Showing titles in Gay Studies

Teenage suicide rates are rising and a disproportionate number of the victims are homosexual. It is this alarming trend that motivated author Sean Lemson to write It's OK to Be Gay. Lemson knows from experience the challenges that so many gay, lesbian, and bisexual people face while coming of age and becoming comfortable with their own sexuality. So many struggle alone wondering whether friends and loved ones will understand and accept them, or reject them.

Unconditional: A Guide to Loving and Supporting Your LGBTQ Child provides parents of a LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning) child with a framework for helping their LGBTQ child navigate a world that isn't always welcoming.

Although acceptance of difference is on the rise in America, it's the rare gay or lesbian person who has not been demeaned because of his or her sexual orientation, and this experience usually starts at home, among family members. Whether they are excluded from family love and approval, expected to accept second-class status for life, ignored by mainstream arts and entertainment, or abandoned when intervention would make all the difference, gay people are routinely subjected to forms of psychological and physical abuse unknown to many.

It's surprising that the term "heterosexuality" is less than 150 years old and that heterosexuality's history has never before been written, given how obsessed we are with it. In Straight, independent scholar Hanne Blank delves deep into the contemporary psyche as well as the historical record to chronicle the realm of heterosexual relations - a subject that is anything but straight and narrow.

The groundbreaking work on being homosexual in America—available again only from Penguin Classics and with a new foreword by Dan Savage Originally published in 1971, Merle Miller’s On Being Different is a pioneering and thought-provoking book about being homosexual in the United States. Just...

It has been brought to my attention that many women are suffering silently in their romantic relationships regarding the sexuality of their male counterparts. I have owned a women's shoe store in Detroit, Michigan for over a decade and I cannot count how many times a woman has voiced this concern to me. Many women have poured their hearts out to me regarding their personal lives and homosexuality is the number two concern following infidelity. I decided to write a series of books regarding the most popular topics discussed at my shoe store.

In a hugely ambitious study that crosses continents, languages, and almost a century, Gregory Woods identifies the ways in which homosexuality has helped shape Western culture. Extending from the trials of Oscar Wilde to the gay liberation era, this book examines a period in which increased visibility made acceptance of homosexuality one of the measures of modernity.

Sex change is a very broad term that refers to the process of a person or animal changing sex. This occurs naturally in some species of animals, but more often the term is used to mean sex reassignment surgery. The term can refer to either male sexual characteristics being substituted for female ones, or vice versa. The male to female substitution is much more common because it is by far the simpler of the two.

A joyful celebration of the LGBTQ+ community’s development, history, and culture, packed with facts, trivia, timelines, and charts, and featuring 100 full color illustrations. Compiled and designed by queer power couple and illustrators extraordinaire, Ashley Molesso and Chessie Needham...

After the Great War, British men and women grappled with their ignorance about sexuality and desire. Seeking advice and information from doctors, magazines, and each other, they wrote tens of thousands of letters about themselves as sexual subjects. In these letters, they disclosed their uncertainties, their behaviors, and the role of sexuality in their lives. Their fascinating narratives tell how people sought to unleash their imaginations and fashion new identities.

In 1995, the FDA approved the release of protease inhibitors, the first effective treatment for AIDS. For countless people, the drug offered a reprieve from what had been a death sentence; for others, it was too late. In the US alone, over 318,000 people had already died from AIDS-related complications - among them the singer Michael Callen and the poet Essex Hemphill. Meticulously researched and evocatively told, Hold Tight Gently is the celebrated historian Martin Duberman’s poignant memorial to those lost to AIDS and to two of the great unsung heroes....

“Drag embodies the queer possibility that exists within each of us—the infinite ways in which gender, good taste, and art can be lived.” –Sasha Velour This book is a quilt, piecing together memoir, history, and theory into a living portrait of an artist and an art. Sasha Velour...

A “riveting and enlightening account” (Bookreporter) of a mostly unknown chapter in the life of Eleanor Roosevelt—when she moved to New York’s Greenwich Village, shed her high-born conformity, and became the progressive leader who pushed for change as America’s First Lady. Hundreds of...

In this groundbreaking translation, Shantideva's classic Buddhist text "The Way of the Bodhisattva" is reimagined through a contemporary queer lens, making its timeless wisdom accessible to modern LGBTQ+ spiritual seekers. This verse-by-verse rendering maintains the profound meaning of the original Sanskrit while expressing its teachings in the vibrant vernacular of queer culture. From drag ball metaphors to chosen family analogies, this translation bridges ancient Buddhist wisdom with contemporary queer experience.

On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, was raided by police. But instead of responding with the typical compliance the NYPD expected, patrons and a growing crowd decided to fight back. The five days of rioting that ensued changed forever the face of gay and lesbian life. In Stonewall, renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman tells the full story of this pivotal moment in history.

There is more to identity than identifying with one's culture or standing solidly against it. José Esteban Muñoz looks at how those outside the racial and sexual mainstream negotiate majority culture—not by aligning themselves with or against exclusionary works but rather by transforming these works for their own cultural purposes. Muñoz calls this process "disidentification," and through a study of its workings, he develops a new perspective on minority performance, survival, and activism.

Raising Trans Kids is the essential guide for parents, families, and educators committed to creating a world where transgender and nonbinary youth can thrive. With compassionate insights, evidence-based research, and practical advice, this groundbreaking book provides the clarity and reassurance needed to navigate the complex journey of raising trans and gender-expansive children.

Drags, fags and trans-women were attracted to the Big Apple because they were able to find work as impersonators in a small number of Lower East Side clubs. Decades before Stonewall, they occupied the margins of society, determined to live as they pleased, despite of the attentions of the police. Sometimes reduced to stealing to get their costumes, these girls were unstoppable, fearless and fabulous. When a cache of their letters were discovered, these individuals were given a voice where they had traditionally been silenced.

Coming out can be awkward enough. Now try it as a Catholic schoolboy in 1970s Ohio. In this fearless and funny true story, the host and founder of the hit podcast RISK! shares all. From first grade through junior high, twelve-year-old Kevin and his best friend, Ben, were inseparable. But when Kevin divulged his biggest secret, Ben froze him out. The pint-size cold war lasted two years - until they went head-to-head for student council president. Team Ben’s smear campaign began. The school took sides. And Kevin decided to run with it.

Queering the Runes is a love letter to the runes, the gods, and the people who follow the Nordic path. The author presents an alternative approach to the runes, one that creates a gentle container for those who want to follow this heathen path. Based on the author's personal gnosis, as well as deep academic research on runes and Nordic culture, this book is an invitation into the root culture of the runes, both in terms of myth and in terms of lived, real folkloric experience.