Despite an abysmal "success rate," practitioners still use reparative therapy in an attempt to turn gays and lesbians straight. This text exposes the pitfalls that should be considered before gays embark on this journey that typically leads nowhere. Although homosexuality is becoming less stigmatized in American culture, gays and lesbians still face strong social, familial, financial, or career pressures to "convert" to being heterosexuals. In this groundbreaking book, longtime psychiatrist Martin Kantor, MD-himself homosexual and once immersed in therapy to become "straight"-explains why so-called "reparative therapy" is not only ineffective, but should not be practiced due its faulty theoretical bases and the deeper, lasting damage it can cause. This standout work delves into the history of reparative therapy, describes the findings of major research studies, and discusses outcome studies and ethical and moral considerations. Author Kantor identifies the serious harm that can result from reparative therapy, exposes the religious underpinnings of the process, and addresses the cognitive errors reparative therapy practitioners make while also recognizing some positive features of this mode of treatment. One section of the book is dedicated to discussing the therapeutic process itself, with a focus on therapeutic errors that are part of its fabric. Finally, the author identifies affirmative eclectic therapy-not reparative therapy-as an appropriate avenue for gays who feel they need help, with goals of resolving troubling aspects of their lives that may or may not be related to being homosexual, and of self-acceptance rather than self-mutation. Presents thorough descriptions of the various reparative therapies, contrasts these techniques with traditional therapy, and exposes the faulty theoretical bases of this form of treatment Details the author psychiatrist's unsuccessful 5-year-long therapeutic attempt to change his own homosexuality Provides essential information that gays and their parents need to know before embarking on what the author feels is a futile course of changing sexual orientation. The content will enlighten politicians and reparative therapists themselves as well Supplies an essential, informed counterpoint to the existing literature on reparative therapy

Abigail Garner was five years old when her parents divorced and her dad came out as gay. Like the millions of children growing up in these families today, she often found herself in the middle of the political and moral debates surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) parenting.

Drawing on a decade of community organizing, and interviews with more than fifty grown sons and daughters of LGBT parents, Garner addresses such topics as coming out to children, facing homophobia at school, co-parenting with ex-partners, the impact of AIDS, and the children's own sexuality.

Both practical and deeply personal, Families Like Mine provides an invaluable insider's perspective for LGBT parents, their families, and their allies.

This unique book presents lessons a straight principal-turned-professor has learned through personal experience and research with gay and lesbian high school students. It begins with a young principal acknowledging that he, nor his administrative education program, had given any thought to issues surrounding students' sexual orientation. However, when a senior in his tiny rural high school came out, the principal started down an unexpected path that would change his outlook on school leadership - and transform his practice. Presented in eight unique stories in students' own words, we experience their challenges, fears, and triumphs - and see how their schools and the people in them both helped and hurt. Through their poignant, honest, familiar, and often surprising stories, we see how these eight students navigate what Unks (2003, p. 323) calls 'the most homophobic institutions in American society'. Their stories also reveal an unexpected, yet vital lesson for educators, policy makers, and all those concerned with meeting students' needs - that being gay or lesbian in high school does not automatically lead to bad outcomes. The students' firsthand accounts, along with lessons learned by the once apprehensive principal, show that there is a much more positive, optimistic, and seldom-told story. The book challenges practicing and aspiring school leaders to: move beyond what we think we know about gay and lesbian students and see them as unique people with strengths and struggles, gifts and challenges; examine the unique context of their schools and see how one size solution doesn't fit all; understand agency, agendas, and how gay-straight alliances can benefit all students; and, summon the courage to transform our mission statements from slogans and live them everyday.

The book offers perspectives on the rights of sexual minorities in the Global South. In several countries, consensual sexual activity in private amongst persons of the same gender is still criminalized. The argument is that same-sexual relationships are 'uncultural' or 'unnatural'. In countries where anti-gay laws persist, the rights of LGBT persons are not considered human rights. The book seeks to examine the cultural and religious issues that influence anti-gay laws in juxtaposition with the need to protect the human rights of sexual minorities in the 21st century. The book adopts the following disciplinary prisms - legal, sociological, political, religious, and anthropological. There is a growing appetite for research in this area in order to advance the need for the decriminalization of same-sex sexual activity amongst consenting adults in private. The book examines the core issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. It serves as a resource for scholars in diverse fields who research this area such as lawyers, policymakers, and academics in the fields of religion, philosophy, law, anthropology, sociology, and criminology.

