chores done—with no help from the family cat, who keeps scrambling the list of chores with hilarious effects."

"Every movement has its unsung heroes: individuals who work in the background without praise or accolades, who toil and struggle without notice. One of those unsung heroes was at the center of some of the most important decisions and events of the Civil Rights Movement. That hero was a quiet man, a gay African American man. He was Bayard Rustin."

"Shy Violet attempts to show another girl how she feels on Valentine's Day."

"After Milly discovers a pride flag in Grandad's attic, this adorable pair are motivated by the past to start a pride parade in their small town. Activism and celebration go hand in hand as the town gathers to help "build a world where everyone is proud to be themselves.""

"Four individuals of dual male and female spirit bring their healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaii, where they are beloved for their gentle ways and miraculous cures and where they imbue four giant boulders with their powers."

"A transgender boy prepares for the first day of school and introduces himself to his family and friends for the first time."

"When her mother goes on a business trip, a little girl, who loves to sit between Mama and Mommy at the table, misses her a lot and feels empty until Mommy finally comes home, filling the void with love."

"This fictional autobiography follows Rob Kearney as he grows from a strong teen to a professional strongman and finds the courage to wear rainbows to the North American championship."

"Two wedding cake toppers tell the love story of the men they represent, Michael McConnell and Jake Baker, and their difficult journey to become the first married gay couple in the United States."

"Traces the life of the Gay Pride Flag, from its beginnings with social activist Harvey Milk and designer Gilbert Baker to its spanning of the globe and its role in today's world.

"This sweet, straightforward exploration of gender identity will give children a fuller understanding of themselves and others. With child-friendly language and vibrant art, It Feels Good to Be Yourself provides young readers and parents alike with the vocabulary to discuss this important topic with sensitivity."

"A smart and sassy boy in a red riding hood confronts a pushy wolf espousing gender norms."

"When a school trip to Barcelona to reconnect with her best friend doesn’t go as planned, Ellen, a neurodivergent 13-year-old, must expand her horizons as she makes new friends and learns to let go of old ones."

"When his mother rallies other parents to pull the book he’s reading from the district curriculum because it depicts a relationship between two boys, Donovan must speak up and stand out to stop this book from being banned. "

"When a group of kids explore a deserted, haunted plantation they befriend a young ghost and together uncover the dark secret of his past that led to his mysterious death."

"Brought together during summer music camp where they are the only two Black girls, Andi and Zora slowly begin to connect and soon come to realize what has been missing from their lives—each other."

"From the acclaimed actor and Stonewall Honor-winning author of The Best at It, Maulik Pancholy, comes a new middle grade novel about a gay Indian American boy who learns the power of using his voice."

"Amos Abernathy lives for history. Literally. He's been a historical reenactor nearly all his life. But when a cute new volunteer arrives at his Living History Park, Amos finds himself wondering if there's something missing from history: someone like the two of them.Amos is sure there must have been LGBTQ+ people in nineteenth-century Illinois. His search turns up Albert D. J. Cashier, a Civil War soldier who might have identified as a trans man if he'd lived today. Soon Amos starts confiding in his newfound friend by writing letters in his journal--and hatches a plan to share Albert's story with his divided twenty-first century town. It may be an uphill battle, but it's one that Amos is ready to fight."

"Fifth grade is just not Riley's vibe. Everyone else is squaded up--except Riley. Her best friend moved away. All she wants to do is draw, and her grades show it. One thing that makes her happy is her favorite comedian, Joy Powers. Riley loves to watch her old shows and has memorized her best jokes. So when the class is assigned to write letters to people they admire, of course Riley's picking Joy Powers! Things start to look up when a classmate, Cate, offers to help Riley with the letter, and a new kid, Aaron, actually seems to get her weird sense of humor. But when mean girl Whitney spreads a rumor about her, things begin to click into place for Riley. Her curiosity about Aaron's two dads and her celebrity crush on Joy Powers suddenly make more sense."

"... celebrates the LGBTQ+ community's diversity, the incredible victories of the past fifty years and the voices of young activists."

"A Child’s Introduction to Pride is full of remarkable stories of groundbreaking events and inspirational people, featuring profiles of dozens of queer icons from various time periods and walks of life."

"Rainbow Revolutionaries brings to life the vibrant histories of fifty pioneering LGBTQ+ people from around the world. Through Sarah Prager's (Queer, There, and Everywhere) short, engaging bios, and Sarah Papworth's bold, dynamic art, readers can delve into the lives of Wen of Han, a Chinese emperor who loved his boyfriend as much as his people, Martine Rothblatt, a trans woman who's helping engineer the robots of tomorrow, and so many more!"

"Orla O’Reilly, the youngest in a long line of hedge witches, is compelled to return home after the death of her grandmother, Mamo. In the wake of her Mamo’s passing, seas are impossible to fish, crops have soured, even Jo Manalo’s attic is taken over by a poltergeist! And to make matter worse it appears that the cause is Mamo, or her mislaid bones that is. Can Orla shoulder the responsibility of quieting her Mamo’s spirit, saving her hometown, and will she have to step up as the new witch of Haresden like Mamo always wanted?"

