First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and Francis, an informa company.

This book, first published in 2000, explores the intersections of race, gender and gay identities in writings by contemporary American lesbians of colour in order to show how this subject is sometimes ignored, sometimes brutalised and is very rarely able to survive on her own terms by constructing her own identity acts of cultural revision. The author places the lesbian of colour in the context of current identity theories showing the ever-present blind spots within current theoretical paradigms, she then reads a variety of writings by lesbians of colour describing the possibilities that exist for these subjects in textual and social realities. The author shows the varied communities that threaten the existence of this subject, as well as the limits that dictate the subject's ability to create her self. By bridging Judith Butler's Gender Trouble and Gloria Anzaldua's New Mestiza she describes how lesbians of colour can survive numerous sites of hostility by constructing a positive identity within her home community through revising cultural traditions and history. After considering the power of these acts of revision, the author calls for the empowered performance of the mestiza state - the state of contradiction wherein the lesbian of colour finds herself. This book is the first to analyse creative and theoretical works by African American, Asian American, Latina and Native American communities and writers through the lens of lesbian studies. Authors include recognised figures such as Audre Lorde, Ana Castillo and Paula Gunn Allen, as well as lesser known authors like Best Brant, Natashia Lopez and Willyce Kim. It provides a corrective to Butler's empowering but essentially white vision of performing identity, so that lesbians of colour can claim their identities and remain tied to their own cultural traditions. Ultimately, the author asks for a reconsideration of the value of identity studies that articulate monolithic identities and whose analyses perpetuate what they seek to disrupt.

Taking lesbians in Singapore as a case study, this book explores the possibility of a modern gay identity in a postcolonial society, that is not dependent on Western queer norms. It looks at the core question of how this identity can be reconciled with local culture and how it relates to global modernities and dominant understandings of what it means to be queer. It engages with debates about globalization, post-colonialism and sexuality, while emphasising the specificity, diversity and interconnectedness of local lesbian sexualities.

A rich heritage that needs to be documented Beginning in 1869, when the study of homosexuality can be said to have begun with the establishment of sexology, this encyclopedia offers accounts of the most important international developments in an area that now occupies a critical place in many fields of academic endeavours. It covers a long history and a dynamic and ever changing present, while opening up the academic profession to new scholarship and new ways of thinking. A groundbreaking new approach While gays and lesbians have shared many aspects of life, their histories and cultures developed in profoundly different ways. To reflect this crucial fact, the encyclopedia has been prepared in two separate volumes assuring that both histories receive full, unbiased attention and that a broad range of human experience is covered. Written for and by a wide range of people Intended as a reference for students and scholars in all fields, as well as for the general public, the encyclopedia is written in user-friendly language. At the same time it maintains a high level of scholarship that incorporates both passion and objectivity. It is written by some of the most famous names in the field, as well as new scholars, whose research continues to advance gender studies into the future.

Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold traces the evolution of the lesbian community in Buffalo, New York from the mid-1930s up to the early 1960s. Drawing upon the oral histories of 45 women, it is the first comprehensive history of a working-class lesbian community. These poignant and complex stories show how black and white working-class lesbians, although living under oppressive circumstances, nevertheless became powerful agents of historical change. Kennedy and Davis provide a unique insider's perspective on butch-fem culture and argue that the roots of gay and lesbian liberation are found specifically in the determined resistance of working-class lesbians. This 20th anniversary edition republishes the book for a new generation of readers. It includes a new preface in which the authors reflect on where the last 20 years have taken them, and reminisce about the process of creating Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold. For anyone interested in lesbian life during the 1950s, or in the dynamics of butch-fem culture, this study remains the one that set the highest standard for all oral histories and ethnographies of lesbian communities anywhere.