Winner of the 2009 Ruth Benedict Prize for Outstanding Monograph from the Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists Winner of the 2010 Distinguished Book Award from the American Sociological Association, Sociology of Sexualities Section Winner of the 2010 Congress Inaugural Qualitative Inquiry Book Award Honorable Mention An unprecedented contemporary account of the online and offline lives of rural LGBT youth From Wal-Mart drag parties to renegade Homemaker's Clubs, Out in the Country offers an unprecedented contemporary account of the lives of today's rural queer youth. Mary L. Gray maps out the experiences of young people living in small towns across rural Kentucky and along its desolate Appalachian borders, providing a fascinating and often surprising look at the contours of gay life beyond the big city. Gray illustrates that, against a backdrop of an increasingly impoverished and privatized rural America, LGBT youth and their allies visibly-and often vibrantly-work the boundaries of the public spaces available to them, whether in their high schools, public libraries, town hall meetings, churches, or through websites. This important book shows that, in addition to the spaces of Main Street, rural LGBT youth explore and carve out online spaces to fashion their emerging queer identities. Their triumphs and travails defy clear distinctions often drawn between online and offline experiences of identity, fundamentally redefining our understanding of the term 'queer visibility' and its political stakes. Gray combines ethnographic insight with incisive cultural critique, engaging with some of the biggest issues facing both queer studies and media scholarship. Out in the Country is a timely and groundbreaking study of sexuality and gender, new media, youth culture, and the meaning of identity and social movements in a digital age.

Winner of the 2010 Pacific Sociological Association Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Award

A lesbian couple rears a child together and, after the biological mother dies, the surviving partner loses custody to the child's estranged biological father. Four days later, in a different court, judges rule on the side of the partner, because they feel the child relied on the woman as a "psychological parent." What accounts for this inconsistency regarding gay and lesbian adoption and custody cases, and why has family law failed to address them in a comprehensive manner?

In Courting Change, Kimberly D. Richman zeros in on the nebulous realm of family law, one of the most indeterminate and discretionary areas of American law. She focuses on judicial decisions--both the outcomes and the rationales--and what they say about family, rights, sexual orientation, and who qualifies as a parent. Richman challenges prevailing notions that gay and lesbian parents and families are hurt by laws' indeterminacy, arguing that, because family law is so loosely defined, it allows for the flexibility needed to respond to--and even facilitate -- changes in how we conceive of family, parenting, and the role of sexual orientation in family law.

Drawing on every recorded judicial decision in gay and lesbian adoption and custody cases over the last fifty years, and on interviews with parents, lawyers, and judges, Richman demonstrates how parental and sexual identities are formed and interpreted in law, and how gay and lesbian parents can harness indeterminacy to transform family law.

From Jen Sincero, author of the New York Times bestseller You Are a Badass, comes a deliciously sexy how-to guide for any woman who sleeps with chicks (or just is curious about it)!"You can't swing a dead cat at a bridal shower without hitting a straight chick who's slept with another woman, who's thought about it, or who's ready to make the move as soon as someone breaks out the booze." Such are the incisive pearls of wisdom to be heard from straight chick and girl-on-girl dabbler Jen Sincero, author of You Are a Badass. A deliciously sexy how-to guide, it gives curious straight women the complete inside scoop on girl-on-girl action--from pickup lines and virgin jitters to threesomes, techniques, and toys. Drawing on personal experience and hundreds of interviews with straight girls who've slept with lesbians, straight girls who've slept with straight girls, lesbians who've slept with straight girls, and straight girls who've done both or neither, Sincero covers the A to Z of the experience including: -Obtaining a visitor's pass to the girls-only club -The super-huge importance of sticking your hand down your pants -The straight girl's starter kit--from nail clippers to cocktails to get her in the mood -"Gettin' Some 101"--positions, techniques, and instructional photos -"And Boy Makes Three!"--how to have a threesome that's fun for all -Suggestions for further viewing and reading and much, much more Packed with expertly toned advice that is at once laugh-out-loud hilarious and fundamentally practical, The Straight Girl's Guide to Sleeping with Chicks is ideal for any woman looking to spice things up with a boyfriend, break the ice with a best friend, or simply add a few just-in-case items to her sexual menu.

A volume in Research in Queer Studies Series Editors Paul Chamness Miller and Hidehiro Endo, Akita International University This inaugural volume of the new book series, Research in Queer Studies is a collection of memoirs or short narrative essays in which lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex or queer PK-12 teachers and/or administrators (either "out" or "not out") recount their personal experiences as a queer teachers. The authors of these stores write about significant experiences that describe how their sexual identity has shaped who they are today as teachers/administrators, by answering the following questions: In light of your sexual identity, how did you become who you are today? Why did you decide to become a teacher? What role did your sexual identity play in that decision? What kinds of significant moments, including queer issues (e.g., bullying) regarding students and/or yourself, have you experience in your teaching? In light of who you are as an individual, what do you hope to achieve and become as a queer teacher in the future?

