Timothy Findley (1930-2002) was one of Canada's foremost writers--an award-winning novelist, playwright, and short-story writer who began his career as an actor in London, England. Findley was instrumental in the development of Canadian literature and publishing in the 1970s and 80s. During those years, he became a vocal advocate for human rights and the anti-war movement. His writing and interviews reveal a man concerned with the state of the world, a man who believed in the importance of not giving in to despair, despite his constant struggle with depression. Findley believed in the power of imagination and creativity to save us. Tiff: A Life of Timothy Findley is the first full biography of this eminent Canadian writer. Sherrill Grace provides insight into Findley's life and struggles through an exploration of his private journals and his relationships with family, his beloved partner, Bill Whitehead, and his close friends, including Alec Guinness, William Hurt, and Margaret Laurence. Based on many interviews and exhaustive archival research, this biography explores Findley's life and work, the issues that consumed him, and his often profound depression over the evils of the twentieth-century. Shining through his darkness are Findley's generous humour, his unforgettable characters, and his hope for the future. These qualities inform canonic works like The Wars (1977), Famous Last Words (1981), Not Wanted on the Voyage (1984), and The Piano Man's Daughter (1995).

In The Queer Games Avant-Garde, Bonnie Ruberg presents twenty interviews with twenty-two queer video game developers whose radical, experimental, vibrant, and deeply queer work is driving a momentous shift in the medium of video games. Speaking with insight and candor about their creative practices as well as their politics and passions, these influential and innovative game makers tell stories about their lives and inspirations, the challenges they face, and the ways they understand their places within the wider terrain of video game culture. Their insights go beyond typical conversations about LGBTQ representation in video games or how to improve "diversity" in digital media. Instead, they explore queer game-making practices, the politics of queer independent video games, how queerness can be expressed as an aesthetic practice, the influence of feminist art on their work, and the future of queer video games and technology. These engaging conversations offer a portrait of an influential community that is subverting and redefining the medium of video games by placing queerness front and center. Interviewees: Ryan Rose Aceae, Avery Alder, Jimmy Andrews, Santo Aveiro-Ojeda, Aevee Bee, Tonia B******, Mattie Brice, Nicky Case, Naomi Clark, Mo Cohen, Heather Flowers, Nina Freeman, Jerome Hagen, Kat Jones, Jess Marcotte, Andi McClure, Llaura McGee, Seanna Musgrave, Liz Ryerson, Elizabeth Sampat, Loren Schmidt, Sarah Schoemann, Dietrich Squinkifer, Kara Stone, Emilia Yang, Robert Yang

The author of the acclaimed novel Scarborough weaves an unforgettable and timely dystopian tale about a near-future, where a queer Black performer and his allies join forces to rise up when an oppressive regime gathers those deemed "Other" into concentration camps. Set in a terrifyingly familiar near-future, with massive floods leading to rampant homelessness and devastation, a government-sanctioned regime called The Boots seizes on the opportunity to round up communities of color, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+ into labour camps. In the shadows, a new hero emerges. After he loses his livelihood as a drag queen and the love of his life, Kay joins the resistance alongside Bahadur, a transmasculine refugee, and Firuzeh, a headstrong social worker. Guiding them in the use of weapons and close-quarters combat is Beck, a rogue army officer, who helps them plan an uprising at a major televised international event. With her signature "raw yet beautiful, disturbing yet hopeful" (Booklist) prose, Catherine Hernandez creates a vision of the future that is all the more frightening because it is very possible. A cautionary tale filled with fierce and vibrant characters, Crosshairs explores the universal desire to thrive, love, and be loved for being your true self.