'Engaging, revealing, at times simply astonishing: Anne Lister's diaries are an indispensable read for anyone interested in the history of gender, sexuality, and the intimate lives of women' SARAH WATERS 'The Lister diaries are the Dead Sea Scrolls of lesbian history; they changed everything. By resurrecting them and editing them with such loving attention and intelligence, Helena Whitbread has earned the gratitude of a whole generation' EMMA DONOGHUE When this volume of Anne Lister's diaries was first published in 1988, it was hailed as a vital piece of lost lesbian history. The editor, Helena Whitbread, had spent years painstakingly researching and transcribing Lister's extensive journals, much of which were written in an elaborate code - what Lister called her 'crypthand', which allowed her to record her life in intimate, and at times, explicit, detail. Until then, Anne Lister's lesbianism had been supressed or hinted at; this was the first time her story had been told. Anne Lister defied the role of nineteenth-century womanhood: she was bold, fiercely independent, a landowner, industrialist, traveller and lesbian - a woman who lived her life on her own terms. '[Anne Lister's] sense of self, and self-awareness, is what makes her modern to us. She was a woman exercising conscious choice. She controlled her cash and her body. At a time when women had to marry, or be looked after by a male relative, and when all their property on marriage passed to their husband, Anne Lister not only dodged the traps of being female, she set up a liaison with another woman that enhanced her own wealth and left both of them free to live as they wished . . . The diaries gave me courage' JEANETTE WINTERSON These diaries include the years 1816-1824. The second volume, continuing Anne's story, THE SECRET DIARIES OF MISS ANNE LISTER: NO PRIEST BUT LOVE, is now available.

What differences and similarities exist at work between lesbian women in various careers around the world? Lesbians and Work: The Advantages and Disadvantages of 'Comfortable Shoes' answers this crucial question, providing respected authorities presenting qualitative research methods to closely examine lesbian women's working lives. This insightful resource discusses the variability among lesbians in their experiences of and responses to workplace heteronormativity and cites the similarities among this population across geographical and national boundaries. Presented in their own words, these women's viewpoints reveal a wide spectrum of experiences-both advantages and disadvantages-of being a lesbian woman in the workplace. This book provides international perspectives on lesbians and work that can help readers making career choices to consider sexual orientation issues in choosing their career path. The book also can be used by human resource professionals as a resource to learn how to better manage sexual diversity in the workplace, provide effective training/development programs to address sexual prejudice, alter benefits requirements for employees, and avoid discrimination lawsuits. This book is a valuable resource for human resource managers, college professors in women's studies, lesbian studies, psychology and their students, and career counselors. The book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies.

Discover the courageous, vibrant similarities and differences of lesbians in East Asia How are same-sex relationships similar or different in the cultures of East Asia? Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance is a unique examination of research and vital issues involving lesbians and lesbianism in East Asia, using perspectives by academics and activists who typically are rarely published in English. Contributing experts from Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, and Korea discuss a variety of topics, including solidarity and conflicts between lesbians and feminists, identities and identity politics, lesbian lives and families, and representation in mainstream culture. Asia, because of its inherent language and cultural differences from Western society, is a location of a vast unrealized fount of knowledge about same-sex relationships and the societies in which they interact. Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance begins to fill this gap in knowledge, going beyond East-West divisions by gathering in one volume studies in Asia lesbian/queer studies of both the West and Asia. The text's emphasis is on points of connection and cooperation across the cultures within Asia and between this region and other areas of the world. Diverse viewpoints and research on lesbians in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan are presented showing issues and concerns that may be differentand often are very similarto regions beyond those borders. Topics in Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance include: lesbian rights and feminism in Korea emotional damage suffered in family, work, and school contexts, including self-denial analysis of Internet exchanges in China, highlighting those feeling that they should maintain a low profile and others showing disdain toward the lesbian lifestyle gender inequality and discrimination and their effects on self-sufficiency the effects of expectations of marriage or remaining single on economics, legal standpoints, and in school ignorance and intolerance in Korean and Japanese societies identity politics conflicts of ideas between lesbians and feminists and much more! Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance is important, illuminating reading for academics and students in women's studies, gender studies, queer/sexuality studies, East Asian studies, and activists in feminist movements.

