LGBTQ+ Resources

A fresh and brilliantly told memoir from a cult favorite comic artist, marked by gothic twists, a family funeral home, sexual angst, and great books. This breakout book by Alison Bechdel is a darkly funny family tale, pitch-perfectly illustrated with Bechdel's sweetly gothic drawings. Like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, it's a story exhilaratingly suited to graphic memoir form. Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books. When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescense, the denouement is swift, graphic -- and redemptive.

Originally published in French as Le bleu est une couleur chaude, Blue is the Warmest Color is a graphic novel about growing up, falling in love, and coming out. Clementine is a junior in high school who seems average enough: she has friends, family, and the romantic attention of the boys in her school. When her openly gay best friend takes her out on the town, she wanders into a lesbian bar where she encounters Emma: a punkish, confident girl with blue hair. Their attraction is instant and electric, and Clementine find herself in a relationship that will test her friends, parents, and her own ideas about herself and her identity. Vividly illustrated and beautifully told, Blue Is the Warmest Color is a brilliant, bittersweet, full-color graphic novel about the elusive, reckless magic of love. It is a lesbian love story that crackles with the energy of youth, rebellion, and desire. First published in French by Glenat, the book has won several awards, including the Audience Prize at the Angouleme International Comics Festival, Europe's largest.

Betrayed, beaten, and banished by his own, an outed cop fights his wayacross Jamaica to save his man and get revenge! Virgil thought he was safe onthe police force, but his gun and his attitude can't protect him from his ownsecret - he's gay. For thirty years he's had two lives. In the uniform he's thetoughest on the street. Out of uniform he's a loving boyfriend. But when his ownprecinct turns on him, his worlds explodes. They put his name in the paper,raided his house, and took his lover. They left him bleeding in the ocean. Theyshouldn't have left him alive. Virgil is the next era of exploitation, following in the steps ofShaft and Django Unchained. Hard hitting crime noir given a freshface but the same busted knuckles.

2019, Texas Library Association's Maverick GraphicNovel Reading List Amazon BookReview's Best Comics & Graphic Novels of2018 NPR's Best Books of2018 Newsweek's Best Comic Books of2018 The Advocate's Best LGBTQGraphic Novels of 2018 Book Riot'sBest Comics of 2018 Autostraddle's50 of the Best LGBT Books of2018 When Hazel Johnson and Mari McCraymet at church bingo in 1963, it was love at first sight. Forced apart by theirfamilies and society, Hazel and Mari both married young men and had families.Decades later, now in their mid-'60s, Hazel and Mari reunite again at a churchbingo hall. Realizing their love for each other is still alive, what thesegrandmothers do next takes absolute strength and courage. This Jackpot Edition contains over SIXTYPAGES of bonus material, including the talents of MARGUERITE BENNETT (Batwoman)and newcomer BEVERLY JOHNSON, SHAWN PRYOR (Cash and Carrie) and PAULINAGANUCHEAU (Zodiac Starforce), award-winning historical romance author ALYSSACOLE's comics writing debut with SHAE BEAGLE (MOONSTRUCK), GAIL SIMONE(CROSSWIND) and MARGAUX SALTEL (Superfreaks), and AMANDA DEIBERT (Wonder Woman'77) and CAT STAGGS (CROSSWIND), with illustrations from MEGAN HUTCHINSON(ROCKSTARS) and ARIELA KRISTANTINA (InSeXts). Plus a sneak peek of BINGO LOVE,VOL. 2: DEAR DIARY, with an afterword from GABBY RIVERA(America).

Activist-academic Meg-John Barker and cartoonist Julia Scheele illuminate the histories of queer thought and LGBTQ+ action in this groundbreaking non-fiction graphic novel. From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, Queer explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged. Along the way we look at key landmarks which shift our perspective of what's 'normal'--Alfred Kinsey's view of sexuality as a spectrum, Judith Butler's view of gendered behaviour as a performance, the play Wicked, or moments in Casino Royale when we're invited to view James Bond with the kind of desiring gaze usually directed at female bodies in mainstream media

From laser hair removal and coming out to her parents, through to dating, voice training and gender reassignment surgery, this intimate and witty graphic novel follows the character of Lily as she transitions to living as her true, female self. Providing support and guidance on a range of issues such as hormones, medical procedures and relationships, the story traces the everyday thoughts, emotions and struggles many trans and non-binary people face and seeks to empower those who are starting to question their gender as well as promoting wider discussion about the complexities of gender and identity. Based on the author's own experiences as a trans woman, this honest and powerful work is a testament to being who you are and a celebration of gender diversity.

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. A sweet and charming coming-of-age story that explores friendship, love, and coming out. This edition features beautiful two-color artwork. Now streaming on Netflix! Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.

"When a cuddly Canadian comes to call, Yaichi-a single Japanese dad-is forced to confront his painful past. With his young daughter Kana leading the way, he gradually rethinks his assumptions about what makes a family. Renowned manga artist Gengoroh Tagame turns his stunning draftsmanship to a story very different from his customary fare, to delightful and heartwarming effect." -Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo, married to wife Natsuki, father to young daughter Kana. Their lives are suddenly upended with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi's estranged gay twin, Ryoji. Mike is on a quest to explore Ryoji's past, and the family reluctantly but dutifully takes him in. What follows is an unprecedented, revelatory look at and journey into the largely still-closeted Japanese gay culture- how it's been affected by the West, and how the next generation has the chance to change the preconceptions of and prejudices against it. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout; part of the Pantheon Graphic Novel series)

A lyrical novel about family and friendship from critically acclaimed author Benjamin Alire S#65533;enz. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship--the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

This picture book is an auspicious beginning to the Alyson Wonderland imprint, 'which focuses on books for and about the children of lesbian and gay parents.' - Publishers Weekly

Sixteen-year-old Heavenly Faith Simms is slowly suffocating in the small town in which she grew up. Abandoned by her mother and raised by her loving but religiously zealous grandmother, HF has never felt like she belonged anywhere so when she finds her mother's address in a drawer, she is determined to start a new life in Florida with the mother she has never known. She and her best friend, Bo, an emotionally repressed gay boy, hit the road and head south and both awake to the realisation that there is a life awaiting them that is very different to what they have known.

