LGBTQIA+ Studies / topics Books

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Book SynopsisDesigned for the needs of gay men, this 78-art card Tarot deck and accompanying guidebook employ the wisdom needed to travel the path to unique masculine spirituality, celebrating life as a gay man and placing the reader in that wonderfully diverse collective we call the gay community. It''s about coming out with pride, but it''s also about entering into who you really are. Get to know yourself through these astounding self-realization cards. Each inspirational image represents an aspect of gay male living. Whether you use them singly for meditation or as part of a Tarot spread for divination, this deck will be a gateway to your higher self or an exciting path for exploring the spirituality so many gay men crave, free from the prejudices of established or formal religion. Created by a gay man, for gay men, The Son Tarot celebrates who we are and all the richness that entails.Includes cards and book.Card dimensions: 3 3/8 x 4 7/8

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Book SynopsisBeloved storyteller Ivan Coyote returns with their most intimate and moving book yet.Writer and performer Ivan Coyote has spent decades on the road, telling stories around the world. For years, Ivan has kept a file of the most special communications received from readers and audience members—letters, Facebook messages, emails, soggy handwritten notes tucked under the windshield wiper of their truck after a gig. Then came Spring, 2020, and, like artists everywhere, Coyote was grounded by the pandemic, all their planned events cancelled. The energy of a live audience, a performer’s lifeblood, was suddenly gone. But with this loss came an opportunity for a different kind of connection. Those letters that had long piled up could finally begin to be answered. Care Of combines the most powerful of these letters with Ivan’s responses, creating a body of correspondence of startling intimacy, breathtaking beauty, and heartbreaking honesty and

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Book Synopsis“Just as the Black Lives Matter movement and recent protests have shown the leadership of women of color in organizing against the prison state, this book will show the leadership of women, which is too often ignored, in the innocence movement.” —Aya Gruber, Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School, author of The Feminist War on Crime Through the lens of her work with the Innocence Movement and her client Leigh Stubbs—a woman denied a fair trial in 2000 largely due to her sexual orientation - innocence litigator, activist, and founder of the West Virginia Innocence Project Valena Beety examines the failures in America’s criminal legal system and the reforms necessary to eliminate wrongful convictions—particularly with regards to women, the queer community, and people of color… 2023 Winner of the Eric Hoffer Book Award’s Montaigne MedalWhen Valena Beety

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Book SynopsisCelebrate LGBTQIA+ history with the engaging and untold stories of 15 prominent same-sex couples who defied cultural norms and made significant contributions to the arts, theater, social change, and more.   For more than a century before gay marriage became a hot-button political issue, same-sex unions flourished in America. Pairs of men and pairs of women joined together in committed unions, standing by each other “for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health” for periods of thirty or forty—sometimes as many as fifty—years. In short, they loved and supported each other every bit as much as any husband and wife. In Outlaw Marriages, cultural historian Rodger Streitmatter reveals how some of these unions didn’t merely improve the quality of life for the two people involved but also enriched the American culture. Among the high-profile couples whose lives and loves are illuminated in the following pages are Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams and Mary Rozet Smith, literary icon Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, author James Baldwin and Lucien Happersberger, and artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

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Book SynopsisDeviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future uses the lens of queer ecologies to explore environmental destruction in Appalachia while mapping out alternative futures that follow from critical queer perspectives on the United States' exploitation of the land.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction Re-presenting the Narrative Intoxicated Subjects Queers Embracing Place in Appalachia Unsilencing Indigeneity It's Grandpa's Land Edible Kent Arboreal Blockaders Masculinities in the Decline of Coal "I Fixed Up the Trees to Give Them Some New Life:" Contributor Biographies

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Book SynopsisDeviant Hollers: Queering Appalachian Ecologies for a Sustainable Future uses the lens of queer ecologies to explore environmental destruction in Appalachia while mapping out alternative futures that follow from critical queer perspectives on the United States' exploitation of the land.Table of ContentsForeword Introduction Re-presenting the Narrative Intoxicated Subjects Queers Embracing Place in Appalachia Unsilencing Indigeneity It's Grandpa's Land Edible Kent Arboreal Blockaders Masculinities in the Decline of Coal "I Fixed Up the Trees to Give Them Some New Life:" Contributor Biographies

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Book Synopsis30 Queer Lives explores the lives, struggles and successes of LGBTQIA+ New Zealanders. From the famous — Grant Robertson, Gareth Farr, Chlöe Swarbrick — to the less well known, these 30 stories encourage empathy and understanding, challenge stereotypes, and offer courage and hope.Table of Contents6 Introduction 11 Grant Robertson 21 Takunda Muzondiwa 31 Leilani Tominiko 39 Nathan Joe 49 Eliana Rubashkyn 57 Scott Mathieson 67 Henrietta Bollinger 75 Andy Davies 87 Sawyer Hawker 97 James Dobson 107 Taupuruariki ‘Ariki’ Brightwell 121 Jonny Rudduck 135 Chlöe Swarbrick 145 David Sar Shalom Abadi 157 Sarah Bickerton 165 Peter Macky 179 Carole Beu 191 Gareth Farr 199 Shaneel Shavneel Lal 209 Tom Sainsbury 217 Six 231 Robbie Manson 241 Charlotte Goodyear 251 Meagan Goodman 261 Edward Cowley 271 Ross and John Palethorpe 285 Ramon Te Wake 295 Victor Rodger 303 Loughlan Prior 313 Ann Shelton 326 Further reading 327 About the author