Discover the courageous, vibrant similarities and differences of lesbians in East Asia How are same-sex relationships similar or different in the cultures of East Asia? Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance is a unique examination of research and vital issues involving lesbians and lesbianism in East Asia, using perspectives by academics and activists who typically are rarely published in English. Contributing experts from Hong Kong, mainland China, Japan, and Korea discuss a variety of topics, including solidarity and conflicts between lesbians and feminists, identities and identity politics, lesbian lives and families, and representation in mainstream culture. Asia, because of its inherent language and cultural differences from Western society, is a location of a vast unrealized fount of knowledge about same-sex relationships and the societies in which they interact. Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance begins to fill this gap in knowledge, going beyond East-West divisions by gathering in one volume studies in Asia lesbian/queer studies of both the West and Asia. The text's emphasis is on points of connection and cooperation across the cultures within Asia and between this region and other areas of the world. Diverse viewpoints and research on lesbians in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan are presented showing issues and concerns that may be differentand often are very similarto regions beyond those borders. Topics in Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance include: lesbian rights and feminism in Korea emotional damage suffered in family, work, and school contexts, including self-denial analysis of Internet exchanges in China, highlighting those feeling that they should maintain a low profile and others showing disdain toward the lesbian lifestyle gender inequality and discrimination and their effects on self-sufficiency the effects of expectations of marriage or remaining single on economics, legal standpoints, and in school ignorance and intolerance in Korean and Japanese societies identity politics conflicts of ideas between lesbians and feminists and much more! Lesbians in East Asia: Diversity, Identities, and Resistance is important, illuminating reading for academics and students in women's studies, gender studies, queer/sexuality studies, East Asian studies, and activists in feminist movements.

What constitutes lesbian identity? The term homonormativity describes current prevailing idealized assumptions about lesbian identity. This concept, however, marginalizes subgroups within the greater lesbian population. Challenging Lesbian Norms: Intersex, Transgender, Intersectional, and Queer Perspectives dynamically confronts homonormativity in lesbian communities by presenting expert multidisciplinary discussion about what is a definable lesbian identity. This text sensitively explores difficult issues about gender policing and the viewpoints in lesbian communities that hold that transgender, intersectional, and queer individuals are considered to have 'false consciousness.' Consequences of lesbian normativity, both for lesbian communities and for marginalized groups are examined through literary criticism, lesbian, feminist, and queer theories, corporeal philosophy, film, television, cultural criticism, personal narratives, public health, and field research. The issue of the authenticity of lesbian identity causes rifts between some lesbian communities and the groups that strive to be included, yet are still marginalized. Challenging Lesbian Norms directly exposes practices and beliefs within lesbian communities that lead to the assumption of the prototypical lesbian. The book courageously reveals the similarities of lesbian normative stances with other views such as Christian conservative rhetoric, and reviews the health consequences of being marginalized within the lesbian communities. This text actively challenges the foundational notion within lesbian communities that a stable, immutable lesbian sex exists. Topics in Challenging Lesbian Norms include: human physiology, the flexibility of sexuality, and biologic determinism marginalization within lesbian communities transexualism and Lesbian Theory gender and sexual identity construction, partnering practices, and issues involving queer-identified youth demystification of the gay vibe from a femme queer woman's perspective lesbian feminism, gender policing, and casting butch, FTM, and transgendered subjectivities as false conciousness representations of lesbians in television movies Native-American two-spirit women teaching transgender, and its transformative effect identity modeling inclusion of transgender and intersex individuals within the lesbian communities transgender characters in film Latina lesbians and mental health Challenging Lesbian Norms is stimulating, eye-opening reading that is perfect for activists, educators and students in LGBT and women's studies, and public health professionals.