"The volume is tightly argued and well reasoned and the book is penned with humour the book could be described - methodologically, ideologically, and stylistically - as roguish. And quite delightfully so." - The Bible and Critical Theory "Stuart Macwilliam writes with charm and a high degree of epistemological and methodological awareness."- Review of Biblical Literature Using queer theory and building on feminist biblical scholarship, Queer Theory and the Prophetic Marriage Metaphor in the Hebrew Bible critiques the heteronormativity of the marriage metaphor in the Hebrew Bible, with particular reference to Jeremiah 2-3, Hosea 1-3 and Ezekiel 16 and 23. Section I explores methodological issues involved in the application of queer theory to biblical texts. It surveys the development of the core idea of gender performativity mainly in the work of Judith Butler and demonstrates how her denial of any notion of gender identity in the pre-discursive stage of development led to the perception, and sometimes the practice, of queer theory as a neo-conservative academic exercise. The Section concludes with arguments for the political potential of queer theory. In Section II the introductory chapter 3 offers an ideological theory of metaphor: metaphor is perceived as a means of both justifying and reinforcing gender performativity. In chapter 4 it is argued that the addressees of the marriage metaphor are the male citizens of Judah / Israel. This allows room for the following chapters in the Section to speculate about the implications of a metaphor that compares male citizens with the wife of Yhwh. Linguistic evidence for breakdowns in gender performativity is sought within the text of Jeremiah 1-2 by means of an anti-schema that maps the gender structure of the metaphors vehicle in relation to the tenor. Section III offers a methodology of camp derived from reader-response and autobiographical criticism. A camp performance of Ez.23.11-21 is then reported and then used as a basis for subverting the masculinist horror of the text: it reveals Oholibah both as the (self)-repulsive sex addict of the writers fascinated imagination and a powerful and defiant camp-iconic figure.

Sarah Schulman's writing is bold, provocative, and refreshingly unrepentant. First published in 1994, My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life During the Reagan and Bush Years combines critical commentary with a rich and varied collection of news articles, letters, interviews, and reports in which the author traces the development of lesbian and gay politics in the U.S. In her coverage of many tireless campaigns of activism and resistance, Sarah Schulman documents a powerful political history that most people - gay or straight - never knew happened. In her Preface to this second edition, Urvashi Vaid argues for the continued relevance of Schulman's writing to activism in the 21st century, particularly in light of the resurgence of the right in American politics. Also included is a selection of articles by Sarah Schulman for Womanews, in their original print format, with illustrations by Alison Bechdel. The book closes with an interview with the author, conducted by Steven Thrasher, especially for this new edition. It explores AIDS and homophobia during the Reagan/Bush administrations and at the dawn of the Trump era. My American History is a collection that gives voice to both the personal and political struggles of feminist and lesbian and gay communities in the 1980s. It is an important historical record that will enlighten and inform activists, as well as academics of women's, gender and sexuality studies, in the 21st century.

The needs and rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students and families are often ignored, generally misunderstood, and only rarely given priority by the school system. This book provides a practical and useful guide for school-based mental health professionals to support students, families, teachers, and administrators in the development of a safe, inclusive school environment for all LGBTQ students and families. It begins with an overview of the unique issues and challenges faced by LGBTQ students and families, including a discussion of sexuality and gender identity development within the interconnected contexts of home, school, and community. Practical steps are given for creating an inclusive school environment; implementing prevention and intervention techniques to address discrimination, bullying, and violence; and organizing effective counseling programs for LGBTQ students. These school-based efforts are then extended to working with families and communities to reinforce steps taken in the school context. An accompanying CD includes numerous handouts, sample letters, and other resources to assist the school-based mental health professional in implementing responsive and affirmative practices for LGBTQ students and families.

In this groundbreaking work, Sara Ahmed demonstrates how queer studies can put phenomenology to productive use. Focusing on the "orientation" aspect of "sexual orientation" and the "orient" in "orientalism," Ahmed examines what it means for bodies to be situated in space and time. Bodies take shape as they move through the world directing themselves toward or away from objects and others. Being "orientated" means feeling at home, knowing where one stands, or having certain objects within reach. Orientations affect what is proximate to the body or what can be reached. A queer phenomenology, Ahmed contends, reveals how social relations are arranged spatially, how queerness disrupts and reorders these relations by not following the accepted paths, and how a politics of disorientation puts other objects within reach, those that might, at first glance, seem awry.Ahmed proposes that a queer phenomenology might investigate not only how the concept of orientation is informed by phenomenology but also the orientation of phenomenology itself. Thus she reflects on the significance of the objects that appear-and those that do not-as signs of orientation in classic phenomenological texts such as Husserl's Ideas. In developing a queer model of orientations, she combines readings of phenomenological texts-by Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, and Fanon-with insights drawn from queer studies, feminist theory, critical race theory, Marxism, and psychoanalysis. Queer Phenomenology points queer theory in bold new directions.