"In this beautifully designed dynamic book, young readers will learn about groundbreaking events, including historic pushes for equality and the legalization of same-sex marriages across the world. They will dive into the phenomenal history of queer icons from ancient times to the present and read about Harvey Milk, Marsha P. Johnson, Audre Lorde, and more. Including several personal current essays from inspiring young LGBTQ+ people, this book encourages readers to take pride in their identity and the identities of those around them."

"United in one goal?—stealing the Rubaiyat, a jewel-encrusted book aboard the RMS Titanic—four girls find careless mistakes, old grudges and new romance putting them, and their mission, in grave danger when tragedy strikes."

"Deciding to throw herself an epic coming out party with singing, dancing and rainbow cake, 16-year-old Mahalia Harris finds herself buried in a mountain of bills, unfinished schoolwork and enough drama that could end her party before it even begins."

" After seventeen-year-olds Chloe and Shara, Chloe's rival for valedictorian, kiss, Shara vanishes leaving Chloe and two boys, who are also enamored with Shara, to follow the trail of clues she left behind, but during the search, Chloe starts to suspect there might be more to Shara and her small Alabama town than she thought."

"A lovelorn newcomer, a grief-stricken pariah and a privileged liar intersect on the island of Sawkill Rock, where they become unlikely defenders against an insidious monster that has been preying upon the girls in their community for decades."

"On a field trip to SeaPlanet, seventeen-year-old Arab-American high school swimmer River McIntyre has a chance encounter with Indy, a happy, healthy queer person, which sets off a wrenching journey of self-discovery, from internalized homophobia and gender dysphoria, through layers of coming out, affirmation surgery, and true love."

"A quiet revolution has been underway in recent years, with study after study revealing substantial same-sex sexual behavior in animals. Join celebrated author Eliot Schrefer on an exploration of queer behavior in the animal world--from albatrosses to bonobos to clownfish to doodlebugs. In sharp and witty prose--aided by humorous comics from artist Jules Zuckerberg--Schrefer uses science, history, anthropology, and sociology to illustrate the diversity of sexual behavior in the animal world."

"The Cloudkiss Killer is dead. Now a true-crime podcast is hosting a contest to find his bones. Lucy was almost the serial killers final victim. Carolina is a true-crime fan who fears her own rage. Maggie is a psychology student with a little too much tohide. But there are more than bones hiding in the shadows...sometimes the darkness inside is more frightening than anything the dead leave behind."

"Snowy weather and fish fossils help bring together two Jewish college freshmen spending winter break in Washington, D.C."

"Avery Anderson is convinced her senior year is ruined when she's uprooted and forced into the hostile home of her terminally ill grandmother. While tempers flare in her avoidant family, Avery finds friendship in unexpected places: in Simone Cole, her captivating next-door neighbor, and Jade Oliver, daughter of the town’s most prominent family—whose mother’s murder remains unsolved. As the three girls grow closer—Avery and Simone’s friendship blossoming into romance—the sharp-edged opinions of their small southern town begin to hint at something insidious underneath and Avery has to decide what’s more important: Knowing the truth or keeping the peace?"

"Lou has enough confusion in front of her this summer. She'll be working in her family's ice-cream shack with...her former best friend, King, who is back in their Canadian prairie town after disappearing three years ago...But when she gets a letter from her biological father...Lou immediately knows that she cannot meet him...While King's friendship makes Lou feel safer...when her family's business comes under threat, she soon realizes that she can't ignore her father forever."

"Queer is a humorous, engaging, and honest guide that helps LGBTQ teens come out to friends and family, navigate their social life, figure out if a crush is also queer, and challenge bigotry and homophobia. Personal stories from the authors and sidebars on queer history provide relatable context. This completely revised and updated edition is a must-read for any teen who thinks they might be queer or knows someone who is."

"Propelled by his best friend's impending move out of state and inspired by Ferris Bueller's Day Off, sixteen-year-old Harrison plans a farewell through Baltimore that includes a road trip, their first Pride, and a rooftop dance party."

"Here and Queer is a helpful, friendly guide full of support and advice about living your best queer life, written for girls."

"Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young people, Essie, goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her."

"This book is for everyone. Because we can all be allies. As an ally, you use your power--no matter how big or small--to support others. You learn, and try, and mess up, and try harder. In this collection of true stories, 17 critically acclaimed and bestselling YA authors get real about being an ally, needing an ally, and showing up for friends and strangers. From raw stories of racism and invisible disability to powerful moments of passing the mic, these authors share their truths. They invite you to think about your own experiences and choices and how to be a better ally. There are no easy answers, but this book helps you ask better questions. Self-reflection prompts, resources, journaling ideas, and further reading suggestions help you find out what you can do. Because we're all in this together. And we all need allies""

"Sixteen-year-old Mexican American Yami Flores starts Catholic school, determined to keep her brother out of trouble and keep herself closeted, but her priorities shift when Yami discovers that her openly gay classmate Bo is also annoyingly cute."