The unseen issues of grief and discriminationlesbians becoming widows The death of a life partner poses unique challenges for lesbians. Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief reveals the touching and very personal stories of twenty-five women, including the author, who were widowed at a young age and forced to create a new life without their life partners. The book follows the widows from the time the couple met, to the time when one of the partners died, and beyond, to show how the surviving partner coped with her loss. Many lesbians feel that the intimacy felt between two women in love goes deeper than what can be experienced by heterosexual partners. Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief reveals themes common to all these women's experiences while offering practical advice about coping techniques and resources for support. The widows discuss their efforts to create funerals and memorial services, give their accounts of the overwhelming grief throughout the first two years, and explain the legal and financial discrimination they encountered. The author provides a chapter specifically for caring family and friends, another chapter for professionals working with this sensitive population, and a bibliography of helpful coping resources. Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief explores the topics of: caregivers/caretaking death and dying grief journeys the similarities and differences between lesbian and married widows the lack of support services for lesbian widows the legal and financial discrimination against lesbian widows the effect of being in or out on grief recovery the issues faced by widows in starting new relationships spirituality gay marriage Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief provides an insightful look into the grieving and recovery process, inspiring hope with the knowledge that others have survived this tragedy. This moving book is an essential resource for lesbians, friends and family of lesbians, mental health professionals, medical professionals, psychiatrists, LGBT health providers, feminist and lesbian organizations, and anyone involved with grief training programs such as hospice.

We have earned a certain place in each other's lives, and in the best of times we can rest on what we have made together. Lesbian Ex-Lovers: The Really Long-Term Relationships examines the need for the development of better understanding and more critical analysis of lesbian ex-lover relationships. This eye-opening look into the minds and hearts of women offers personal insight into the possibilities for and potential pitfalls of lesbian ex-lover relations. This book contains personal stories, fictional accounts, poetry, and theoretical analyses of the frequency and significance of ex-lovers at different stages in a relationship. Topics of interest in Lesbian Ex-Lovers include: the roles ex-lovers play in our lives ex-lovers as contexts for change and development how we continue to be influenced by ex-lovers letting go and moving on ex-lovers as current friends and family themes of betrayal and loss of faith reconstructing friendships and community the mystique of the ex-lover friend/family connections among lesbian ex-lovers Rather than totally scrap a relationship, we recycle itfrom lover to ex-lover to friend in a relatively short half-life. Lesbian Ex-Lovers is the only book in print that explores how a lesbian's ex-lovers impact her subsequent romances and lifestyle. This special collection adds a new dynamic to the current literature for and about the lesbian community. Lesbian Ex-Lovers offers advice, anecdotes, and interpretations from such authors, poetesses, and artists as: Michelle Gibson, PhDeducator and editor of Femme/Butch: New Considerations of the Way We Want to Go who says goodbye to her lover in a sad, passionate elegy Marny HallPsychotherapist, editor of the anthology Sexualities, and author of several books, including The Lavender Couch: A Consumer's Guide to Psychotherapy for Lesbians and Gay Menwho muses on the unique bonding between lesbians and their ex-lovers, lending a mystique that surrounds the lesbian lifestyle Alison Bechdelcreator of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out Forwho presents a humorous comic strip thanking her former lovers for teaching her about herself Jane Futchernewspaper reporter and author of three novelswho uses a chapter in her novel to illustrate the tensions that can occur when ex-lovers choose to remain friends, especially when those bonds provoke jealousy in both current and ex-lovers Renny Christophereducator and award-winning poetesswho expresses her love, loss, and regret in three poems about her ex-lover and much more!

