Our 13 Favorite LGBT-Positive Children's Books

Children's books occupy a tricky place in literature, especially when their aim is to change the minds of readers. With Heather Has Two Mommies, author Lesléa Newman was the first person to portray a pair of lesbian mothers in a positive way in a children's book, and it instigated criticism during the culture wars of the '90s.

Now with its 25th anniversary re-release, we look at other books that include LGBT characters. It's a fine line to tread: without verging into the realm of preachy, all good children's books have a lesson, but kids can’t know that they’re learning! Here’s a handful of (mostly) recent books that stand out.  Read more

I’m Gay, Bi, Trans, Fluid: The 63 most powerful comings out of 2015 from all over the world

Coming out. Yes, it’s still a big deal. Although LGBT rights have made huge advances in recent years, as long as people are denigrated, abused, discriminated against, and killed for being LGBT, it is still utterly important for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people to be visible, and to be proud and value their identities. Making a statement and letting the world know is just the first step in a lifelong process.

And depending on who you are, or where you’re living, or what religious denomination you practice, coming out can make a unique difference in the lives of those around you, not to mention those who are listening around the world.

It’s a powerful act.  Read more 

NBA Referee Comes Out After Gay Slur

Bill Kennedy, one of the NBA's top referees, has revealed he is gay.

"I am proud to be an NBA referee and I am proud to be a gay man," Kennedy told Yahoo Sports on Sunday night. "I am following in the footsteps of others who have self-identified in the hopes that will send a message to young men and women in sports that you must allow no one to make you feel ashamed of who you are." 

Kennedy declined further comment on his announcement. NBA commissioner Adam Silver delivered a statement of support for Kennedy.  Read more 

Birthstory

At first, this is the story of an Israeli couple, two guys, who go to another continent to get themselves a baby by hiring surrogates to carry the children for them. As we follow them on their journey, an earth shaking revelation shifts our focus from them, to the surrogate mothers.

Unfolding in real time, as countries around the world consider bans on surrogacy, this episode looks at a relationship that manages to feel deeply affecting, and deeply uncomfortable, all at the same time. Listen now 

Lebanon: "As long as they stay away”: Exploring Lebanese attitudes towards sexualities and gender identities

The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) at the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality has the great pleasure to present its two-year nationwide study entitled “As long as they stay away”: Exploring Lebanese attitudes towards sexualities and gender identities.

This study was the first of its kind to provide nationwide attitudinal data on sexuality, alternative sexualities and gender identities, and is the largest of its type, scope and subject in the MENA region. It was designed to fill a serious information gap in advocacy work relating to sexual and gender rights in Lebanon by providing critical and previously unavailable information by measuring and qualifying attitudes towards sexual and gender rights in Lebanon.  Read more via AFEMA

Read the full report "As long as they stay away” here

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This survey constitutes a main deliverable of a project entitled “Lebanese Attitudes towards Private Liberties”. It is designed to fill a serious information gap in advocacy work relating to sexual and gender rights in Lebanon by providing critical and previously unavailable information by measuring and qualifying attitudes towards sexual and gender rights in Lebanon.

With the groundwork knowledge acquired from our activist backgrounds, we had embarked on this project not knowing to what extent Lebanese public attitudes would reflect tolerance and acceptance towards this delicate topic, especially when looking at the national context, not just Beirut. While some results were expected, this project did yield promising and unexpected results on which future advocacy work could be based.

Views on sexuality highlighted the importance of the right to sex for enjoyment, free from coercion, judgment and criminalization. While the Lebanese public primarily saw homosexual and transgender identities as a medical or psychological issue, results consistently and repeatedly point in the direction of general disapproval of the use of violence, punitive actions, and imprisonment. Personal attitudes towards individuals with non-normative sexualities and gender identities ranged from a position of advising, helping and medicating, to a position of avoidance, ostracization and marginalization.

It is no secret that attitudes with regards to sex, sexuality, and sexual and gender minorities in Lebanon have yet to develop towards more equality and inclusivity.
What this first large-scale study in the region suggests, however, is that the Lebanese public’s belief in any individual’s human rights to safety and non-violence is a ground on which we can work towards a more just society.