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Pacific Northwest Book Award.A nuanced mediation on love, identity, and belonging. This story of survival radiates with resilience and hope. Publishers Weekly (starred review)This openhearted memoir . . . opens the door to include queer descendants of war survivors into the growing American library of love. Sarah Schulman, author of Let the Record ShowWhen Putsata Reang was eleven months old, her family fled war-torn Cambodia, spending twenty-three days on an overcrowded navy vessel before finding sanctuary at an American naval base in the Philippines. Holding what appeared to be a lifeless baby, Ma resisted the captain's orders to throw her bundle overboard. Instead, on landing, Ma rushed her baby into the arms of American military nurses and doctors, who saved the child's life. I had hope, just a little, you were still alive, Ma would tell Putsata in an oft-repeated story that became family legend.Ove

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewWe are in a renaissance of queer methods, surveying mis/alignments between slippery queerness and orderly methods. From physical places to digital spaces, the contributors of this multivalent, delightfully unruly volume amplify the unique voices of architectural disciplines. * Amin Ghaziani, Professor of Sociology and Canada Research Chair in Urban Sexualities, University of British Columbia, Canada *This collection of essays makes a significant contribution to the evolving discourse/methodology relating to queer space and queer architectural practice. It focuses on new critical and theoretical approaches, and brings to light a range of little known sites, interventions, and publications. I found the proposal very rich and challenging. . . . Both the editors and the contributors are leading voices in the fields of criticism, pedagogy, and design practice with demonstrated track records in this area. . . . moves the conversation about queer space/architecture forward while building on previous work. * Alice T. Friedman, Grace Slack McNeil Professor of American Art; Professor of Art, Wellesley College, USA *I am impressed by the range of approaches and case studies found here and I would have thought it would provide a thought-provoking stimulus to a wide range of academic and critical practice . . . It be might expected to quickly establish a position of some importance within this developing field. . . . It does appear to be a key volume in relation to methods and methodologies. . . . This is a lively and interesting range of approaches to the methodology of queer architecture. * Professor Dominic Janes, School of Humanities, Keele University, UK *This book will certainly contribute to research in the overlapping fields of queer theory and architecture. This is definitely an under-researched area and could easily benefit from such a collection. * Jack Halberstam, Director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality; Professor of English and Gender Studies, Columbia University, USA *Table of ContentsFigures Contributors Introduction - Marko Jobst and Naomi Stead I: Methods 1. On the Uses of Queer Space Thinking - Olivier Vallerand 2. Queer Encounters in the Archive: Misplaced Love Letters and Autobiographical Homes - Dirk van den Heuvel and Martin van Wijk 3. Queering Architectural History: Anomalous histories and historiographies of the Baroque - Marko Jobst 4. Notes From Transient Spaces, Anachronic Times: An architectural exercise - Ece Canli II: Practices 5. El Site: Queer approximations on fragments and writing - Regner Ramos 6. After the party with the lights on: A case study of queering architecture - Timothy Moore and Adam Nathaniel Furman 7. Fabulous Façades - Ben Campkin and Lo Marshall 8. From STUD to Stalled!: Embodied identity through a queer lens 1996-2021 - Joel Sanders III: Spaces 9. Architectures of Darkness in Derek Jarman and Mark Bradford - Nicholas Gamso 10. Queer Space in a Peripheral Modernity - Sarah Nicholus 11. Music as a Site of Transing - Simona Castricum 12. Queer Spaces, Queer Readings, Queer Lodgings - Naomi Stead IV: Pedagogies 13. [Spatial] Pedagogic readings of Queer Theory: Experimental Realism and opportunities for teaching and learning - Gem Barton 14. Teacher/student: Queer practices to dismantle hierarchies in studio culture - A.L. Hu 15. Taking Architecture from Behind - Colin Ripley Index