Prevent victimization of sexual minority women by raising your awareness level! Trauma, Stress, and Resilience Among Sexual Minority Women: Rising Like the Phoenix is the first resource to examine trauma, violence, and stress as experienced by lesbian and bisexual women. You'll gain a better understanding of the stressors that these women experience, including the cultural/social trauma of living with homophobia and heterosexism as well as the individual traumas of verbal, physical, and sexual abuse. This book contains never-before-seen data that investigates the prevalence, impact, and meaning of traumatic experiences in the lives of sexual minority women. In Trauma, Stress, and Resilience Among Sexual Minority Women, top researchers use direct quotes and case examples to illustrate and personalize the emotional strain these women endure. Furthermore, they address constructive individual and community responses that promote resilience and healing. The information and strategies contained in this book will help sexual minority women, as well as the practitioners who serve them, understand and heal from the impact of individual and cultural trauma. This book will increase your knowledge of: developmental issues facing lesbian and bisexual youths the impact of sexual abuse history on the coming out process ethnic/racial differences in trauma among lesbian and bisexual women the prevalence and impact of traumatic experience among HIV+ lesbian and bisexual women the unique stressors facing African-American lesbiansand how they cope organized religion's approaches to homosexuality and how this impacts lesbian and bisexual women Trauma, Stress, and Resilience Among Sexual Minority Women also shows how data on same-sex domestic violence and hate crimes can be gathered and used as a tool for social and political advocacy, bringing about positive changes that can improve the lives of many lesbian and bisexual women. This book is insightful reading for mental health, health, and social service professionals working with lesbian and bisexual clients or patients, and activists and individuals who work for organizations that serve the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender communities.

"Read the words they risked everything for!"
This landmark volume collects more than a hundred years of the most important public rhetoric on gay and lesbian subjects. In the days when homosexuality was mentioned only in whispers, a few brave souls stood up to speak for the rights of sexual minorities. In Speaking for Our Lives: Historic Speeches and Rhetoric for Gay and Lesbian Rights (1892-2000), their stirring words have finally been gathered together, along with the political manifestoes, broadsheets, and performance pieces of the gay and lesbian liberation movement.
Speaking for Our Lives comprises speeches and manifestoes prompted by events ranging from demonstrations to funerals. Scholars and researchers will appreciate the brief commentary introducing each piece, which discusses the author, the occasion, and the political and social contexts in which it first appeared.
You'll find the words of a broad variety of individuals and groups, including: the Victorian humanist and crusader Robert Ingersoll key groups such as the Mattachine Society, Homosexual Law Reform Society, Gay Activists Alliance, and International Gay Association activists and educators Robin Morgan, Joseph Bean, and Dr. Franklin Kameny, artists and journalists of the movement, such as John Eric Larsen, Joan Nestle, Barbara Grier, and Jim Kepner elected officials, including Bella Abzug, Ed Koch, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Gerry Studds, Tammy Baldwin, and Bill Clinton Many of these documents have long been out of print. Speaking for Our Lives makes these noteworthy texts readily available to the broader public they deserve. This book preserves an essential part of twentieth-century history.

This groundbreaking book provides a challenging exploration of psychoanalytic ideas about lesbians and lesbianism. Based on the authors' clinical experience as psychoanalytic psychotherapists, it offers a new and thoughtful framework that does not inevitably pathologise or universalise all lesbianism. A wide range of psychoanalytic ideas are surveyed, from Freud, Deutsch and Jung to Lacan and contemporary object-relations theorists. Questions on sexual identity, sexual desire and gender identity, of transference and countertransference, and also of institutional practices in relation to training, are all critically - and stimunlatingly - addressed.

Explore affirmation and coping rituals for lesbian singles, couples, and communities! This pioneering book is a multidisciplinary compilation of scholarship addressing lesbians, the rituals in their lives, and the meaning and impact of those rituals for the women involved and the people and communities around them. It offers a diverse range of perspectives on what it means to be a lesbian, what ritual is, what it means to enact a ritual, and how we can understand lesbian ritual experiences. Lesbian Rites: Symbolic Acts and the Power of Community presents five explorations of ritual that bring forth themes of lesbian-centered social change. In Death's Midwife, Sharon Jaffe creates a narrative that illustrates the power of ritual to reconcile straight and gay, Christian and Pagan, in end-of-life situations. Next, Ruth Barrett's exploration of Dianic traditions provides a brief history of the importance of Goddess-worship to radical lesbian feminists, and uses those traditions to create life-course rituals. Marla Brettschneider's Ritual Encounters of the Queer Kind challenges notions of a static lesbian self and instead reworks Judaism and anarchist politics to propose rituals of continuous becoming. Krista McQueeney then analyzes the paradoxes of a lesbian commitment ceremony held within a gay-affirmative African-American congregation in the southern United States. Elizabeth Suter and editor Ramona Faith Oswald use exploratory survey data to examine how lesbian couples may use name changing as a strategy to claim family status. In addition, Lesbian Rites also includes two chapters that examine how lesbians have been compromised, if not harmed, by the ritualization of heterosexism and homophobia. The first is an insightful analysis of the community response to the feminist retreat known as Camp Sister Spirit. In this chapter, Kate Greene uses Mary Daly's seven patterns of sado-ritual syndrome to show how the people opposed to the camp were organized to uphold heterosexual patriarchy through an obsession with purity that defined the camp as a refuge for immorality. The second chapter on this subject reviews the editor's own experiences of being hidden and devalued at heterosexual family weddings.

