Several great books have been written for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning community and their Allies (LGBTQA). Preview them here:
Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds
by Judy Grahn
Beautifully blending cultural history with autobiography, Another Mother Tongue is a fascinating recovery and celebration of LGBT culture. Judy Grahn’s award-winning book – now in an expanded edition – uses personal memories, etymology, legend, and recent and ancient history to explore the importance and meaning of lesbian and gay life. Grahn was a member of the Gay Women’s Liberation Group, the first lesbian-feminist collective on the West Coast, founded in 1969. The group established the first women’s bookstore as well as the first all-woman press.
Current Research on Bisexuality
by Ronald Fox
Current Research on Bisexuality provides new knowledge of the life experiences of bisexual people. With this book, you’ll find a basis for further research and education about bisexuality in the greater context of ongoing research, education, and advocacy regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. The authors provide research findings and case studies that add to our understanding of bisexual identity, bisexuality and relationships, bisexuality and ethnicity, and attitudes toward bisexual people. This book examines research findings, literature reviews, and a wealth of resources that currently exist on bisexuality and bisexual issues.
Health Care Without Shame: A Handbook for the Sexually Diverse and Their Caregivers
by Charles Moser
This book is a really outstanding source for doctors, counselors, therapists, as well as patients/clients who have experienced difficulties communicating their sexual problems to their health care provider. Moser’s unique education (Phd in sexology as well as a MD), vast research experience, and knowledge in sexual minorities make him the most qualified individual in the field to write this book. The text is short and sweet, to the point, informative, and draws upon Moser’s experience as a physician specializing in sexual medicine. – Amazon review
Sexual Intimacy for Women: A Guide for Same-Sex Couples
by Glenda Corwin
Sexual Intimacy for Women helps female couples examine the emotional, physical, and psychological aspects of their relationships, with the goal of creating more intimacy. Exercises and client-based anecdotes from Dr. Corwin’s years of experience with same-sex couples help women overcome common issues around orgasm, body image, identity, aging, and parenthood. Dr. Corwin dispels myths, examines the intricacies of female desire, and gives advice to help couples achieve long-lasting, healthy, and fulfilling relationships.
She’s Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband
by Helen Boyd
Helen Boyd’s husband, who had long been open about being a cross-dresser, was considering living as a woman full time. Suddenly, Boyd was confronted with the reality of what it would mean if her husband were actually to become a woman — socially, legally, and medically. Would Boyd love and desire her partner the same way? Boyd’s first book, My Husband Betty, explored the relationships of cross-dressing men and their partners. Now, She’s Not the Man I Married is both a sequel and a more expansive examination of gender in relationships. It’s for couples who are homosexual or heterosexual, and for readers who fall anywhere along the gender continuum. As Boyd struggles to understand the nature of marriage, passion, and love, she shares her confusion and anger, providing a fascinating observation of the ways in which relationships are gendered, and how we cope, or don’t, with the emotional and sexual pressures that gender roles can bring to our marriages and relationships.
The Rest of the Way: Healing Barriers Between Gays, Lesbians, and Their Parents
by Enid Duchin Jackowitz
This book is for kids and parents who are coming out. In this second edition of The Rest of the Way, psychotherapist Enid Duchin Jackowitz has included two sets of Questions for Reflection at the end of each chapter. There is one set of questions for parents, and one for gay sons and daughters to help encourage understanding and initiate a dialogue. Sprinkled with compelling stories and insights the book recounts Enid’s journey of self-discovery that led her to unconditional acceptance of her gay son in a most genuine and heartfelt way. The book, both provocative and thought provoking, offers keen observations in the struggle parents often face when coming to terms with having a gay child.
The Soul Beneath the Skin: The Unseen Hearts and Habits of Gay Men
by David Nimmons
[David] Nimmons, president of New York’s Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, radically reinterprets gay sexuality, intimate relationships and self-image. Using a wide range of scientific surveys, anthropological studies, philosophical inquiries and personal observation and anecdotes, Nimmons argues that gay male culture is arranged around highly ethical behaviors that value the needs and health of both the individual and the community. These values, he argues, are enacted through a wide range of sexual practices and unconventional couplings (from one-hour tricks to open long-term relationships), and are manifested in the community-building that has accompanied the AIDS epidemic, as well as the broad range of mentoring relationships between gay men. Noting that “gay relationships are distinct from heterosexual relationships in that they are frequently based on expectations of equality, reciprocity, and autonomy,” Nimmons also examines how gay men’s relationships with women could present a model for heterosexual men as well. – Publisher’s Weekly
The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man’s World
by Alan Downs
Today’s gay man enjoys unprecedented, hard-won social acceptance. Despite this victory, however, serious problems still exist. Substance abuse, depression, suicide, and sex addiction among gay men are at an all-time high, causing many to ask, “Are we really better off?” Drawing on contemporary research, psychologist Alan Downs’s own struggle with shame and anger, and stories from his patients, The Velvet Rage passionately describes the stages of a gay man’s journey out of shame and offers practical and inspired strategies to stop the cycle of avoidance and self-defeating behavior. Updated to reflect the effects of the many recent social, cultural, and political changes, The Velvet Rage is an empowering book that has already changed the public discourse on gay culture and helped shape the identity of an entire generation of gay men.
Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman
by Leslie Feinberg
Leslie Feinberg has been a leader in the transgender rights movement as long as such a movement has existed. This book is both deeply personal and widely researched. Feinberg examines perceptions of the body, the status of clothing, and the structures of societies that welcome or are threatened by gender variance. The portrait gallery that closes the book contains photographs and capsule biographies of contemporary transgendered people.
True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism–For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and Helping Professionals
by Mildred L. Brown and Chloe Ann Rounsley
Filled with wisdom and understanding, this groundbreaking book paints a vivid portrait of conflicts transsexuals face on a daily basis–and the courage they must summon as they struggle to reveal their true being to themselves and others. True Selves offers valuable guidance for those who are struggling to understand these people and their situations. Using real life stories, actual letters, and other compelling examples, the authors give a clear understanding of what it means to be transsexual. They also give other useful advice, including how to deal compassionately with these commonly misunderstood individuals–by keeping an open heart, communicating fears, pain and support, respecting choices