Books We Recommend
Family
Rainbow Family Values: A Family Formation Guide for Lesbian and Gay Couples
by Michael S. Piazza
Drawing on his own relationship and over two decades of pastoral counseling to thousands of gay men and lesbians, Rev. Piazza seeks to offer a new vision for lesbian and gay families. This book presents a model of family that is both ancient and revolutionary. In addition, it contains a wealth of practical advice for those seeking to live "happily-ever-after."
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by Mitchell Gold, Mindy Drucker
Hundreds of thousands of gay teens face traumatic depression, fear, rejection, persecution, and isolation--usually alone. Studies show they are 190 percent more likely to used drugs or alcohol and four times more likely to attempt suicide. Homophobia and discrimination are at the heart of their pain. Love, support, and acceptance--all within our power to give--can save them. This book is for: clergy, parents, educators, and politicians who cause harm with their words and actions; parents of gay teens; teens navigating this difficult time; and fair-minded people who want to help end the harm. Here are revealing stories by forty diverse Americans, some well known and some not, plus insights from straight clergy and parents explaining their support of gay people as whole human beings guaranteed equal rights by our Constitution.
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The Lesbian and Gay Parenting Handbook: Creating and Raising Our Families
This book neither whitewashes the struggles nor overlooks the joys of lesbian/gay parenting in the U.S. today. It provides much good information, many useful tips, and lots of good laughs.
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Love Makes a Family: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents and Their Families
by Gigi Kaeser (Photographer), Peggy Gillespie (Editor), Kath Weston (Introduction), April Martin
This collection of informal family portraits and interviews with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) parents and their children grew out of a photo exhibit created by photographer Kaeser.
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Transition and Beyond, Observations On Gender Identity
by Reid Vanderburgh; MA; LMFT
This book has already been widely accepted and anticipated in the Transgender community and families dealing with transgender issues. Written in an easy to read style, it addresses many issues faced by transgender individuals, their spouses/mates, and family members. Helps anyone seeking accurate information about what it means and doesn’t mean to be transgender. Author Reid Vanderburgh brings a unique point of view to his writing as a licensed therapist and someone who transitioned female-to-male in the mid 1990s. From Amazon.com.
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The Velveteen Father: An Unexpected Journey to Parenthood
Jesse Green
Journalist Jesse Green's delightful memoir makes it quite clear that the pleasures and perils of parenting are always the same--even for a gay 37-year-old man who stumbles into it by falling in love with a person who has an adopted son. As Green puts it in a typically well-turned phrase, "fatherhood trumps gayness," which is to say that heterosexual parents at the playground sometimes find it easier to relate to Green, his boyfriend, Andy, and son, Erez (soon joined by baby brother Lucas), than do the well-buffed, perennially youthful male guests at a Fire Island party--they flinch at the sight of diapers and baby bags. As the author searchingly and intelligently considers what it means to gay people to become parents, and the ways in which it does and does not pull them closer into the mainstream, his narrative is often extremely funny. From Amazon.com.
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The Shared Heart: Portraits and Stories Celebrating Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Young People
by Adam Mastoon
Adam Mastoon's beautifully reproduced photographs of gay, lesbian, and bisexual young people are a revelation: each subject, posed yet casual, looks directly into the camera and invites us into his or her life. But the book is more than a photo gallery, and the personal statements written by each young person brings a sense of what it means to be a gay youth today. In a world in which gay teens are told that they either don't exist or should change their sexual orientation, The Shared Heart is a beacon of hope, clarity, and joy. From Amazon.com.
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For The Bible Tells Me So
Starring: Gene Robinson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle Interntional Film Festival, Dan Karslake's provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible.
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My Child Is Gay: How Parents React When They Hear the News
by Bryce McDougall
Written by parents who have a gay or lesbian child, this compilation of letters can help parents deal with feelings of confusion, embarrassment, guilt, or anger, while showing how ordinary families have found love, happiness, and normalcy again. Updated with new stories and experiences, this edition acknowledges that while a brave child often takes time to come to terms with his sexuality before sharing his feelings, parents are often shocked and overwhelmed with little time to react. Together these letters reaffirm the healing power of support and allow those with first-hand knowledge to outline the steps toward understanding and the importance of helping their children share the truth. From Amazon.com.
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The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals
by Stephanie A. Brill, Rachel Pepper
This comprehensive first of its kind guidebook explores the unique challenges that thousands of families face every day raising their children in every city and state.
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Coming Out As Parents: You and Your Homosexual Child
David K. Switzer
This complete revision of Parents of the Homosexual helps parents understand their feelings and reactions to the knowledge that their child is a homosexual. Suitable for counselors and clergy too.
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My Rose: An African American Mother's Story of AIDS
by Geneva E. Bell
A deeply moving narrative and a wrenching story of a mother and her gay son's struggle with AIDS. Honestly confronting the pain of a family, this text ultimately shows a faith community transformed by God's love.
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Coming Out to Parents: A Two-Way Survival Guide for Lesbians and Gay Men and Their Parents
by Mary V. Borhek
Listed by American Bookseller as "among the most important gay and lesbian books that should be represented in any general bookstore," Borhek's original edition of this book (1983) has also been praised as "sound, sympathetic, and helpful" (St. Luke's Journal of Theology). In this thorough revision, Borhek brings an additional decade of personal knowledge and experience to bear on the subject of coming out.
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FAMILIES RE-MEMBERED: Pastoral Support for Friends and Families Living with HIV/AIDS
by the Rev. Louis F. Kavar, Ph.D.
HIV/AIDS causes families to be re-structured, enlarged and changed -- "re-membered." This book explores the dynamics of family systems and the realities of extended families of choice in the context of HIV/AIDS.
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Permanent Partners: Building Gay and Lesbian Relationships That Last
by Betty Berzon
A guide for lesbian and gay couples talks about such concerns as the merging of identities, waning sex, the inability to resolve conflicts, competing career demands, illnesses, substance abuse problems, and mid-life crises.
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