Suggested LGBT resources for children and young adults available from School Library Services

Picturebook
Combs, Betty - ABC: a family counting book
De Haan, Linda - King & King
De Haan, Linda - King & king & family
Parr, Todd - Family book
Parr, Todd - It’s OK to be different
Fierstein, Harvey - Sissy duckling
Godon, Ingrid - Hello sailor
Gree, Jennifer - Flying free
Hoffman, Eric - Best, best colours
Newman, Leslea - Felicia’s favourite story
Okimoto, Jean - White swan express
Quinlan, Patricia - Tiger flowers
Richardson, Justin - And tango makes three
Setterington, Ken - Mom and mum are getting married
Valentine, Johnny - One dad, two dads, brown dad, blue dad
Valentine, Johnny - Daddy machine
Valentine, Johnny - Duke who outlawed jelly beans and other stories
Watson, Katy - Spacegirl pukes

Non-fiction
Baird, Vanessa - No-nonsense guide to sexual diversity
Bloch, Joanne - South African gay and lesbian youth speak out
Donnellan, Craig - Sexuality and discrimination
Garner, Abigail - Families like mine: children of gay parents tell it like it is
Gray, Mary - In your face: stories from the lives of queer youth
Laws, Sophie - Pride and prejudice
Mole, Sandra - Colours of the rainbow
Snow, Judith - How it feels to have a gay or lesbian parent
Heron, Ann - Two teenagers in twenty
Levithian, David - The full spectrum: a new generation of writing about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, and other identities
That’s a family (DVD)

Older Fiction
Babcock, Joe - The boys and the bees
Bauer, Marion - Am I blue: short stories
Benduhn, Tea - Gravel queen
Burchill, Julie - Sugar rush
Chambers, Aidan - Postcards from no man’s land
Coville, Bruce - Skull of truth
Ferris, Jean - Eight seconds
Fox, Paula - The gathering darkness
Gantos, Jack - Desire lines
Gleitzman, Morris - Two weeks with the queen
Guy, Rosa - Ruby
Hartinger, Brent - Geography club
Hartinger, Brent - Order of the poison oak
Howe, James - The misfits
Howe, James - Totally Joe
Johnson, Maureen - The Bermudez
Kendrick, Mark - Into this world we’re thrown
Koja, Kathe - Talk
La Rochelle, David - Absolutely, positively not
Levithian, David - Boy meets boy
Moon, Pat - Four days til Friday
Muse, Daphne - Prejudice: a collection
Peters, Julie Anne - Keeping you a secret
Poole, Jospehine - Scorched
Purkis, Christine - Shuttered room
Reynolds, Marilyn - Love rules
Ryan, Sarah - Empress of the world
Sanchez, Alex - Rainbow high
Sanchez, Alex - So hard to say
Soehnlein, K.M - The world of normal boys
Taylor, William - Blue lawn
Walker, Alice - The Color Purple
Walker, Pete - Peter

Video
Channel 4 – Off limits : Growing up gay
That’s a family (www.newdayfilms.com)
No dumb questions

BOOKS FOR LGBT PARENTS

Families Like Mine: Children of gay parents tell it like it is by Abigail Garner (HarperCollins, 2004)
Abigail Garner was five when her parents divorced and her dad came out as gay. Growing up immersed in gay culture, she now calls herself a "culturally queer" heterosexual woman. This is a deeply personal book about gay parenting, from the perspective of grown children raised in these families.

The Guide to Lesbian and Gay Parenting by April Martin (Rivers Orham Press, 1994)
Told from personal experience, this book covers everything from choosing to become a parent to the legal and social problems gay parents may face.

Gay and Lesbian Parenting by Deborah Glazer and Jack Drescher (Harrington Park Press, 2001)
A guide for lesbian and gay parents.

The Queer Parent's Primer by Stephanie A Brill (New Harbinger Publications, 2001)
A practical guide for gay parents and would-be gay parents, discussing all of the issues involved, from finding sensitive schools to legal issues and other general parenting tips.