From the bestselling and Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo's memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism Bernardine Evaristo's 2019 Booker Prize win was a historic and revolutionary occasion, with Evaristo being the first Black woman and first Black British person ever to win the prize in its fifty-year history. Girl, Woman, Other was named a favorite book of the year by President Obama and Roxane Gay, was translated into thirty-five languages, and has now reached more than a million readers. Evaristo's astonishing nonfiction debut, Manifesto, is a vibrant and inspirational account of Evaristo's life and career as she rebelled against the mainstream and fought over several decades to bring her creative work into the world. With her characteristic humor, Evaristo describes her childhood as one of eight siblings, with a Nigerian father and white Catholic mother, tells the story of how she helped set up Britain's first Black women's theatre company, remembers the queer relationships of her twenties, and recounts her determination to write books that were absent in the literary world around her. She provides a hugely powerful perspective to contemporary conversations around race, class, feminism, sexuality, and aging. She reminds us of how far we have come, and how far we still have to go. In Manifesto, Evaristo charts her theory of unstoppability, showing creative people how they too can visualize and find success in their work, ignoring the naysayers. Both unconventional memoir and inspirational text, Manifesto is a unique reminder to us all to persist in doing work we believe in, even when we might feel overlooked or discounted. Evaristo shows us how we too can follow in her footsteps, from first vision, to insistent perseverance, to eventual triumph.

This special issue asks how LGBTQ literary production has evolved in response to the dramatic transformations in queer life that have taken place since the early 1990s. Taking inspiration from "QUEERS READ THIS!"-a leaflet distributed at the 1990 New York Pride March by activist group Queer Nation-the contributors to this issue theorize what such an impassioned command would look like today: in light of our current social and political realities, what should queers read now and how are they reading and writing texts? The contributors offer innovative and timely approaches to the place, function, and political possibilities of LGBTQ literature in the wake of AIDS, gay marriage, the rise of institutional queer theory, the ascendancy of transgender rights, the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and the 2016 election. The authors reconsider camp aesthetics in the Trump era, uncover long-ignored histories of lesbian literary labor, reconceptualize contemporary black queer literary responses to institutional violence and racism, and query the methods by which we might forge a queer-of-color literary canon. This issue frames LGBTQ literature as not only a growing list of texts, but as a vast range of reading attitudes, affects, contexts, and archives that support queer ways of life. Contributors: Aliyyah Abdur-Rahman, Cynthia Barounis, Tyler Bradway, Ramzi Fawaz, Jennifer James, Martin Joseph Ponce, Natalie Prizel, Shante Paradigm Smalls, Samuel Solomon.

This groundbreaking collection explores the complexities of researching the lives of lesbian and queer women. It critically interrogates the concept of 'lesbian', especially as applied to research praxis. Who or what is a 'lesbian' and why does this category matter? How is research shaped by such categorisations and why? What does it mean for research that identities can be fluid and changing? Further, this collection examines social formation of power from an intersectional perspective in relation to lesbian and queer women's experiences, exploring complex tensions and inequalities in relation to class, race and trans identities for example. These chapters by world-renowned scholars bring together compelling accounts of research dilemmas, ethics, sensitivities and nuances that will resonate for many researchers. This book highlights how gender, sexuality and power intersect within and beyond the research project, illuminating how research can generate new questions as well as provide important insights. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies.

"Speak its Name! is a brilliant idea, brilliantly executed." - Simon Callow This collection of quotations by and about gay people is a celebration of the advances in LGBT rights over the last half-century and a demonstration of the battle against oppression and prejudice that led to them. A diverse range of people from the worlds of entertainment, sport, fashion, business, science, politics and the arts share their thoughts on coming out, equality, homophobia, love, sex, promiscuity, bullying, labels and marriage. Amusing observations by Noel Coward, Tallulah Bankhead, Quentin Crisp, Boy George and Alan Bennett are interspersed with extracts from revealing interviews with Dusty Springfield, Ian McKellen, Freddie Mercury, Clive Barker, George Michael and William S. Burroughs and diary entries by Kenneth Williams, Joe Orton, W.H. Auden and John Maynard Keynes. John Gielgud and Alan Turing's disturbing accounts of their arrests at a time when homosexual acts were punishable with a prison sentence contrast with touching love-letters from Violet Trefusis to her lover, Vita Sackville-West, King James I to his favourite, George Villiers, Marquis of Buckingham, and between Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears. Contributions by Oscar Wilde, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, John Wolfenden, Field Marshal Montgomery, Lord Arran, Margaret Thatcher, Waheed Alli and David Cameron demonstrate the enormous developments in gay rights in Britain in recent decades. Also included are the reflections of Julie Andrews, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Collins, Liza Minnelli, Eartha Kitt, Madonna, Elisabeth Welch, Grace Jones and other 'gay icons' - that select group of individuals who, regardless of their sexuality, LGBT people have taken to their hearts.