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Book SynopsisIntegrating research, practice, and policy, this text is for students and professionals in gerontology, medicine, social work, psychology, nursing, public health, and related fields who wish to learn more about the life experiences and concerns of sexual- and gender-minority-identified older patients.Trade ReviewThis integrated view of aging and sexual and gender minorities fills a major gap in the collective knowledge of and cultural responsiveness to these invisible communities. Choice Offers a valuable contribution to the developing literature concerned with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) ageing. British Journal of Social Work It is a comprehensive, thought-provoking resource, which I hope would not only be enjoyed by those with an already firm interest in the subject but also by anyone working with older people. -- Rosalyn Stanley International PsychogeriatricsTable of ContentsPreface List of Contributors Chapter 1. The Aging of Sexual and Gender Minority Persons: An Overview Chapter 2. Informal Caregiving in the LGBT Communities Chapter 3. Aging in the Gay Community Chapter 4. Aging in the Lesbian Community Chapter 5. Aging in the Bisexual Community Chapter 6. Transgender and Aging: Beings and Becomings Chapter 7. Intersex and Aging: A (Cautionary) Research Agenda Chapter 8. Conclusion Suggested Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisIntegrating research, practice, and policy, this text is for students and professionals in gerontology, medicine, social work, psychology, nursing, public health, and related fields who wish to learn more about the life experiences and concerns of sexual- and gender-minority-identified older patients.Trade ReviewThis integrated view of aging and sexual and gender minorities fills a major gap in the collective knowledge of and cultural responsiveness to these invisible communities. Choice Offers a valuable contribution to the developing literature concerned with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) ageing. British Journal of Social Work It is a comprehensive, thought-provoking resource, which I hope would not only be enjoyed by those with an already firm interest in the subject but also by anyone working with older people. -- Rosalyn Stanley International PsychogeriatricsTable of ContentsPreface List of Contributors Chapter 1. The Aging of Sexual and Gender Minority Persons: An Overview Chapter 2. Informal Caregiving in the LGBT Communities Chapter 3. Aging in the Gay Community Chapter 4. Aging in the Lesbian Community Chapter 5. Aging in the Bisexual Community Chapter 6. Transgender and Aging: Beings and Becomings Chapter 7. Intersex and Aging: A (Cautionary) Research Agenda Chapter 8. Conclusion Suggested Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisViolet-eyed siren Elizabeth Taylor and classically handsome Montgomery Clift were the most gorgeous screen couple of their time. Over two decades of friendship they made, separately and together, some of the era''s defining movies--including Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Misfits, Suddenly, Last Summer, and Cleopatra. Yet the relationship between these two figures--one a dazzling, larger-than-life star, the other hugely talented yet fatally troubled--has never truly been explored until now. Monty, Elizabeth likes me, but she loves you. —Richard BurtonWhen Elizabeth Taylor was cast opposite Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun, he was already a movie idol, with a natural sensitivity that set him apart. At seventeen, Elizabeth was known for her ravishing beauty rather than her talent. Directors treated her like a glamorous prop. But Monty took her seriously, inspiring and encouraging her. In her words, That''s when I began to act.

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Book SynopsisShares conversations with same-sex couples living in small-town and rural Mississippi. In the first book of its kind to focus on Mississippi, couples tell their stories of how they met and fell in love, their decisions on whether or not to marry, and their experiences as sexual minorities with their neighbours, families, and churches.

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Book SynopsisAn award-winning Iraqi writer creates a new world for himself in Seattle in search of lost love. As the US occupation of Iraq rages, novelist Mortada Gzar, a student at the University of Baghdad, has a chance encounter with Morise, an African American soldier. It’s love at first sight, a threat to them both, and a moment of self-discovery. Challenged by society’s rejection and Morise’s return to the US, Mortada takes to the page to understand himself. In his deeply affecting memoir, Mortada interweaves tales of his childhood work as a scrap-metal collector in a war zone and the indignities faced by openly gay artists in Iraq with his impossible love story and journey to the US. Marginalized by his own society, he is surprised to discover the racism he finds in a new one. At its heart, I’m in Seattle, Where Are You? is a moving tale of love and resilience.Trade ReviewPraise for I’m in Seattle, Where Are You? “Wildly inventive…Built on keenly observed cultural, political, and personal details and populated by vivid characters, this book—illustrated throughout with Gzar’s starkly surreal ink drawings—draws readers into a narrative web that is by turns shocking, funny, and deeply moving. A magical tragicomic story of love, sacrifice, and conviction.” —Kirkus Reviews “An exquisite story of life and lost love…Gzar’s nonlinear narrative and lyrical prose convey his deep desire to reunite with his lover…Hard to put down and difficult to forget.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “With humor and heartache, Mortada Gzar’s new memoir spans the distance between Iraq and Seattle…sometimes the connections are bracing…very funny…Gzar writes beautifully.” —Seattle Times “Mortada Gzar tells his story filled with heart, heartache, and humor.” —KING-5/New Day Northwest “Translated from Arabic, this memoir uncoils slowly and leaves us wishing that even the best-told stories had happier endings.” —Crosscut (Cascade Pubic Media) “This memoir from Iraqi novelist Mortada Gzar captured my full attention from the very beginning. Gzar offers a nuanced look at living as a closeted gay man in Iraq…it’s a tale of love, bravery, resilience, and how to be yourself, even when the odds are stacked against you…Gzar’s experiences are as remarkable as they are unforgettable.” —Audible (Editors Select) “At once hilarious and truly haunting, I’m in Seattle, Where Are You? is a story of so much: war and savagery, queerness and exile, love and loss. Mortada Gzar is the rare memoirist who understands memory itself—illogical, impossible, magical.” —Rumaan Alam, author of the National Book Awards finalist Leave the World Behind “A memoir more formalistically creative than most novels! Mortada has extraordinary experiences, a generous heart, and incredible talent.” —Anton Hur, PEN Translates award-winning translator “Mortada Gzar’s memoir, I’m in Seattle, Where Are You?, is a dazzling account of love, loss, and the complications of exile. This Iraqi novelist, filmmaker, and artist, a Whitman-like figure who contains multitudes in his embrace of the cosmos, understands ‘that stories, like meteors, obey the laws of physics,’ and what emerges in the stories he tells to an array of characters, including the statue of a vagrant, is proof that while ‘their energy does not fade or increase’ they will shape the lives and thinking of those who have the good luck to hear them. This is exactly the book to read in this fraught time.” —Christopher Merrill, author of Self-Portrait with Dogwood Praise for Mortada Gzar “The greatest success of Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar (Mr. Little Big) is in building a space that links past with present and wonder tales with bleak contemporary realities like the American occupation of Iraq.” —Mohammed Khudayyir, author of Basrayatha: Portrait of a City “Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar is one of the few Iraqi novels that draws successfully on other arts, especially poetry. It can stand confidently beside the best Iraqi novels with its rich content and magical technique.” —Abd al-Khaliq al-Rikabi “Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar by the brilliant writer Mortada Gzar offers a unique, magical approach to prose narration. It is an entertaining novel with a surreal atmosphere that offers us a panoramic portrayal of the life of the city of Najaf and its ordinary citizens. Contemporary scenes blend with age-old symbols in it.” —Lotfiya al-Daylami “This novel excavates the past, its characters’ lives, and what they have deliberately concealed.” —Ali Abbas Khafif “Al-Sayyid Asghar Akbar is a distinctive Iraqi tragedy saturated with comedy that Mortada Gzar has written with a unique lexicon. Its characters are drawn from the bottom of Iraqi society, from its margins. In this novel we hear the voices of people who otherwise are never allowed to express an opinion openly.” —Saad Mohammed Raheem “Al-’Ilmawi (The Scientismist) was written by the skillful dreamer Mortada Gzar, who is an engineer, an artist, and a filmmaker. Its events are described by an imagination that is open full throttle. Twin brothers, Abbas and Fadhil, live through the period from the 1990s to 2003. One brother invents a manikin that answers questions but self-destructs when interrogated by a British commander.” —Maysalun Hadi, author of Prophecy of Pharaoh

