My Queer Trans Library

A library of my recs and reviews of queer fiction, non-fiction, tv, comics, and more. [no longer updating]

[buzzfeedlgbt]

The national conversation about trans identity and community tends to focus on the newest crop of trans youth. But why don’t we hear about older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals who manage to overcome the at times seemingly impossible odds and survive — and thrive — in America?

Photographer Jess Dugan’s latest project To Survive on This Shore aims to bring attention to those voices. For over five years, Dugan and social worker Vanessa Fabbre have traveled across the United States photographing and interviewing older trans and gender-nonconforming individuals to ensure their stories, largely untold, are finally shared.  See more here (x)

[givemearmstopraywith]

marsha p. johnson and sylvia rivera, founders of STAR and the first pride parades, in 1989

happy pride month! the stonewall uprising was a riot started by trans women of colour against police brutality. support black lives. support trans lives. love fiercely. throw bricks. acab.

[romickey]

#blacktranslivesmatter

This would matter any time of the year, but especially on this first day of Pride month, show up for your black lgbt sisters, brothers, and siblings. Show them they are not alone, unloved, or forgotten.

This was one fund that was linked on the black lives matter webpage list. I donated to it, but I’m sure there are many others out there as well:

gofundme.com/f/homeless-black-trans-women-fund?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet

(And because tumblr is a bad social media platform, you’ll have to copy and paste the link yourself.)

edit: fyi, the black lives matter tag is being blocked.

[feministism]

by actrvist on instagram

[queertransrecs]

One From the Vaults

Format: Podcast Created by: Morgan M Page Started: 2015 Short: fantastically researched podcast about trans history. A great way to learn, one fascinating person’s life at a time.

[queertransrecs]

When Aidan Became A Brother

Format: Picture Book Written by: Kyle Lukoff Illustrated by: Kaylani Juanita Published: 2019 (Lee & Low) Short: Just the trans children’s book you’ve been looking for. Aidan is a young trans boy who is excited about the arrival of a new sibling, but he’s worried that his family will expect the baby to be someone they’re not, the way that he was expected to be a girl when he wasn’t. Not only a perfect children’s book about being trans, but a great way of addressing the dilemma of gendering a newborn baby for cis and trans people of any age. Highly recommend.

[queertransrecs]

Carry On

Format: YA Novel (+ Sequels) By: Rainbow Rowell Published: 2015 (St. Martin’s Press) Short: An absolutely phenomenal book that effectively blasted me out of my reading slump. A parody/homage to every Chosen One story, specifically Harry Potter and HP fanfic (and I suspect even more specifically Drarry fic) this book delivers everything you’d want from that premise. I was in a reading slump when I picked this up, and while I was intimidated by how many pages there were (~500), I quickly forgot all about that: Carry On reminded me what it was like to fall in love with a book, and why I love reading in the first place. Equal parts funny and serious (and also very gay), this is a must read for YA fans. Even better, the sequel just came out, and the author is planning even more books for this fantastic series.

[queertransrecs]

The Family Stone (2005)

Format: Film Written and Directed by: Thomas Bezucha Accessibility: English and Spanish CC

Summary: The Family Stone is a movie I have to watch each holiday season, and every year it astounds me with how phenomenally written it is. I assure you, this is absolutely no generic Hallmark-style Christmas movie, no matter how much that poster makes it look like it. And to cap it off, it has a dash of queer in it too.

Sarah Jessica Parker’s character is meeting her boyfriend’s family for the first time at Christmas, and her uptight personality clashes with their jokester attitudes until she is forced to let go a little and embrace her true, weird self. Running through the comedic elements is a storyline of love and loss as a tight-knit family prepares to move forward without one of their most beloved members. It is such a good movie yo. The family painted on the screen feels lived in, organic and cozy, and the dialogue is that natural kind of impeccable. Every emotional moment hits perfectly - not too strong and not too serious, unless it needs to be. 

The writer/director Thomas Bezucha is gay, and that shows not only in the character of one of the sons, Thaddeus, who is gay, deaf, and about to adopt a child with his partner, but also I suspect in the omission of any kind of objectification of women in this film. That is so common in so many movies that often I don’t even see it, but this re-watch I found myself noticing and appreciating its lack. None of that Hollywood boy’s club nonsense here - just good storytelling. Give it a try this holiday season - it might become one of your new favorites. 

(Also - while this movie is set around Christmas, it’s not really about Christmas at all, so even if you’re not into the actual holiday I think you will still like it.)

CW: getting high (light), a parent with breast cancer 

[queertransrecs]

“Decolonizing Queerness in the Philippines” by Trinidad Escobar

A super interesting, informative, and quick read, this graphic article from the Nib discusses Baybayin, the ancient pre-colonial writing system of the Tagalog people of the Philippines, and how reclaiming it works hand in hand with reclaiming pre-colonial respect and understanding of queer people. A fascinating read, especially if you are like me and have a nerdy love for socio-linguistics!!

