Recently, Isaac Sundheimer from Alverno College passed away and we are raising funds for a memorial scholarship in his name. Isaac Sundheimer was a valued member of the Alverno College student community and will be greatly missed by his peers. To honor his time at Alverno, a group of his friends are raising funds for a scholarship in his name. The scholarship will be awarded to an incoming or current student who has similar career goals and interests as Isaac. Please help us in making this possible!

Isaac was an amazing guy. We met in middle school, before any of our ragtag group of friends had figured out our sexual or gender identities (~unsurprise~ just about everyone ended up queer somehow). He was an amazing person.

I miss him.

If you could signal boost this or donate something, I would appreciate it. Thank you.

"It made me sad — but not really surprised — when I was touring around in 2003 to find that for some people it was a radical notion to have a happy romantic comedy about two boys. Even some older gay readers were critical of the book for not being realistic, to which I would explain: You don’t have to write a book in order to reflect reality. You can also write a book to create reality. Most teen readers, I found, understood this, because they were living their lives to create reality, not merely reflect it."

David Levithan, “Boy Meets Boy, Ten Years Later” (via queerbookclub)

I swear, the number of queer teen books that end with tragedy in order to be “realistic” irritates me to no end. 

(via queerbookclub)

masstpc:

gaywrites:

Introducing Alysia Yeoh, Batgirl’s roommate in Batgirl #19 and DC Comics’s first transgender character, who is also bisexual. “Alysia ‘will be a character, not a public service announcement,’ Simone told Wired. ‘Being trans is just part of her story. If someone loved her before, and doesn’t love her after, well — that’s a shame, but we can’t let that kind of thinking keep comics in the 1950s forever.’” (via SheWired)

There is now a bisexual transgender woman of color in a major comic book series.

(via genderbutt)

Transgender and Gender Non-conforming College Student Survey

likearoadthroughmountains:

Hey, y’all! I’m doing a project for my social work degree about the experiences of trans*-identified college and post-secondary students (in America only, unfortunately). If you’ll just take a moment to fill out this survey (it’s not particularly long, around ten minutes on average), your responses will help me design policy recommendations for colleges and universities, as well as to better inform the practice of social service professionals working with students. It’ll be open until May 1st, so send the link to your friends at other institutions! Please note that since this survey is about the experiences of non-cisgender students, I must ask that if you consider yourself cisgender, do NOT take this survey.

fuckyeahlesbianliterature:

bisexual-books:

So today a co-worker pointed me to an article on The Atlantic called “A New Way for Gay Characters in Y.A.”.   I was sad to see it was another article that seems inclusive on the surface as it talks about defining LGBT teens as being more than their sexual orientation.   But a deeper look at the nature of this piece revealed some troubling flaws.   

Of the 29 YA books mentioned in this article, the break down is :
17 feature gay males
6 feature lesbians
4 I was unable to determine (not released yet, reviews didn’t say, I am unfamiliar)
2 feature transgender people
0 feature bisexuals (technically Geography Club has Min, a bisexual secondary character, but let’s be frank - the book is entirely focused on Russell’s gayness)

Gay men in YA might be bored with coming out stories and ready to move on to the next big thing, but what about the rest of the LB&T?  If publishers are not, as David Levithan claims, “scared [of books featuring LGBT characters]” then why is it so hard to find the LB&Ts?   How is more of the same lack of these characters a “New Way”?

And of particular concern for this blog, what about the ZERO titles mentioned in this story with bisexual protagonists or themes?  Doesn’t it seem a bit premature to call for the end of the coming out story when teen bisexuals have next to no visibility in YA lit?   Especially when one considers that bisexuals outnumber gay and lesbian people combined?   

Don’t even get me started on the overall whiteness of this list too.   Even among YA books featuring gay men, it is rare to find a protagonist who isn’t white.   The truth is we may be swimming in white gay men, but I have yet to find a single book featuring a bisexual transgendered person of color.  Those teens deserve to see their coming out stories in YA lit too, not to have the particular issues faced by their identities brushed aside because we’ve supposedly been there.  

Also - and this is pointed right at the editors at The Atlantic - LGBT is not a synonym for gay.   You may be arguing that gay characters are everywhere, but lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters still take detective work to find, even in your own article.   Had this article been about gay YA books and only gay YA books, then I think it would have been a solid piece.   Throwing the token acronym LGBT without recognizing that three of the four letters are under-represented (if represented at all) is just shoddy journalism.  

~ Sarah

Had to bold those points, because YES. That is how most things that claim to be “LGBT” usually break down (except usually there are even fewer trans books/people mentioned). Almost entirely gay, with a few token lesbians thrown in, and maybe one or two bisexual or trans mentions. It’s okay to just say you’re talking about gay male issues, just don’t claim to be representing people you’re not.

^Yes, all of this. 