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Book SynopsisFrom one of the most vital and passionate LGBTQ+ activists comes a powerful memoir about self-discovery, community, love, and resilience in the face of adversity. You never forget your first. First kiss. First love. First heartache. They all burrow their way into your subconscious, destined to reshape how you see the world forever. Growing up in rural Oregon, Brandon Wolf grappled with the devastating loss of his supportive mother and with the embedded racism and homophobia of a community that made him feel like an unwelcome stranger. After the lack of connection and role models led him down a spiral of risky behavior, Wolf escaped to survive. In Orlando, he found what he’d been searching for: belonging—in a community that was a safe space with people he’d come to call his chosen family. They taught Wolf how to love, and be loved, unconditionally. Then, on June 12, 2016, in an exhilarating refuge where Wolf and hundreds of others had discovered a liberating new normal, they were suddenly challenged with fighting for a way out—in order to survive. Overnight, everything was ripped away by chaos, panic, and fear. But the unimaginable tragedy also gave Wolf a new power: purpose. In this unforgettable coming-of-age memoir, Wolf shares his transformative journey from young outsider to galvanizing activist. Marshaling the compassion and strength of a community, Wolf explores how to get through the darkest times with healing, hope, and resistance. “With our backs against the wall,” he writes, “we find a way out together.”Trade ReviewPraise for A Place for Us “[A] blazing debut. In stirring prose, Wolf mounts a testament to the power of community and a howling cry for justice. This is unforgettable.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “This heartfelt book will appeal not only to LGBTQ+ readers, but to anyone committed to the fight for social justice for any marginalized community. Poignant, inspiring reading.” —Kirkus Reviews “Raw, candid, and often uncomfortable.” —Library Journal “[A] powerful read.” —USA Today “An essential testament to the togetherness and resilience of the queer community.” —Electric Literature “One of the most powerful voices of his generation, Brandon Wolf tells a story of race, place, and the struggle for belonging that will drive you to tears and expand your capacity for hope, as well as your appreciation for the power of community. A true inspiration.” —Joy-Ann Reid, host of MSNBC’s The ReidOut “This book is both a necessary reckoning and a soft place to land. Brandon’s story is a journey that challenges readers to not only find hope but also find the resolve necessary to take action. A must-read for anyone who wants to be filled with the spirit of progress.” —Frederick Joseph, New York Times bestselling author and award-winning activist “A Place for Us is daring, raw, and necessary. The fight to end America’s gun violence epidemic has long been grounded in the courage and tenacity of those most directly impacted. Brandon’s survivor story will spur you to get up and fight for a better, safer tomorrow.” —Shannon Watts, founder, Moms Demand Action “A Place for Us is a breathtakingly honest memoir that challenges all of us to rise above our darkest moments in order to courageously live as our most authentic selves.” —Igor Volsky, cofounder and executive director of Guns Down America