Why did Saint Augustine ask God to "circumcise [his] lips"? Why does Sir Gawain cut off the Green Knight's head on the Feast of the Circumcision? Is Chaucer's Wife of Bath actually-as an early glossator figures her-a foreskin? And why did Ezra Pound claim that he had incubated The Waste Land inside of his uncut member? In this little book, A. W. Strouse excavates a poetics of the foreskin, uncovering how Patristic theologies of circumcision came to structure medieval European literary aesthetics. Following the writings of Saint Paul, "circumcision" and "uncircumcision" become key terms for theorizing language-especially the dichotomies between the mere text and its extended exegesis, between brevity and longwindedness, between wisdom and folly. Form and Foreskin looks to three works: a peculiar story by Saint Augustine about a boy with the long foreskin; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale. By examining literary scenes of cutting and stretching, Strouse exposes how Patristic treatments of circumcision queerly govern medieval poetics.

The book explores the twenty-first novel from the perspective that it is more concerned with theological debate than we might like to think. It reads five twentieth-century writers who have written the equivalent of sermons, from the perspective of a man who was denied access to the Anglican clergy because of his homosexuality, and finds a parallel tradition of exasperation at the church's obduracy against homosexuals and determination that the church must recognize its homosexual ministers.

British Colonialism and the Criminalization of Homosexuality examines whether colonial rule is responsible for the historical, and continuing, criminalization of same-sex sexual relations in many parts of the world. Enze Han and Joseph O'Mahoney gather and assess historical evidence to demonstrate the different ways in which the British empire spread laws criminalizing homosexual conduct amongst its colonies. Evidence includes case studies of former British colonies and the common law and criminal codes like the Indian Penal Code of 1860 and the Queensland Criminal Code of 1899. Surveying a wide range of countries, the authors scrutinise whether ex-British colonies are more likely to have laws that criminalize homosexual conduct than other ex-colonies or other states in general They interrogate the claim that British imperialism uniquely 'poisoned' societies against homosexuality, and look at the legacies of colonialism and the politics and legal status of homosexuality across the globe.

This collection, the first of its kind, gathers 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-and including a mix of original and previously published work-this collection celebrates a literary canon made up of writers who give voice to what it means to be Appalachian and LGBTQ.

This book reflects on 'the political' in queer theory and politics by revisiting two of its key categories: hegemony and heteronormativity. It explores the specific insights offered by these categories and the ways in which they augment the analysis of power and domination from a queer perspective, whilst also examining the possibilities for political analysis and strategy-building provided by theories of hegemony and heteronormativity. Moreover, in addressing these issues the book strives to rethink the understanding of the term "queer", so as to avoid narrowing queer politics to a critique of normative heterosexuality and the rigid gender binary. By looking at the interplay between hegemony and heteronormativity, this ground-breaking volume presents new possibilities of reconceptualizing 'the political' from a queer perspective. Investigating the effects of queer politics not only on subjectivities and intimate personal relations, but also on institutions, socio-cultural processes and global politics, this book will be of interest to those working in the fields of critical theory, gender and sexuality, queer theory, postcolonial studies, and feminist political theory.

Motivated by the death of his partner, Adams seeks to redefine the closet as a relational construct between all people and all sexualities. The closet is explored at each stage--entering it, inhabiting it, and coming out of it--and strategies are offered for reframing difficult closet experiences. Adams makes use of interviews, personal narratives, and autoethnography to analyze lived, relational experiences of sexuality. This is a must have for scholars and students of gender studies, qualitative research, and for any reader who has felt the closet's reach.