From my searches to add more books to fyqtl, the least represented sexualities and gender identities in YA have been: asexuals, aromantics, intersex, transgender (especially non-binary), pansexual, and bisexual characters (especially bi males). 

I have yet to see any instance of a polyamorous relationship, or mention of polyamory. No mention of kink or the kink community. What sexual descriptions that do occur in YA books with queer characters aren’t as risque as those that have been published for straight characters.

There’s a huge lack of diversity along just about all intersectional paths, especially along race (and especially for biracial and multiracial characters). There’s a lack of autistic characters, disabled characters, working class or impoverished characters, non-christian characters, fat characters, undocumented characters… pretty much anything that deviates in more than one way from a white cisgender middle class able-bodied gay person.

Most representation involves the queer character being secondary (often a stereotype), has been aimed at straight readers, and tend to preserve rather than reject heteronormativity. 

(via toastedcoconut)

"

I once wrote the sentence: ’Proxy is a semi-messianic, queer-affirming sci-fi thriller which critiques the corrupt meritocracy forged by neo-liberal capitalism and the dehumanizing nature of financialized debt…for teens.’ 

I vowed never to share this sentence in public. Oops.

"

Alex London, author of Proxy (coming June 18, 2013 from Philomel) in an interview at The YA Valentines

(via diversityinya)

OH HELLO

(via queerbookclub)

(via queerbookclub)

the-nonbinary-bisexual:

bimagazine:

bisexual-books:

Because literature creates community, and

Because it is incredibly important for bisexual people to see bisexuals represented in the media around them, and yet

Because books about bisexuals are underrepresented in mainstream as well as gay and lesbian review sources,

Bisexual-Books reads, reviews, and talks about bisexual authors, stories, and characters.

We do this to connect bisexual people to awesome bisexual literature,

Raise awareness about negative tropes, stereotypes, and clichés in literature,

Let publishers know that bisexual books have an audience, and

Create a place where readers can discover and share quality bisexual literature.

If you’re a bisexual person who loves to read, hates finding biphobia between the pages, and is looking for more cool bi books, PLEASE Join and Promote this Tumblr!

:D

(via goldenheartedrose)

trans-collisions:

A Brochure by and for Transgender Youth

Also available as PDF in
Amharic
Chinese
French
Spanish
Vietnamese

(via manicpixiedreambakla)

littlepaperfrogs:

qkazoo:

HEY FOLKS WHO ARE APPLYING TO/DECIDING ON COLLEGES

FUCKYEAHGENDERSTUDIES IS COMPILING A LIST OF SCHOOLS THAT HAVE GENDER-NEUTRAL HOUSING OPTIONS

Also, the list is here: http://fuckyeahgenderstudies.tumblr.com/colleges

(via goldenheartedrose)

knowhomo:

LGBTQ* Petitions Currently Circulating

(From We The People Petition)

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Recognize non-binary genders.

Legal documents in the United States only recognize “male” and “female” as genders, leaving anyone who does not identify as one of these two genders with no option. Australia and New Zealand both allow an X in place of an M or an F on passports for this purpose, and the UK recognizes ‘Mx’ (pronounced “Mix”) as a gender-neutral title.

This petition asks the Obama administration to legally recognize genders outside of the male-female binary, and provide an option for these genders on all legal documents and records.

————————————————————————————

As of March 18th, 2013, 79,000+ signatures are still needed.

Should you wish to add your signature to this petition, click HERE.

boudicca13:

So, maybe you wanted to read my book but didn’t want to pay the seven dollars to do so. Now’s the time for you. My publisher is having an anniversary, and is celebrating by marking ebooks 25% down. 

If you’re interested, click the link. Hell, even if you aren’t interested in mine, there are plenty of other stories on that website (especially m/m romance).

danikasapphistry:

historicalyoungadult:

There is another version here that says whether the book has queer boys or queer girls.

Are there any trans characters on these lists, or is it LGB?

(I know it’s unlikely that there are any queer historical YA books with non-binary characters, but I still wish there was an acknowledgment that boy/girl is a problematic division, especially if you’re talking about “LGBT” books)

Good question, and good point. Labeling each book with boy/girl erases the existence of non-binary people. As far as I know, there aren’t many non-binary characters in YA books right now, though there are some with descriptions including genderqueer characters. There are fewer books with a non-binary character as the protagonist.

Good Lesbian Books’ list of trans* YA characters is fairly complete, and they list the books by mtf/ftm/other, and then by genre. 

What I Was, by Meg Rosoff is in the original link. It’s set in the 1960’s and has a trans character. 

I don’t know of any other historical trans* YA lit, though The Butterfly and the Flame, by Dana de Young is a dystopian novel that feels historical, since there isn’t much technology, but it’s set in the future. 

historicalyoungadult:

There is another version here that says whether the book has queer boys or queer girls.

(via queerbookclub)

Kiss the Morning Star, by Elissa Janine Hoole

Personal Effects, by E.M. Kokie