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Book SynopsisBuried for decades, the Up Stairs Lounge tragedy has only recently emerged as a catalyzing event of the gay liberation movement. In revelatory detail, Robert W. Fieseler chronicles the tragic event that claimed the lives of thirty-one men and one woman on June 24, 1973, at a New Orleans bar, the largest mass murder of gays until 2016. Relying on unprecedented access to survivors and archives, Fieseler creates an indelible portrait of a closeted, blue- collar gay world that flourished before an arsonist ignited an inferno that destroyed an entire community. The aftermath was no less traumatic—families ashamed to claim loved ones, the Catholic Church refusing proper burial rights, the city impervious to the survivors’ needs—revealing a world of toxic prejudice that thrived well past Stonewall. Yet the impassioned activism that followed proved essential to the emergence of a fledgling gay movement. Tinderbox restores honor to a forgotten generation of civil-rights martyrs.Trade Review"It's indescribably moving to learn in a final author's note that survivors hesitant to speak on the record for Tinderbox came forward with urgency after the Pulse massacre. Their testimonies, Fieseler's rigorous research and his amiable prose make this a vital, inspiring volume in the annals of gay history." -- Dave Wheeler, Shelf Awareness, "Best Books of the Year""In his impressive, meticulously reported debut as a nonfiction author, Robert Fieseler vividly re-creates the world that produced a galvanizing tragedy, a fire at a New Orleans bar in the summer of 1973 that took thirty-two lives. In reminding us of the furtiveness of gay life even in a tolerant city, and of the official culture’s hostility to it, Tinderbox is riveting and unforgettable." -- Nicholas Lemann, author of The Promised Land"Fieseler handles contradictions with finesse, parsing the closet’s long shadow over gay life in New Orleans, one reason the [Up Stairs Lounge] tragedy did not catalyze the kind of outrage and activism that followed the Stonewall rebellion.... The book is loving, sensitive, and diligent." -- Parul Sehgal, New York Times"Very moving.... Eloquent... haunting. The structure reminds one of Thornton Wilder’s classic novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey, in which the individual fates of a disparate group of people united by a bridge collapse are described.... The description of the fire, pieced together bit by bit from interviews with survivors and archival research, is so painstakingly done.... The heart of this book concerns the individual stories Fieseler has assembled. These make his book far more than just a history of gay rights; they make it an infinitely sad portrait of what these people went through." -- Andrew Holleran, The Gay & Lesbian Review"This vital book chronicles one of the worst outrages against gay people in modern America, and it does so with fantastic vividness. It restores a forgotten chapter of horror to our national narrative of rights. Robert W. Fieseler reminds us how deep prejudice was, not only on the part of the man who set the fire at the Up Stairs Lounge, but also in the media that ignored the story and the population that took no interest in it." -- Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon"Fieseler unflinchingly recounts the fire and sets it firmly in the context of the times." -- Bill Daley, Chicago Tribune"Robert W. Fieseler has given us a profoundly moving and deeply researched reminder of the tragic and ghastly costs of bigotry, silence, and the closet. We must never go back. Tinderbox is more than a memorial. It is a call for our ongoing struggle to build movements for love and dignity for everyone everywhere." -- Blanche Wiesen Cook, author of Eleanor Roosevelt, Volumes 1–3"This book provides a vivid portrait of the hardscrabble lives of the dishwashers, grocery clerks, soldiers, and other working men for whom the Up Stairs Lounge became a sanctuary, and then a heart-wrenching reconstruction of the horrifying hour it turned into a deathtrap. Its account of the aftermath of this tragedy is equally illuminating—and sobering." -- George Chauncey, Columbia University, author of Gay New York"Tinderbox is a work of enormous significance that announces the arrival of a gifted new author. Robert Fieseler writes with acuity and compassion about mythic themes—love, faith, death, grief. And as he does so, he chronicles an essential event in gay history, the tragic fire that propelled the movement for social and legal equality." -- Samuel Freedman, author of Breaking the Line"As in a Shakespearean tragedy, the ghosts of the closeted and disrespected dead resurrect to tell their stories in Robert Fieseler’s Tinderbox. Compassionately written and extraordinarily reported, the book demonstrates that memory is a life-affirming force that can triumph over the injustices of death. Tinderbox will likely take its place in the canon of the history of gay rights in America." -- Ronald K. L. Collins, University of Washington Law School, coauthor of Mania: The Story of the Outraged and Outrageous Lives That Launched a Cultural Revolution"Fieseler's work is an essential piece of historical restitution that takes us from 1973 to 2003, when homosexuality was finally decriminalized in Louisiana. Powerfully written and consistently engaging, the book will hopefully shed more light on the gay community's incredible and tragic journey to equality. A momentous work of sociological and civil rights history." -- Kirkus Reviews, "Best Books of the Year""A vivid, fast-paced, and essential LGBTQ and social history." -- Library Journal [Starred Review]