'We don't just come out once. We have to come out continually throughout our lives. And as we grow and change and reach a newfound understanding of who we are, we come out once again in a whole new way.' Following the interconnected lives of a diverse queer community - including asexual, polyamorous, trans and autigender people - this empowering graphic novel explores the multitude of ways a person's identity and relationships can be expressed and can change over time. From Lily coming out as a lesbian after coming out as a trans woman, to Leanne embracing their genderqueer identity in later life, to Ty navigating their queerness with their autistic identity, these stories illustrate how life lived at the intersection of gender, sexuality, race and class is often a journey with many chapters. Full of love and pride - as well as tips and advice - these witty, tender and inspiring narratives prove there is no wrong way to be who you are, so long as you are being true to yourself.

This collection of essays asks contributors to take the capaciousness of the word "queer" to heart in order to think about what medieval queers would have looked like and how they may have existed on the margins and borders of dominant, normative sexuality and desire. The contributors work with recent trends in queer medieval studies, blending together modern concepts of sexuality and desire with the queer configurations of eroticism, desire, and materiality as they might have existed for medieval audiences.

It is a well known fact that our population of persons aged 65 and over are growing at a faster rate than any other demographic. Older adults are now living longer more complex lives than previous generations. Recent census data confirms the emergence of a growing, more visible older Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered (GLBT) community. In spite of the diversity that now exists in older GLBT communities, very little is known about their contemporary experiences and healthcare needs.

What is needed is a more inclusive understanding of older GLBT family and community life. As a result, this book will educate community professionals about the experiences of older GLBT adults and the issues they face within their families and communities. In particular, physical and mental health, family relationships, and individual development are explored in this textbook.

This multidisciplinary approach to GLBT aging will also benefit undergraduate students, graduate students, and academics specializing in anthropology, education, family studies, gerontology, health studies, human development, psychology, social work, and sociology. For that matter, anyone currently researching or working with older sexual communities.

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of GLBT Family Studies.

Christians who are confused by the homosexuality debate raging in the US are looking for resources that are based solidly on a deep study of what Scripture says about the issue. In People to Be Loved, Preston Sprinkle challenges those on all sides of the debate to consider what the Bible says and how we should approach the topic of homosexuality in light of it. In a manner that appeals to a scholarly and lay-audience alike, Preston takes on difficult questions such as how should the church treat people struggling with same-sex attraction? Is same-sex attraction a product of biological or societal factors or both? How should the church think about larger cultural issues, such as gay marriage, gay pride, and whether intolerance over LGBT amounts to racism? How (or if) Christians should do business with LGBT persons and supportive companies? Simply saying that the Bible condemns homosexuality is not accurate, nor is it enough to end the debate. Those holding a traditional view still struggle to reconcile the Bible's prohibition of same-sex attraction with the message of radical, unconditional grace. This book meets that need.

Recent years have seen a dramatic upsurge of interest in the connections between sexualities, space and place. Drawing established and 'founding' figures of the field together with emerging authors, this innovative volume offers a broad, interdisciplinary and international overview of the geographies of sexualities. Incorporating a discussion of queer geographies, Geographies of Sexualities engages with cutting edge agendas and challenges the orthodoxies within geography regarding spatialities and sexualities. It contains original and previously unpublished material that spans the often separated areas of theory, practices and politics. This innovative volume offers a trans-disciplinary engagement with the spatialities of sexualities, intersecting discussions of sexualities with issues such as development, race, gender and other forms of social difference.

LGBT older adults experience issues and challenges that are unique, including institutional heteronormativity, heterosexism in organizations, and homophobia among caregivers and social service providers. This book presents a diverse group of scholars, activists, social service providers, and researchers from around the globe examining current research, practices, and policies on aging among LGBT individuals. This revealing source lays out the significant challenges faced not only by this aging sexual minority population, but also for their social service providers-and those who train them. The chapters explore the Greater London area Polari Project, the adjustments made in the long-running HIV support group at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, and the Liberation Psychology workshops in Ireland for lesbian and transgendered persons. This volume can serve as an excellent teacher resource for engaging undergraduate and graduate students in various professions who will be working with older LGBT adults. This text is extensively referenced and includes tables to clearly present research. This book is a valuable source for program administrators and supervisors, human behavior researchers, psychologists and psychotherapists, social planners and policy specialists, community developers and organizers, case managers, direct service practitioners involved with LGBT communities, educators, and students. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services.