"Gay bars have operated as the most visible institutions of the LGBTQ community in the United States for the better part of a century, from before gay liberation until after their assumed obsolescence. In The Bars Are Ours Lucas Hilderbrand offers a panoramic history of gay bars, showing how they served as the medium for queer communities, politics, and cultures. Hilderbrand cruises from leather in Chicago and drag in Kansas City to activism against...

From the lush feather boas that adorned early female impersonators to the sequined lip syncs of barroom queens to the drag kings that have us laughing in stitches, drag has played a vital role in the creative life of New York City. But the evolution of drag in the city, as an art form, a community and a mode of liberation, has never before been fully chronicled. Now, for the first time, journalist and drag historian Elyssa Maxx Goodman unearths the...

"On the Inconvenience of Other People is Lauren Berlant's follow up to Cruel Optimism (2011). In that book, Berlant focused on the reasons why, under the contemporary condition of constant crisis, people stay attached to objects that wear them out mentally, politically, materially, and physically. In this new book, Berlant turns attention to the impasse of attachment in a different way; rather than thinking about how we might lose such draining objects,...

A Positive View of LGBTQ starts a new conversation about the strengths and benefits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGTBQ) identities. Positive LGBTQ identities are affirmed through inspiring firsthand accounts. Focusing on how LGTBQ-identified individuals can cultivate a sense of wellbeing and a personal identity that allows them to flourish in all areas of life, the authors explore a variety of themes. Through personal stories...

Tender and passionate autobiographical essays by National Book Award winner Paul Monette. "Does it go too fast?" Monette asks about life at the beginning of one piece. The answer is a resounding "yes" for the individuals who populate this stunning work of nonfiction. These ten autobiographical essays memorialize those whose lives have been claimed by AIDS. Following Becoming a Man and Borrowed Time, Last Watch of the Night is Monette's third and final...

"When Richie Jackson's son born through surrogacy comes out to him at the age of 18, Richie - now in his 50s, a successful producer and happily married - feels compelled to write him a letter. Gay Like Me is both a celebration of gay identity and a sorrowful warning. Jackson talks of his own progress and growth as a gay man coming of age through decades of political and cultural change. We've come a long way, he argues: discrimination is now outlawed...

Wedding planning is never easy{8212}but for gay and lesbian couples, it presents unique challenges. On top of watching the budget and wrangling your family, you may be wondering: How should we word the invitations? Who can perform the ceremony? What should we say to those who ask, z...why?y.

"By the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was deeply impacting gay and lesbian communities in America, and disinformation about the disease was running rampant. Out of the activist group ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), an art collective that called itself Gran Fury was formed, to create graphics and media that campaigned against corporate greed, government inaction, and public indifference to AIDS. In It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful, writer...

A personal and culture-driven exploration of the most pressing questions facing the transgender community today, from a leading activist, musician, and academic. In Trans Like Me, CN Lester takes readers on a measured, thoughtful, intelligent yet approachable tour through the most important and high-profile narratives around the trans community, turning them inside out and examining where we really are in terms of progress. From the impact of the...

Allen takes us on a cross-country road-trip stretching all the way from Provo, Utah to the Rio Grande Valley to the Bible Belt to the Deep South. Her motto for the trip: "Something gay every day." Making pit stops at drag shows, political rallies, and hubs of queer life across the heartland, she introduces us to scores of extraordinary LGBT people working for change, from the first openly transgender mayor in Texas history to the manager of the only...