Originally published in 1933. One of the first serious publications to deal with this subject. Contents Include: General Psychological Principles of the Problem of Homosexuality - Primary Infantile Survivals and Maternal Influence as Cause of Sexual Inversion - Homosexuality and Sensualism - Erotic Narcissism among Homosexuals - Homosexuality and Neuroticism - Homosexuality Among Women - Homosexual Biographies Secondary Infantile Survivals as Cause of Homosexuality. etc. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This international edited collection contributes to knowledge about the geographies of sexualities experienced and imagined in rural spaces. The book draws attention to the heterogeneity of rural contexts and the diversity of meanings about sexualities within and across these spaces. The collection examines four key themes. First, 'Intimacies and Institutions' focuses on how intimate relationships are governed by societal, discursive and institutional structures, and regulated by social, political and legal frames of citizenship and belonging. The chapters present historical and contemporary case studies of the constitution and management of intimate sexual lives and relationships in rural and non-metropolitan spaces. Second, 'Communities' explores how sexual identities are socially-constructed and relationally-performed in rural communities, scrutinizing the complex interplay of belonging and alienation, inclusion and exclusion, for sexual subjects and communities within rural spaces. Analyzing films, literature and interviews, the chapters examine sexuality and community, and "queer" notions of rural family and community. Third, 'Mobilities' examines movement/migration at different scales. Cross-national data provides insights into similarities and differences in rural migration and homemaking for lesbians, gay men and same-sex families. The chapters consider how movement, coming out and memories of time and place inflect home, identity and belonging for rural lesbians and gay men. Fourth, 'Production and Consumption' investigates the commodification of rural sexualities. The chapters interrogate the management of animal bodies and sexualities in industrial agriculture for consumer pleasure and commercial ends; how heterosexuality and sexual relations are transacted in mining communities; and the global commodification of rural masculine sexualities. This book is timely. It provides important new insights about ruralities and sexualities, filling a gap in theoretical and empirical understandings about how sexualities in diverse rural spaces are given meaning. This collection begins the processes of furthering discussion and knowledge about the inherently dynamic and constantly changing nature of the rural and the multiple, varied and complex sexual subjectivities lived through corporeal experiences and virtual and imagined lives.

Dapharoah69 is more than erotica. Having made a name for himself with The King of Erotica and Some Men Wear Panties, surprisingly he hangs up erotica to deliver his first full novel. Many thought his first novel would be the raunchiness he's known for. Others that have compared him to the likes of E Lynn Harris and Zane figured he'd write a book similar to Zane's Addicted. He has surprised his editor, Kevin McNeir, and his fans with a haunting story of one mother's scandal and scorn as she uses her handsome son as a pawn to get back at his father. He successfully tells the story of a transvestite. Call Her Queen Hatshepsut Excerpt: When I was seven years old, Mama and I showered together. I have never before viewed her naked body. I was curious so I asked her, Mama, what are those? Breasts, she said. You have them too. Why don't they stick out? I asked, careful not to get the plastic cap covering my perm wet. Because you're a child. You have to go through puberty. And what is that? I asked, pointing to the bushy area of her hips. A penis. A penis, Mama? She smiled. Yes. And what do I have? She pinched the little thing hanging from my groin. A vagina... Synopsis: Chess is a competitive game between two players. Each piece has its own style of moving. But what happens when a deranged woman tricks two lovers into playing the game of their lives? Hatshepsut is a confused woman. She treats people the way she wants to be treated using an eight-by-eight grid of hope and empathy. The only things missing from her life is love and the sixteen pieces it's comprised of. It's missing because she was born a man. Avarice James, Hatshepsut's mother, is an embattled plastic surgeon content on getting what she wants. Deeply rooted by the 64 squares of wickedness, two people she loved the most has castled her before she moved a pawn...the king, Kayak Burke, her son's father and her biggest rival, the rook, Rosa James, her identical twin sister. Rosa has always turned Avarice's existence into a horrid checkmate. She dressed like her, spoke her dialogue, and tarnished Avarice's reputation to achieve the unconscionable. Desperate, Rosa moves a pawn, trapping Kayak in a lustful game of sex that leads her and Avarice into unwanted pregnancies. When Avarice diagonally moves the queen across white squares, taking a bishop and Rosa castles across black squares, taking a knight, Avarice does something so explosive that it inevitably turns Rosa, Kayak, and the death of his son into the pawns they truly are. Avarice masters the game with skill and patience...She brainwashes her son, disguises him as a girl and names him Hatshepsut. Any memory of Rosa and Kayak has been eradicated...until the time is right! This account extends all racial barriers. If you have ever loved, been betrayed and lost a child this harrowing story will open your heart and cause you to search your soul and question your faith. Call her Queen Hatshepsut: Check mate!

In this narrative overview, Embser-Herbert explores the history of the policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," (DADT) the federal law restricting the military service of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. She traces the policy from its origins in the early 1990s through its evolution and implementation into law in the United States military and evaluates the impact of post-9/11 events on the military, the policy, and the ongoing debate surrounding the existence of the policy itself as lawmakers consider its repeal. Her three-part history of DADT begins with a brief look at earlier policies that preceded it, a discussion of events in 1992-1993 that resulted in the passage and implementation of the new law, and an examination of the law's impact on the military. She also compares the policy to that of other nations, such as Canada, Australia, and Great Britain, that eliminated similar restrictions as they sought ways to avoid a potential manpower shortage in their armed forces. The War on Terror has returned DADT to the public spotlight. Embser-Herbert examines U.S. experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan and what they can teach about gays and lesbians in the military. She concludes Part I with an analysis of whether the law might be repealed or overturned. Part II of the handbook provides summaries of key legal decisions, and Part III contains key documents, such as the language of the law itself and excerpts from current military regulations and training manuals. The book also includes a chronology of events, glossary of terms, and an annotated bibliography.