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Book Synopsis“Never Silent is a gorgeous book . . . Peter Staley has written an electrifying primer for anyone who’s thinking/worrying/wondering about how to change/save the world.” —Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright of Angels in AmericaThe previously untold stories of the life of the leading subject in David France’s How To Survive A Plague, Peter Staley, including his continuing activism In 1987, somebody shoved a flyer into the hand of Peter Staley: massive AIDS demonstration, it announced. After four years on Wall Street as a closeted gay man, Staley was familiar with the homophobia common on trading floors. He also knew that he was not beyond the reach of HIV, having recently been diagnosed with AIDS-Related Complex. A week after the protest, Staley found his way to a packed meeting of the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power—ACT UP—in the West Village. It would prove to be the best decision he ever made. ACT UP would change the course of AIDS, pressuring the National Institutes of Health, the FDA, and three administrations to finally respond with research that ultimately saved millions of lives. Staley, a shrewd strategist with nerves of steel, organized some of the group’s most spectacular actions, from shutting down trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to putting a giant condom over the house of Senator Jesse Helms. Never Silent is the inside story of what brought Staley to ACT UP and the explosive and sometimes painful years to follow—years filled with triumph, humiliation, joy, loss, and persistence.Never Silent is guaranteed to inspire the activist within all of us. Trade Review"Forty years after the onset of the pandemic, Peter Staley's book is an important addition to the growing canon of AIDS memoirs. As a veteran organizer of many protests over the decades, I particularly enjoyed learning the intricate back stories of some of ACT UP New York's most celebrated and controversial exploits. From civil disobedience with radical activists to private dinners with the nation's leading HIV researchers and scientists, Peter shares remarkable memories from his bold, complicated, and passionate life." Cleve Jones, author of When We Rise: My Life in the Movement"For decades, Peter Staley's name has been synonymous with brave, determined activism on behalf of the LGBTQ community. Now, for the first time, he's telling the story of his journey from closeted Wall Street bond trader to political powerhouse. Whether you're looking for a front-row seat to history, a greater understanding of how change happens in America, or simply a book that's so candid, funny, and inspiring you won't be able to put it down, Never Silent is a timely must-read." Hillary Rodham Clinton"In this moving and compassionate book, one of the heroes of our recent history looks back on the brilliant brashness of his youth with a wisdom won through unexpected survival. Gay men of my generation owe ACT UP our lives; with his riveting memoir, Peter Staley offers a vital account of how activism transformed fear, desperation, and rage into power." Garth Greenwell, author of Cleanness and What Belongs to You" Never Silent is a gorgeous book, or rather it's several gorgeous books all at once. It's the clear-eyed, at times shockingly honest, very funny, wildly sexy, and enormously moving memoir of one of the most important activists of our times. It's an incisive, precise, and revelatory insider's history of ACT UP and of the protean role the group played in reframing the global medical, social, and political response to AIDS. And, with his remarkable combination of radical daring, intellectual rigor and an ethically grounded pragmatism; with his capacity for joy, even in the midst of tragedy; with his breathtaking confidence that justice will come for those who fight for it, Peter Staley has written an electrifying primer for anyone who's thinking/worrying/wondering about how to change/save the world." Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize--winning playwright of Angels in America" Never Silent is a reminder of the power of organizing to create change, a testament to fighting for what you know to be true even when you might stand alone, and a story that will inspire future activists to keep bending that moral arc toward justice. Staley's journey within a life-saving movement is simply a must-read." DeRay Mckesson, cofounder of Campaign Zero and author of On the Other Side of Freedom"Staley is the best kind of guide to this history, particularly in relating the science behind AIDS treatment in common terms. Equally charming and even-handed, this is one story on the queer underdogs who roused a country from its indifference that should enter the AIDS canon." The Washington Blade Online"A cleareyed, hard-earned, even affectionate recollection of a valiant fight against AIDS and bigotry." Kirkus Reviews"Should be required reading for anyone who teaches social movements, public health history, the history of HIV and AIDS, or late 20th century American history." Nursing ClioTable of Contents1. Wall Street Catharsis 2. Troublemaker 3. President Staley 4. 7 Nights, 8 Men 5. Innocence Lost 6. Searching for ACT UP 7. Fundraising and Fucking 8. Unleased 9. AZT 10. “You can all now consider yourselves members of ACT UP” 11. A Feelgood Condom 12. Breakthrough 13. Survivor’s Guilt 14. Fighting Tina 15. Dallas Buyers Club 16. Fighting On Epilogue

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Book SynopsisWhen Paul Lisicky arrived in Provincetown in the early 1990s, he was leaving behind a history of family trauma to live in a place outside of time, known for its values of inclusion, acceptance, and art. In this idyllic haven, Lisicky searches for love and connection and comes into his own as he finds a sense of belonging. At the same time, the center of this community is consumed by the AIDS crisis, and the very structure of town life is being rewired out of necessity: What might this utopia look like during a time of dystopia? Later dramatizes a spectacular yet ravaged place and a unique era when more fully becoming one's self collided with the realization that ongoingness couldn't be taken for granted, and staying alive from moment to moment exacted absolute attention. Following the success of his acclaimed memoir, The Narrow Door, Lisicky fearlessly explores the body, queerness, love, illness, community, and belonging in this masterful, ingenious new book.