Explore the broad range of healthy lesbian attitudes and behaviors in love, friendship, self-image, and society!This pioneering book makes a revolutionary assumption: that lesbian and bisexual women are normal, if not average. Instead of focusing on which family or genetic quirks might produce lesbians, these studies turn attention to describing the healthy ways lesbians interact with each other, with heterosexual women, and with society. The result is a significant exploration of uncharted territory.Lesbian Love and Relationships examines the lives of lesbian and bisexual women from adolescence to old age, addressing issues of class and race as well as sexual orientation. It encompasses theory, empirical research, and memoir on such diverse topics as physical appearance, cross-generational friendships, butch-femme issues, and lesbian sexuality. It also looks at such difficult and painful issues as lesbian domestic violence and the impact of homophobia on lesbian couples.Lesbian Love and Relationships asks personal, political, and psychological questions, including: how do young lesbians find each other? what makes successful lesbian relationships last? how does social class affect African-American lesbian relationships? what was it like growing up lesbian in the South during World War II? does "lesbian bed death" exist? This compendium offers exciting original research in a neglected field. Lesbian Love and Relationships is an essential resource for anyone interested in women's lives and sexuality as well as scholars in the field.

Help ease the secret suffering of lesbians in abusive relationships Why is woman-on-woman violence so often ignored or discounted? Intimate Betrayal: Domestic Violence in Lesbian Relationships uncovers the hidden problem of lesbians who hurt the women they love. This long-needed book brings together theory, practice, and research to suggest new and fruitful ways to understand, prevent, and treat this common problem. Intimate Betrayal provides new empirical research into the psychological and sociocultural causes of abuse. As several of the chapter authors demonstrate, neither traditional feminist theories about power nor heterosexist paradigms explain the causes, dynamics, or treatment of this problem. However, the new research presented here suggests helpful diagnostic criteria and effective treatments. Intimate Betrayal analyzes the factors that contribute to lesbian domestic violence, including: heterosexism and homophobia minority stress emotional isolation and lack of community ties revictimization of women who have previously suffered abuse The thorough literature review included reveals the paucity of attention that has been paid to this problem. Intimate Betrayal suggests exciting new models for freeing women from domestic violence, including the use of clinical and community resources and liberation theology. Community activists, counselors, and psychologists will be intrigued by the insightful analysis of the root causes of lesbian-on-lesbian violence and the valuable treatment suggestions. Researchers will welcome the new avenues it opens for additional research.

Help ease the secret suffering of lesbians in abusive relationships!Why is woman-on-woman violence so often ignored or discounted? Intimate Betrayal: Domestic Violence in Lesbian Relationships uncovers the hidden problem of lesbians who hurt the women they love. This long-needed book brings together theory, practice, and research to suggest new and fruitful ways to understand, prevent, and treat this common problem. Intimate Betrayal provides new empirical research into the psychological and sociocultural causes of abuse. As several of the chapter authors demonstrate, neither traditional feminist theories about power nor heterosexist paradigms explain the causes, dynamics, or treatment of this problem. However, the new research presented here suggests helpful diagnostic criteria and effective treatments. Intimate Betrayal analyzes the factors that contribute to lesbian domestic violence, including: heterosexism and homophobia minority stress emotional isolation and lack of community ties revictimization of women who have previously suffered abuseThe thorough literature review included reveals the paucity of attention that has been paid to this problem. Intimate Betrayal suggests exciting new models for freeing women from domestic violence, including the use of clinical and community resources and liberation theology. Community activists, counselors, and psychologists will be intrigued by the insightful analysis of the root causes of lesbian-on-lesbian violence and the valuable treatment suggestions. Researchers will welcome the new avenues it opens for additional research.