Same Sex Intimacies by Jeffrey Weeks, Brian Heaphy and Catherine Donovan (Routledge, 2001)
This book discusses the relationships and families that gay men and lesbians form with each other. It also discusses gay parenting, with case studies and quotes from gay parents.

RELATED ARTICLES

HISTORY

Bibliography of homosexuals in History
Compiled by Rictor Norton

History of HIV/AIDS by John Illman

Read about the Stonewall Riots
from Socialism Today #40, July 1999

Tackling Homophobic Bullying: An issue for every teacher
National Union of Teachers

Talking about homosexuality in the secondary School

EU lawmakers slam homophobia

LGBT History Month document
Talks about homophobic bullying, and the probability that Shakespeare was gay, as was Florence Nightingale.

Radio 4 programme on homophobic bullying.

STUDENTS

Do you think you might be gay?
Text adapted from the "Talking about Homosexuality in the Secondary School" book.

Coming Out to Your Parents
A brochure from FFLAG which covers in detail the issues you're likely to face when you decide to come out to your parents.

A Beginners Guide to Coming Out
Comedian and writer Simon Fanshawe has written probably the funniest, most compassionate and most perceptive guide for people who are contemplating 'coming out'. And parents, brothers and sisters, and friends will also find it most revealing.

How do I tell my Parents?
This series were inspired and written by Rose Robertson who was a pioneer in the Parents' Movement and whose insight and many years of counselling and hard work has resulted in the present pattern of nation-wide parents' organisations.

“Queerhistory”
Poster & info on young people who have lost their lives.

Girls who like boys… and girls, by Melanie Ashby.

PARENTS OF LGBT PEOPLE

PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN by Nigel Cooper

Himat Courage, a PDF document for parents of South Asian Gay Men. It explores questions and Myths about homosexuality.

Gay Family Support, useful article from an Australian site helping parents and family members cope with their loved ones sexuality.

RELIGION

Gay and Lesbian Rights: Why Humanism Cares, Rob Tielman argues that gays and humanists are natural allies.

What's wrong with being gay and Muslim?, “the Qur'anic verses usually cited as condemning homosexuality are by no means as clear or unequivocal as people imagine”. By Brian Whitaker

Same-Sex Sexual Activity and Lesbian and Bisexual Women
Article from the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project website which argues that, despite current conventional wisdom to the contrary, same-sex sexual expression has been a recognised aspect of Muslim societies for many centuries.

Sodom and the Koran, Raza Griffiths tackles the controversial question of whether a person can be gay and a Muslim, and the issues surrounding religious homophobia.

2000 Years of Church Homophobia, Peter Tatchell says Dr Qaradawi symbolises the threat that Islamic fundamentalism poses to Muslims, Jews, women and gay people

Outcast heroes: the story of gay Muslims, from Britain to Egypt gay men are stigmatised and attacked. But some are starting to fight back.

LGBT PARENTS

Myths and Facts about LGBT parents

Gay and lesbian step-parenting, In a new stepfamily at least one of you is taking on someone else's children and you may feel torn by other loyalties. Any stepfamily's challenging, but gay or lesbian relationships can face additional issues. An article by Paula Hall.

Making babies the gay way – the last taboo, a collection of personal accounts of lesbian and gay parents from many different social and ethnic backgrounds. By Nigel Cooper.

Gay.com's parenting information section, with features on various parenting issues.

Equal Marriage Rights, A lesbian couple fight on after their Canadian marriage fails to be recognised in the UK.

HEALTH

Pink Sport, weekly LGBT sports features from the PinkPaper.com

Eat Right, by Simon Johnson

Fit Tips, by the Abercrombie Boys

Ten things it's good to know about HIV, from the Puffta website

What's LGV?, by Terence Higgins Trust

Risque Sex, by Ben Savage

EMPLOYMENT

Two thirds of LGBT teachers and lecturers have experienced harassment and discrimination at work because of their sexual orientation according to a Teacher Support Network LGBT survey

Diversity Champions This is Stonewall's list of organisations that encourage diversity in their workplace.

Transsexual and transgender issues in the workplace.

Sexuality and sexual orientation in the workplace.

Workplace bullying

Thanks to Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service

What do you think of these pages email us now