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Book SynopsisFrom New York Times bestselling author Naomi Wolf, Outrages explores the history of state-sponsored censorship and violations of personal freedoms through the inspiring, forgotten history of one writer’s refusal to stay silenced. Newly updated, first North American edition--a paperback original In 1857, Britain codified a new civil divorce law and passed a severe new obscenity law. An 1861 Act of Parliament streamlined the harsh criminalization of sodomy. These and other laws enshrined modern notions of state censorship and validated state intrusion into people’s private lives. In 1861, John Addington Symonds, a twenty-one-year-old student at Oxford who already knew he loved and was attracted to men, hastily wrote out a seeming renunciation of the long love poem he’d written to another young man. Outrages chronicles the struggle and eventual triumph of Symonds—who would become a poet, biographer, and critic—at a time in British history when even private letters that could be interpreted as homoerotic could be used as evidence in trials leading to harsh sentences under British law. Drawing on the work of a range of scholars of censorship and of LGBTQ+ legal history, Wolf depicts how state censorship, and state prosecution of same-sex sexuality, played out—decades before the infamous trial of Oscar Wilde—shadowing the lives of people who risked in new ways scrutiny by the criminal justice system. She shows how legal persecutions of writers, and of men who loved men affected Symonds and his contemporaries, including Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Walter Pater, and the painter Simeon Solomon. All the while, Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass was illicitly crossing the Atlantic and finding its way into the hands of readers who reveled in the American poet’s celebration of freedom, democracy, and unfettered love. Inspired by Whitman, and despite terrible dangers he faced in doing so, Symonds kept trying, stubbornly, to find a way to express his message—that love and sex between men were not “morbid” and deviant, but natural and even ennobling. He persisted in various genres his entire life. He wrote a strikingly honest secret memoir—which he embargoed for a generation after his death—enclosing keys to a code that the author had used to embed hidden messages in his published work. He wrote the essay A Problem in Modern Ethics that was secretly shared in his lifetime and would become foundational to our modern understanding of human sexual orientation and of LGBTQ+ legal rights. This essay is now rightfully understood as one of the first gay rights manifestos in the English language. Naomi Wolf’s Outrages is a critically important book, not just for its role in helping to bring to new audiences the story of an oft-forgotten pioneer of LGBTQ+ rights who could not legally fully tell his own story in his lifetime. It is also critically important for what the book has to say about the vital and often courageous roles of publishers, booksellers, and freedom of speech in an era of growing calls for censorship and ever-escalating state violations of privacy. With Outrages, Wolf brings us the inspiring story of one man’s refusal to be silenced, and his belief in a future in which everyone would have the freedom to love and to speak without fear.Trade Review“A heartbreaking, eye-opening book . . . Outrages is revelatory in the way it brings together sometimes unbearably painful personal narratives with political and literary history…[a] remarkable book.”—Harper’s Bazaar“A remarkable and moving work.”—Larry Kramer, author of Faggots and The Normal Heart“With precision and sensitivity, Naomi Wolf traces how the state came to police the private sphere; she brings into the light the lives of those whose resistance to this brutality was a beacon for the future. Outrages is a remarkable, revelatory book.”—Erica Wagner, author of Chief Engineer: The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge“Outrages is a fascinating history book with a cast of characters and an epic sweep that make it read like a novel Charles Dickens could have written, if he had ever written one about queers.”—New York Journal of Books“In Outrages, Naomi Wolf reveals a largely forgotten history of how science, law, and culture have intersected to suppress and silence sexual expression. As expanding acceptance threatens to erase a history of LGBTQ marginalization and struggle—and as we descend into authoritarian rule across so many countries—this is an important, powerful tale.”—Shahid Buttar, marriage equality activist and attorney“[A] long-overdue literary investigation into censorship and the life of a tormented trailblazer, a prescient father of the modern gay rights movement.”—Oprah Magazine“[This] remarkable book is a tour de force of research and insight into Symonds’ life and work and the related evolution of public and state attitudes toward homosexuality. [Wolf’s] is an essential contribution not only to queer history but also to studies of nineteenth-century culture. It is not to be missed.”—Booklist, starred review“Wolf provides engrossing accounts of Whitman and Symonds, yet her story is even more compelling in its wider portrait of the societies and institutions in America as well as England that served to shape the fears and prejudices that have lingered into our modern age. An absorbing and thoughtfully researched must-read for anyone interested in the history of censorship and issues relating to gay male sexuality.”—Kirkus Reviews“This ambitious literary, biographical, and historical treatise from Wolf (The Beauty Myth) examines both 19th-century Britain’s persecution of gay men and the work and life of the relatively obscure gay writer John Addington Symonds (1840–1893) . . . a fascinating look at this period and these writers.”—Publishers Weekly

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Book SynopsisFeaturing deep dives into thirst traps, drag queens, Antonio Banderas, and telenovelas—all in the service of helping us reframe how we talk about (desiring) men—this insightful memoir-in-essays is as much a coming of age as a coming out bookManuel Betancourt has long lustfully coveted masculinity—in part because he so lacked it. As a child in Bogotá, Colombia, he grew up with the social pressure to appear strong, manly, and, ultimately, straight. And yet in the films and television he avidly watched, Betancourt saw glimmers of different possibilities. From the stars of telenovelas and the princes of Disney films to pop sensation Ricky Martin and teen heartthrobs in shows like Saved By the Bell, he continually found himself asking: Do I want him or do I want to be him?The Male Gazed grapples with the thrall of masculinity, examining its frailty and its attendant anxieties even as it focuses on its erotic potential. Masculinity, Betancourt suggests, isn’t suddenly ripe for deconstruction—or even outright destruction—amid so much talk about its inherent toxicity. Looking back over decades’ worth of pop culture’s attempts to codify and reframe what men can be, wear, do, and desire, this book establishes that to gaze at men is still a subversive act.Written in the spirit of Hanif Abdurraqib and Olivia Laing, The Male Gazed mingles personal anecdotes with cultural criticism to offer an exploration of intimacy, homoeroticism, and the danger of internalizing too many toxic ideas about masculinity as a gay man.