This indispensable book debunks common myths and misconceptions about the LGBTQ community while providing accurate information about LGBTQ people, their successes and shared history, and the current challenges they face in American society. This book provides readers with a clear and unbiased understanding of what it means to be LGBTQ in the United States in the 2020s. Beginning with the origins of LGBTQ identity and history, the book addresses the current status of the LGBTQ community; gender expectations and performance in American culture; transgender and non-binary identity; behaviors and outcomes associated with LGBTQ people; and, finally, diversity within the LGBTQ community. Utilizing authoritative sources and lay-friendly definitions and explanations, this work punctures myths, misconceptions, and incorrect assumptions about sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expectations and norms. In addition, it provides an illuminating record of the history of discrimination and mistreatment to which LGBTQ people have historically been subjected in the U.S. At a time when information itself is increasingly fraught in American political discourse, this book provides facts and context for the most important questions facing LGBTQ Americans, past, present, and future. Provides readers with factual, easy-to-understand information about sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender identity Confronts falsehoods, half-truths, and misconceptions about LGBTQ identity and life in the U.S. Bridges the divide between disparate sources of information about LGBTQ identity and rights in the U.S. Paints a broad narrative about sociopolitical change surrounding LGBTQ people and rights over time

Fight for the human rights of LGBT individuals with strategies from this powerful book From the intimate horror of domestic violence to the institutionalized heterosexism of marriage laws, this volume takes an unsparing look at the interconnections of prejudice and hate crimes in the lives of LGBT individuals. Bringing together original research and solidly grounded theory, From Hate Crimes to Human Rights: A Tribute to Matthew Shepard also offers fresh strategies so you can work effectively for social change. This moving, thoughtful volume begins with a friend's memoir of the murdered Matthew Shepard; this intimate glimpse is powerful testimony that hate crimes affect individuals, not just symbolic martyrs. From Hate Crimes to Human Rights drags hidden homophobia from the closet and examines it with clean, incisive intelligence. It tackles taboo topics, including: what the Bible really says about homosexuality how minority cultures sometimes foster hatred against the LGBT individuals in their midst why child welfare services don't protect LGBT youth from peer violence how internalized LGBT self-hatred can be expressed as domestic violenceHate crimes do not occur in a cultural vacuum. From Hate Crimes to Human Rights searches out the roots of hatred and suggests ways to eradicate them, drawing on economics, theology, and linguistics as well as sociology, history, and political science. Specific suggestions include: how to use language as a social and cultural change strategy what individuals and universities can do to promote human rights how to make use of the intersection of difference and tolerance to prevent hate crimes why equal treatment for LGBT individuals is a human rights issue, not a special-interest advantageFrom Hate Crimes to Human Rights provides powerful explanations of the ways hatred generates hate crimes and proposes positive action you can take to validate human rights. A Statement from the Authors One of the premises of this book is that if we want to progress from hate crimes to human rights, we must learn to respect, honor, and celebrate diversity. The chapter authors exemplify a rainbow of ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Each of us is committed to advocate for human rights and to work to end hate crime. Toward those ends, the royalties from the sale of this book will go directly to a memorial fund that has been established at Monmouth University in Matthew Shepard's honor. The proceeds from that fund will be used to support students in their preparation for human rights advocacy.