Cambodia: LGBT groups call for greater acceptance

The rights of LGBT people took centrestage at an event to celebrate Human Rights Day at the FCC mansion in Phnom Penh yesterday. Organised by NGO CamAsean, which advocates on behalf of marginalised people, the morning conference included a rap performance by lesbian and transgender teenagers, and an exhibition of photos and films featuring the lives and struggles of LGBTI people.

“Today is all about marginalised people,” said CamAsean facilitator Kong Yara. “We have representatives here from LGBT communities, sex workers, drug users and people living with HIV.”

A 26-year-old jewellery shop supervisor, who preferred not to be named, said that life for a gay Cambodian can be hard: “I don’t have any gay friends, and when I told my best friend at school I was gay when I was 15, she told me she hated gays and never spoke to me again,” he said. “Some people can have an open life as a gay man in Cambodia, but I don’t feel strong enough.”

Nonetheless, he was upbeat about the future: “I think the level of homophobia is coming down a little bit now,” he said. “And I hope I might be ready to come out in two or three years’ time.” Read more via Phnompenh Post 

Malaysia: ‘Gay imam’ sparks debate on Twitter

This week’s curator for the @twt_LGBT Twitter account has raised more eyebrows than usual. Claiming himself to be a “gay imam”, the curator, who only refers himself as “Adik”, said that he anted to share his life story and experiences in being a homosexual Muslim in Malaysia.

“Saya nak kongsi hidup sebagai seorang imam yang gay (I would like to share my life as a gay imam),” he tweeted.

Aside from sharing his experiences, Adik also invoked several arguments and connotations on Islamic teachings in aspects of homosexuality and his opinion on what it was to be a gay Muslim. The social media discussion has snowballed into a heated debate with netizens taking on both sides of the matter. 

Read more via the Rakyat Post
 

Vietnam: The archive that celebrates a secret LGBT culture

“This boy – his life is so overwhelming,” Dinh Nhung sighs, handing over a photograph of a teddybear, the stuffing bleeding from its ripped seams. Its 22-year-old owner, whose family would not accept that he is gay, travelled illegally to Russia to work in a sweatshop, but returned after seeing a man shot dead by police in the street.

“When my father was shouting at me, my mother also cut my favourite things,” reads the caption. “She cut this teddy bear on its neck and legs. However, the scissors were not sharp enough. She cut, but not completely.”

“Cut, but not completely” is a thread that runs through many of the stories that Nhung and her colleagues at Hanoi’s Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (CCIHP) have painstakingly archived since 2009. From love between prisoners in re-education camps, to domestic violence, to the daily hardships borne by sex workers and those living with HIV, the collection is an unflinching account of the struggles and frequent despair experienced by Vietnam’s LGBT community, past and present. But other stories are happier – or, at least, more defiant.  Read more via the Guardian

Truvada True Colors

Germany withdraws ‘homophobic’ Eurovision nomination

Xavier Naidoo will no longer represent Germany in next year’s competition after the public backlash led to a reevaluation of the nomination.  “It was certain that he’d polarise, but we were surprised by the forceful reactions. We misjudged this,” German broadcast coordinator said.   Read more 

Russia: A List Of “Gays We Respect”

In an article headlined “Gays We Respect,” the Russian edition of men’s magazine Maxim has “forgiven” a list of famous actors, authors and musicians for their sexual orientation, including Ian McKellen and Neal Patrick Harris.

“We, men, do not consider men who love men to be men. This is the rule,” the introduction to the post reads. “But there are exceptions. There are gays who have earned our respect and the right to remain real men in our eyes.” 

An editor at Maxim’s Russian edition told BuzzFeed News Nov. 26 “our position is clearly formulated in the introduction to the article.” Alexander Malenkov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Maxim, told the Russian News Service Nov. 30, “This is a joke article. It says so in it.” Nowhere in the text is it made clear that the article is meant to be a parody. The magazine has updated the post with a link added to the introduction, placed on the word “gays,” which leads to an article from 2013 about homosexuality.

“We are deeply disturbed by the article in Maxim Russia and fully condemn it,” a spokesperson for Maxim said. 

Read more via Buzzfeed