Evidence of Being: The Black Gay Cultural Renaissance and the Politics of Violence by Darius BostEvidence of Being opens on a grim scene: Washington DC's gay black community in the 1980s, ravaged by AIDS, the crack epidemic, and a series of unsolved murders, seemingly abandoned by the government and mainstream culture. Yet in this darkest of moments, a new vision of community and hope managed to emerge. Darius Bost's account of the media, poetry, and performance of this time and place reveals a stunning confluence of activism and the arts. In Washington and New York during the 1980s and '90s, gay black men banded together, using creative expression as a tool to challenge the widespread views that marked them as unworthy of grief. They created art that enriched and reimagined their lives in the face of pain and neglect, while at the same time forging a path toward bold new modes of existence. At once a corrective to the predominantly white male accounts of the AIDS crisis and an openhearted depiction of the possibilities of black gay life, Evidence of Being above all insists on the primacy of community over loneliness, and hope over despair.
Call Number: HQ76.27 A37 B688 2019
ISBN: 9780226589794
Publication Date: 2018-12-21
Here for It: or, how to save your soul in America : essays by R. Eric ThomasNATIONAL BESTSELLER * #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today * From the creator of Elle's "Eric Reads the News," a heartfelt and hilarious memoir-in-essays about growing up seeing the world differently, finding unexpected hope, and experiencing every awkward, extraordinary stumble along the way. "Pop culture-obsessed, Sedaris-level laugh-out-loud funny . . . [R. Eric Thomas] is one of my favorite writers."--Lin-Manuel Miranda, Entertainment Weekly R. Eric Thomas didn't know he was different until the world told him so. Everywhere he went--whether it was his rich, mostly white, suburban high school, his conservative black church, or his Ivy League college in a big city--he found himself on the outside looking in. In essays by turns hysterical and heartfelt, Thomas reexamines what it means to be an "other" through the lens of his own life experience. He explores the two worlds of his childhood: the barren urban landscape where his parents' house was an anomalous bright spot, and the Eden-like school they sent him to in white suburbia. He writes about struggling to reconcile his Christian identity with his sexuality, the exhaustion of code-switching in college, accidentally getting famous on the internet (for the wrong reason), and the surreal experience of covering the 2016 election for Elle online, and the seismic changes that came thereafter. Ultimately, Thomas seeks the answer to these ever more relevant questions: Is the future worth it? Why do we bother when everything seems to be getting worse? As the world continues to shift in unpredictable ways, Thomas finds the answers to these questions by reenvisioning what "normal" means and in the powerful alchemy that occurs when you at last place yourself at the center of your own story. Here for It will resonate deeply and joyfully with everyone who has ever felt pushed to the margins, struggled with self-acceptance, or wished to shine more brightly in a dark world. Stay here for it--the future may surprise you.
Call Number: PS3620 H6375 H44 2020
ISBN: 9780525621034
Publication Date: 2020-02-18
How to Stop Homophobic and Biphobic Bullying: A Practical Whole-School Approach by Jonathan Charlesworth; Prof Peter Smith (Foreword by)This vital teachers' guide to challenging homophobic and biphobic bullying offers unique insights to address the issue at its core. With a renewed focus on a whole school approach, it builds capacity in those who work with young people and inspires an inclusive approach in every setting. Laying out clear advice on how to recognise, stop and prevent homophobic and biphobic bullying, readers are given strategies to work with its perpetrators, bystanders and targets. The author explains how to handle disclosures regarding sexual orientation and provides advice on effective Anti-Bullying Policy referencing homophobic and biphobic bullying. Based upon the work of the UK's leading and award-winning LGBT+ anti-bullying charity Educational Action Challenging Homophobia (EACH) this book additionally explores why young people are too often reluctant to report these forms of bullying; the increasing role of the online environment and the profound impacts bullying can have well into adulthood. Written by an expert in this field, this essential guide is for teachers, youth workers, the care sector and anyone with a duty of care towards young people.
Call Number: Available as an ebook
ISBN: 1787753077
Publication Date: 2020-08-21
Real Life by Brandon TaylorLONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BOOKER PRIZE A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE "A blistering coming of age story" --O: The Oprah Magazine A novel of startling intimacy, violence, and mercy among friends in a Midwestern university town, from an electric new voice. Almost everything about Wallace is at odds with the Midwestern university town where he is working uneasily toward a biochem degree. An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends--some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness. But over the course of a late-summer weekend, a series of confrontations with colleagues, and an unexpected encounter with an ostensibly straight, white classmate, conspire to fracture his defenses while exposing long-hidden currents of hostility and desire within their community. Real Life is a novel of profound and lacerating power, a story that asks if it's ever really possible to overcome our private wounds, and at what cost.