A child who has 2 lesbians as mothers realizes that her family does not include a daddy.

All-girl camp. First love. First heartbreak. At once romantic and devastating, brutally honest and full of humor, this graphic-novel memoir is a debut of the rarest sort. Maggie Thrash has spent basically every summer of her fifteen-year-old life at the one-hundred-year-old Camp Bellflower for Girls, set deep in the heart of Appalachia. She's from Atlanta, she's never kissed a guy, she's into Backstreet Boys in a really deep way, and her long summer days are full of a pleasant, peaceful nothing . . . until one confounding moment. A split-second of innocent physical contact pulls Maggie into a gut-twisting love for an older, wiser, and most surprising of all (at least to Maggie), female counselor named Erin. But Camp Bellflower is an impossible place for a girl to fall in love with another girl, and Maggie's savant-like proficiency at the camp's rifle range is the only thing keeping her heart from exploding. When it seems as if Erin maybe feels the same way about Maggie, it's too much for both Maggie and Camp Bellflower to handle, let alone to understand.

This groundbreaking book, first published in 1982, is the story of two teenage girls whose friendship blossoms into love and who, despite pressures from family and school that threaten their relationship, promise to be true to each other and their feelings. From the moment Liza Winthrop meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she knows there is something special between them. But Liza never knew falling in love could be so wonderful . . . or so confusing. Of the author and the book, the Margaret A. Edwards Award committee said, "Nancy Garden has the distinction of being the first author for young adults to create a lesbian love story with a positive ending. Using a fluid, readable style, Garden opens a window through which readers can find courage to be true to themselves." The 25th Anniversary Edition features a full-length interview with the author by Kathleen T. Horning, Director of the Cooperative Children's Book Center. Ms. Garden answers such revealing questions as how she knew she was gay, why she wrote the book, censorship, and the book's impact on readers - then and now. "No single work has done more for young adult LGBT fiction than this classic about two teenage girls who fall in love." --School Library Journal

The definitive and most comprehensive book of 20th century black lesbian and gay writing ever published, this epic anthology features the work of such acclaimed authors as James Baldwin, Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, E. Lynn Harris, Audre Lorde and April Sinclair. Divided into three chronological sections, this book includes author profiles and bibliographies, plus a secondary bibliography of works by poets, playwrights, performers and activists, as well as scholarly essays that set the political/cultural/historical context for black gay literature in the US.

History professor Ned Brummel is living happily with his partner of 12 years in small-town Maine when he receives a phone call from his estranged friend Jack, telling him that another friend - Andy - is very ill and possibly near death. The news shatters his peaceful world and sends him on a 'plane to Chicago to be at Jack's side. As he boards the 'plane he sets out on another journey - a concurrent trip into memory, examining the major events and small moments that have shaped his world and his relationships with two very different, very important men.

Set in the 1950s Paris of American expatriates, liaisons, and violence, a young man finds himself caught between desire and conventional morality. With a sharp, probing imagination, James Baldwin's now-classic narrative delves into the mystery of loving and creates a moving, highly controversial story of death and passion that reveals the unspoken complexities of the human heart.

Hailed in the Washington Post as one of our most important writers in English, Jeanette Winterson has firmly established her reputation as an extraordinarily daring and original novelist. In Gut Symmetries, lives and universes run parallel in a complex contemporary love story set in New York and Liverpool, and aboard the QE2.

This collection, the first of its kind, gathers original and previously published fiction and poetry from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer authors from Appalachia. Like much Appalachian literature, these works are pervaded with an attachment to family and the mountain landscape, yet balancing queer and Appalachian identities is an undertaking fraught with conflict. This collection confronts the problematic and complex intersections of place, family, sexuality, gender, and religion with which LGBTQ Appalachians often grapple. With works by established writers such as Dorothy Allison, Silas House, Ann Pancake, Fenton Johnson, and Nickole Brown and emerging writers such as Savannah Sipple, Rahul Mehta, Mesha Maren, and Jonathan Corcoran, this collection celebrates a literary canon made up of writers who give voice to what it means to be Appalachian and LGBTQ.

In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: conservative Member of Parliament Gerald, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their two children, Toby-whom Nick had idolized at Oxford-and Catherine, highly critical of her family's assumptions and ambitions. As the boom years of the eighties unfold, Nick, an innocent in the world of politics and money, finds his life altered by the rising fortunes of this glamorous family. His two vividly contrasting love affairs, one with a young black clerk and one with a Lebanese millionaire, dramatize the dangers and rewards of his own private pursuit of beauty, a pursuit as compelling to Nick as the desire for power and riches among his friends. Richly textured, emotionally charged, disarmingly comic, this U.K. bestseller is a major work by one of our finest writers.

A landmark coming-of-age novel that launched the career of one of this country's most distinctive voices, Rubyfruit Jungle remains a transformative work more than forty years after its original publication. In bawdy, moving prose, Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Molly Bolt, the adoptive daughter of a dirt-poor Southern couple who boldly forges her own path in America. With her startling beauty and crackling wit, Molly finds that women are drawn to her wherever she goes--and she refuses to apologize for loving them back. This literary milestone continues to resonate with its message about being true to yourself and, against the odds, living happily ever after.