8 Awesome Queer Books for the Youth and Tweens in Your Life
LGBT fiction for the tween / young teen in your life, or for anyone who likes a good queer book (spoiler: that’s everyone).
youth and teenagers
Controlling the Image: Obsessive Compulsion and the Closet
“When I asked my friends from high school if they remembered me ever mentioning my records, most of them had no idea. Just as most of them had no inkling of my queerness before I finally came out.”
Also.Also.Also: Wednesday’s National School Walkout and Other Stories From Your Week
Yesterday’s National School Walkout, Ellen, the Pennsylvania special election upset, National Geographic’s racism, Gigi Gorgeous and Nats Getty, not ready for the 90s comeback, and so much more!
Also.Also.Also: Emma González Coming for the US Government and She’s Bringing an Entire Generation with Her
The Parkland shooting sparks a teenage-led gun control movement, a queer feminist bookstore in Mississippi, Mister Rogers, Russian propaganda is pretty insane, Amy Sherald’s art, and so much more.
Also.Also.Also: Lesbian Vloggers Bringing Useful Sex Ed to Queer Teens and Other Stories from the Week
Self-awareness, plasma, nostalgia, that fucking UN vote, teachers leading the revolution, who gets $$$ from the NRA, abortion rights (still!), death rituals all over this world, and so much more!
The Autostraddle Team’s Ten Most Influential Teen Albums
The music you listen to in your teen years mixes with your hormones and emotions and overwhelms you and permanently molds you. You make mix tapes, you go to shows, you buy band t-shirts and posters, you get ill advised tattoos. It’s a lot of fun.
Playlist: Middle School Dance While Unknowingly Gay
Slow-dancing.
Bright Lite Magazine Empowers Preteen Girls, Restores Our Faith in Humanity
Enter Bright Lite — the badass magazine for girls that, true to its name, will bring light to your world, a grin to your face, and much-needed hope to your heart.
Bella Thorne Is Bisexual: The Disney Star/Actress Comes Out On Twitter
The star of the Disney Channel’s Shake it Off, a dance show co-starring Zendaya, answered a fan who sent the question “are you bisexual?” with a simple “yes.”
LGBT Youth Get New GSA Name and Tagline; LGBT Elders Get Left Out of Key Legislation
The GSA is now more inclusive of all genders and sexualities but the Older Americans Act isn’t inclusive of LGBT elders; Islan Nettles’ killer will go to prison for 12 years; progress on Merrick Garland’s confirmation, a congresswoman crusading against online harassment and more.
Read a F*cking Book: “(RE)Sisters” Knows That to Be Queer Is to Be Powerful
Through rule-breaking, more than one unauthorized hot air balloon flight, and a lot of other creative and brave attempts at escape, (RE)Sisters reveals truths about what we know, but may not always be able to say: that we are itching to break free of the implicit and explicit confines the white supremacist, patriarchal, heterosexist, cissexist, ableist, imperialist world puts on us.
Were We Ever So Young: Rereading Julie Anne Peters’ “Luna” for the Seventh Time
Luna opened a door for me — no, it opened a thousand doors, doors that I’ve been confidently walking through ever since I came out.
Were We Ever So Young: Revisiting “Empress of the World”
The names of the main characters, Nic and Battle, were gender neutral enough that I projected heterosexuality onto them, not yet knowing that gay YA lit was something even there to be looked for.
10 Ways Educators Can Make Schools Safer for LGBT Youth
We’re participating in GLSEN’s Ally Week and talking about how K-12 educators can become better allies to the LGBT youth in their schools.
Drawn to Comics: Maggie Thrash’s Debut “Honor Girl” Captures Teenage Camp Queerness
“So much of being a girl in this society is about people trying to CONTAIN you. When I think about camp, I get this gut feeling, remembering the sky above my head. No walls, no parents. During the school year, you’re just trying to survive. Camp is a chance to be someone freer- an actual person.”
Ellen DeGeneres’ GapKids Line Is Smart, Subversive, Will Delight Both Children and Tiny Butch Lesbians
Ellen DeGeneres’ GapKids x ED Collection is smart, cute, and full of subtly subversive messaging against prescriptive gender roles. Basically, the best girl’s clothing line I’ve ever seen.
Daily Fix: New South Wales Education Minister Nixes High School Showing of “Gayby Baby” and More News
Kids in New South Wales won’t see Gayby Baby at school for Wear It Purple Day, Donald Trump kicks Jorge Ramos out of his press conference, women vote in Saudi Arabia, Walmart no longer selling assault weapons, and more.
EXCLUSIVE: Cathy G. Johnson Announces Her New Book “No Dogs Allowed” and Misfit Middle School Girls!
In this very special Drawn to Comics we get to announce Cathy G. Johnson’s new book about a misfit middle school girls’ soccer team and talk about the upcoming queer paranormal romance anthology The Other Side!
Daily Fix: Indiana’s Governor Doesn’t Know What the Fuss is About and More News Stories
Gov. Mike Pence can’t give us a straight answer, good news for Ferguson protestors, Ellen Pao’s gender discrimination lawsuit and more news for you!
DW Trantham, Courageous Trans Teen, Stands Up For Her Bathroom Rights and Finds Community Support
“We’re not freaks, we’re not perverts, we’re just people. I’m worried about my bathroom safety more than anyone else.”
Trans Lifeline, Suicide Hotline Staffed by Trans People, Is Here For You
In one way, it is incredible that something like this didn’t exist before. In another way, it is all too regrettable that something like this is so dearly needed.