Call Number: PS3620 A93534 R43 2020
ISBN: 9780525538882
Publication Date: 2020-02-18
The Routledge History of Queer America by Don Romesburg (Editor)From the publisher: "The Routledge History of Queer America presents the first comprehensive synthesis of the rapidly developing field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer US history. Featuring nearly thirty chapters on essential subjects and themes from colonial times through the present, this collection covers topics including: Rural vs. urban queer histories Gender and sexual diversity in early American history Intersectionality, exploring queerness in association with issues of race and class Queerness and American capitalism The rise of queer histories, archives, and collective memory Transnationalism and queer history Gathering authorities in the field to define the ways in which sexual and gender diversity have contributed to the dynamics of American society, culture and nation, The Routledge History of Queer America is the finest available overview of the rich history of queer experience in US history."
Printz Honor Book Winner of the Stonewall, Belpré and Lambda Literary Awards! Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all with an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But soon they discover that they share a special kind of friendship.
Even more!
Happy Together: Thriving as a Same-Sex Couple in your Family, Workplace, and Community by Sharon Scales Rostosky; Ellen D. B. RiggleAs more states strike down laws restricting marriage to "one man and one woman", same-sex relationships are becoming more visible and more socially accepted. Nevertheless, many couples still experience significant stress because of their same-sex status. In every life context -- family, work, neighborhood, religious communities, and in social and legal contexts -- same-sex couples have to make decisions about disclosure, how to respond to prejudice, and how to cope with negative feelings about themselves and their experiences. This book helps couples work together to identify, develop, and use their strengths and skills to successfully navigate these issues and flourish. Tough tasks like confronting prejudice will never be easy, but thanks to the stories, tools, and resources presented in this book, readers will learn to manage such situations in a positive way. Learning activities in each chapter guide couples to become more aware of the causes of stress in their relationship, and to take positive actions to strengthen their commitment. Readers will learn how to cultivate the strengths of their LGBTQ identities, assert appropriate boundaries, create supportive relationships with others, and contribute authentically to their families and communities.
Call Number: HQ76.34 R67 2015
ISBN: 9781433819537
Publication Date: 2015-03-01
Listen, We Need to Talk by Brian F. Harrison; Melissa R. MichelsonAmerican public opinion tends to be sticky. Although the news cycle might temporarily affect the public's mood on contentious issues like abortion, the death penalty, or gun control, public opinion toward these issues has remained remarkably constant over decades. There are notable exceptions, however, particularly with regard to divisive issues that highlight identity politics. For example, over the past three decades, public support for same-sex marriage has risen from scarcely more than a tenth to a majority of the population. Why have people's minds changed so dramatically on this issue, and why so quickly? It wasn't just that older, more conservative people were dying and being replaced in the population by younger, more progressive people; people were changing their minds. Was this due to the influence of elite leaders like President Obama? Or advocacy campaigns by organizations pushing for greater recognition of the equal rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people? Listen, We Need to Talk tests a new theory, what Brian Harrison and Melissa Michelson call The Theory of Dissonant Identity Priming, about how to change people's attitudes on controversial topics. Harrison and Michelson conducted randomized experiments all over the United States, many in partnership with equality organizations, including Equality Illinois, Georgia Equality, Lambda Legal, Equality Maryland, and Louisiana's Capital City Alliance. They found that people are often willing to change their attitudes about LGBT rights when they find out that others with whom they share an identity (for example, as sports fans or members of a religious group) are also supporters of those rights-particularly when told about support from a leader of the group, and particularly if they find the information somewhat surprising. Fans of the Green Bay Packers football team were influenced by hearing that a Packers Hall-of-Famer is a supporter of LGBT rights. African Americans were influenced by hearing that the Black president of the United States is a supporter. Religious individuals were influenced by hearing that a religious leader is a supporter. And strong partisans were influenced by hearing that a leader of their party is a supporter. Through a series of engaging experiments and compelling evidence, Listen, We Need to Talk provides a blueprint for thinking about how to bring disparate groups together over contentious political issues.