Because tumblr is so stupid that its own “article” post type doesn’t work with its system, here is the link to the article: thenib.com/decolonizing-queerness-in-the-philippines

[thekuthicollective]

It’s been said before but we really need to normalise the idea of not having been in a relationship / having sex / dating before your 20’s because it is literallyyyy so young and it absolutely doesn’t make anyone weird for not having had that experience before so I don’t understand why we get off shaming people for something so common

[5alarmfiresign-deactivated20240]

That feeling you get when you think a book is gay but you aren’t really sure until the author smacks you in the face with how right you were

[queertransrecs]

The House of Hades (The Heroes of Olympus Series #4)

Format: novel in a series By: Rick Riordan Published: 2013 (Disney Hyperion) Summary: the fourth book in the second Percy Jackson book series, all centering on modern Greek/Roman mythologies, The House of Hades is the first of Rick Riordan’s extremely popular middle-grade books to have a character come out as gay. This was a huge moment, as children’s lit has traditionally been hesitant to publish about queer characters - worried about parental backlash, I suppose. Even now there are very few examples to point to; compared to the openly queer-friendly ya market there is an obvious gap.

When I read this series as a kid, I was so happy to see that there was not only a gay character, but that that character was my favorite character - Nico. I related to him so much, and I know many other kids do too. His coming out was very difficult for him, but he was also shown immediate support from all of his friends, and that’s exactly the kind of representation a kid’s book needs.

Rick Riordan’s first Percy Jackson series was rather white and straight, but after his books became popular, he realized the platform he had and became invested in diversity and representation. The central characters of the Heroes of Olympus series are all racially and culturally different from each other, and in his Norse mythology-based Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy, a character is genderfluid (I still haven’t read this book, but when I do you know I’ll make a whole separate post about it!). Currently Riordan has his own imprint of Disney Hyperion that he uses to publish books in the same vein as Percy Jackson, but based in other world mythologies and written by authors from those cultures. 

Before he was a writer, Riordan was a middle school teacher, and he now aims to let kids like the ones he taught for so many years see themselves in the books that they read. As he explained on the Barnes and Noble YA Podcast:

“I felt a sense of duty when the book series got as big as it did, and I realized the sort of platform that I had. I thought about all the kids I’ve taught over the years, who’s lives I cared about, who were struggling in middle school for acceptance, for self awareness, for all the things everyone struggles through in middle school, but when you are someone who’s marginalized for whatever reason, that challenge is doubly hard, and they can feel so alone. I thought it was important for me to let all kinds of kids know, ‘I see you,’ you know? ‘You’re not invisible, you matter, and absolutely you can come and play in this fantasy world too - you are welcome here.’”

[queertransrecs]

Bicycle (2019)

Format: Short Film Written and directed by: Sammy Paul Released: November 2019 Short: a short film about bisexuality starring Chris Kendall (you might remember him from his Youtube days as crabstickz), set in the format of a stand-up routine with the comedian giving more personal commentary behind the scenes. A beautifully shot (and bi-flag colored!) short film that I’m sure any bi or pan person can relate to. Chris is a phenomenal actor, and I’m happy to see more of his work. It looks serious, and a bit of it is, but it’s funny too - I promise.

[queertransrecs]

Trans History Book Recommendations by Jackson Bird [CC]

It’s neither October (LGBT history month, as he mentions), nor June (Pride month), but let’s talk about queer history anyway! In this video, Jackson Bird gives his picks for books about trans and queer history, and god do I want to read them all. History is so fascinating, and so important. Like he says, we won’t be taught it in school, our parents won’t teach it to us, and I’ll add that many of our elders are no longer with us today, so it is vital that we keep our history alive and in our own hands. That might seem overwhelming, but this is a way to start. Pick a book that sounds interesting, or easy to read (there’s a picture book on the list!) or one that covers most of what you need to know, and start from there. Pride is a year-long affair, and education is forever. So get reading!

[queertransrecs]

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves

Format: Non-fiction anthology Edited by: Laura Erickson-Schroth Published: 2014 (Oxford University Press) Short: a very comprehensive guide to transgender health, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is the trans version of Our Bodies, Ourselves, a groundbreaking book about women’s health and sexuality (though the two are not affiliated). Covering topics on medical transition, gender development, race and disability-related intersection, and even religion, it’s an invaluable resource to our community, filled with first-person quotes from real trans people. Quite a large book, I’d suggest seeing if it’s at your local public or university library (my top surgeon even had one at her office!).

[queertransrecs]

Julián Is A Mermaid

Format: Picture book By: Jessica Love Published: 2018 (Candlewick Press) Short: A very sweet story about a little kid who loves mermaids and dresses up as one, and his abuela who lets him know that that is just fine. Not super long but full of fantastic, lively gouache illustrations. I can see why it won the Stonewall Book Award for its category: though it’s not explicitly “trans” or “gay”, it’s a story of ignoring gender roles and letting kids know that the person they want to be is ok, no matter what.

[queertransrecs]

Trans Book Recommendations by Jackson Bird [CC]

Jackson Bird is a Youtuber with a bunch of great trans-related videos (including a TED talk!), but some of my favorites are his book recommendations - who would’ve guessed. In this video he discusses his “Ultimate Trans Book Recs” and I’ve found a lot of great books and authors from this. Give it a watch!