Fight for the human rights of LGBT individuals with strategies from this powerful book From the intimate horror of domestic violence to the institutionalized heterosexism of marriage laws, this volume takes an unsparing look at the interconnections of prejudice and hate crimes in the lives of LGBT individuals. Bringing together original research and solidly grounded theory, From Hate Crimes to Human Rights: A Tribute to Matthew Shepard also offers fresh strategies so you can work effectively for social change. This moving, thoughtful volume begins with a friend's memoir of the murdered Matthew Shepard; this intimate glimpse is powerful testimony that hate crimes affect individuals, not just symbolic martyrs. From Hate Crimes to Human Rights drags hidden homophobia from the closet and examines it with clean, incisive intelligence.It tackles taboo topics, including: what the Bible really says about homosexuality how minority cultures sometimes foster hatred against the LGBT individuals in their midst why child welfare services don't protect LGBT youth from peer violence how internalized LGBT self-hatred can be expressed as domestic violence Hate crimes do not occur in a cultural vacuum. From Hate Crimes to Human Rights searches out the roots of hatred and suggests ways to eradicate them, drawing on economics, theology, and linguistics as well as sociology, history, and political science. Specific suggestions include: how to use language as a social and cultural change strategy what individuals and universities can do to promote human rights how to make use of the intersection of difference and tolerance to prevent hate crimes why equal treatment for LGBT individuals is a human rights issue, not a special-interest advantage From Hate Crimes to Human Rights provides powerful explanations of the ways hatred generates hate crimes and proposes positive action you can take to validate human rights.A Statement from the Authors One of the premises of this book is that if we want to progress from hate crimes to human rights, we must learn to respect, honor, and celebrate diversity. The chapter authors exemplify a rainbow of ethnicities, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Each of us is committed to advocate for human rights and to work to end hate crime. Toward those ends, the royalties from the sale of this book will go directly to a memorial fund that has been established at Monmouth University in Matthew Shepard's honor. The proceeds from that fund will be used to support students in their preparation for human rights advocacy.

This unique book sheds new light on the most invisible members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Hidden from view by a combination of prevailing cultural assumptions and their own unwillingness to be seen, older lesbians have been consistently under-represented in both popular culture and research. This ground-breaking study, based on an unprecedentedly large research sample of nearly four hundred lesbian-identified women between the ages of 60 and 90, offers a fascinating insight into the lives of older lesbians in the UK. Drawing on data from a comprehensive questionnaire survey and illustrated with vivid personal testimonies, it explores both the diversity and the distinct collective identity of the older lesbian community, arguing that understanding their past experience is crucial to providing for their needs in the future. It is essential reading for scholars in the fields of women's studies and genders and sexualities, and will also appeal to sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, social and cultural historians, and experts in ageing, gerontology, nursing and social work.

What is lesbian beauty?Lesbians, Levis, and Lipstick: The Meaning of Beauty in Our Lives explores the many definitions of beauty among lesbians by discussing the norms they create and follow. In addition, it questions how these standards are influenced by heterosexual concepts of beauty. Here you'll find essays, poems, and research papers from women who describe some of the freeing and restrictive aspects of lesbian beauty.Lesbians, Levis, and Lipstick: The Meaning of Beauty in Our Lives examines the way lesbians define and explore the notion of beauty. Through moving, personal stories and well-represented research, this book leads the reader on a path of exploration about beauty norms and the way they liberate and confine lesbians.This sometimes humorous book is an in-depth and insightful examination of beauty practices and how lesbians use them as an expression of style and image and as a means of identifying one another. Compelling topics include: lesbians'diverse expressions and understandings of beauty the gender of a bisexual woman's partner and how it impacts her beauty routines and self-image beauty standards of older lesbians and how their views on the qualities of potential partners and on their own partners change as they age the beauty standards of lesbian and bisexual women of color pressures on lesbians to be thin and how this affects their feelings about their bodies and themselves feminism and its potential role in protecting women from eating disorders and negative body imagePersonal, intelligent, and informative, Lesbians, Levis, and Lipstick gives you insight into the meanings of lesbian beauty. Emphasizing strength, confidence, and self-acceptance as attractive qualities, this uplifting book will help you realize your own beauty and give you a new freedom to experiment with fresh expressions of it.