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Book SynopsisSpawning Generations is a collection of stories by queerspawn (people with LGBTQ+ parents) spanning six decades, three continents, and five countries. Curated by queerspawn, this anthology is about carving out a space for queerspawn to tell their own stories. The contributors in this volume break away from the pressures to be perfect, the demands to be well adjusted, and the need to prove that they turned out “all right.” These are queerspawn stories, airbrushed for no one, and told on their own terms.Trade ReviewThoughtfully curated by co-editors who identify as queerspawn themselves, this astute anthology highlights stories by people with LGBTQ+ parents ready to share their experiences without glossing over the complexities of family, truth, community, and culture. Spawning Generations deftly demonstrates how authentic voices emerge when queerspawn have the opportunity to speak for themselves.- Abigail Garner, Author of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is // This groundbreaking book provides a lovely and personal entry into the world of queerspawn. As both a queerspawn and queer parent, I felt real gratitude to these brave writers for sharing their stories—they provide insight into my own life as well as parenting guideposts. - Shoshana Magnet, Associate Professor, Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa // Queerspawn answer, on their own terms, the litany of questions proposed to them by friends, co-workers, strangers, as well as anyone and everyone who have asked what it’s like to be raised by queer parents. Sometimes these questions are asked in genuine and loving ways, but too often, they are voyeuristic, titillating, and upsetting. They don’t want to be your circus sideshow, your poster child, or your role model. They have claimed the pages of Spawning Generations to share their complicated stories of playgrounds, potlucks, pride marches, secrets, family, dancing, desire, mourning, and an intimate view of the best and worst of queer culture. -Karleen Pendleton Jiménez, Author of How to Get a Girl Pregnant // The highs and lows of growing up in queer families - Now Toronto // Kids of same-sex parents need to tell their own stories - Toronto StarTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction: Finding Each Other Makeda Zook and Sadie Epstein-Fine I. BEGINNINGS Rainbow Kid: Rants and Reflections Liam Sky Spawn Gabriel Back-Gaal Gathering Voices: An Interview Project with Young Adults Raised in Queer Families Sammy Sass 1986 Kellen Kaiser spawning generations My Life as a Play Micah Champagne Insider/Outsider: Breaking the Boundaries of Heteronormativity Cyndi Gilbert Closets of Fear, Islands of Love: Coming of Age in the 1980s Niki Kaiser, Carey-Anne Morrison, and Lorinda Peterson (Illustrator) The Love of the Princess: The Kids Really Are Alright Felix Munger Sweating the Gay Stuff: The Toaster Oven Tradition Sadie Epstein-Fine II. MIDDLES Eighteen: My First Year as a Grownup Queer(spawn) Devan Wells A Homophobe at Body Electric Christopher Oliphant Glitter in the Dishwasher Morgan Baskin Leslie’s Girl Jessica Edwards Roots and Rainbows Aviva Gale-Buncel Did I Make My Mother Gay? Meredith Fenton Gayby Baby: In Conversation with Filmmaker Maya Newell Maya Newell, Makeda Zook, and Sadie Epstein-Fine Don’t Leave Me This Way Suzanne Phare III. ENDINGS Jannit’s Pink Lesbian Kitchen Hannah Rabinovitch My Moms Are Getting Gay Married, But I Won’t Be There Kimmi Lynne Moore If You’re Gay, What Am I? Elizabeth Collins We Are Made of Generations Jamie Bergeron Watching Roseanne Dori Kavanagh Resistance, Like Leather, Is a Beautiful Thing Lisa Deanne Smith In Between Heart and Break Makeda Zook About the Contributors About the Editors

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Book SynopsisQueer parenthood: It's multifaceted. It's complex. And it is constantly changing, as laws and culture shift around us. What's in a Name? reflects on this complexity through the voices of nonbiological/non-gestational queer mothers/parents who explore our experiences parenting across our different social and familial locations. The authors have all taken different routes to parenting, live in different countries, and understand our relationships to parenting through our own personal experiences. What we share is a commitment to parenting beyond the limits of biology, and of building families that are drawn together and maintained by the love and labour of parenting.The fifteen essays in this book address three key moments in our parenting journeys. First, we examine the routes we took to parenting, with many of us specifically focusing on the experience of being the "other" mother while our partners were pregnant, and the particular fears, anxieties, and triumphs that come with it. Second, we locate ourselves "in the thick of it" as parents, where the experiences shared among parents are colored by our particular experiences as nonbiological/non-gestational mothers/parents. Finally, we reflect on our identities, including the identity of "mother," and how those grow, shift, and develop throughout our parenting journeys.

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