The Eliza Cabot Follen Library, tucked in next to the Community Center, has a book for you!
This month, Anne from the Follen Library Team recommends 4 books (and 1 video) on the topic of the LGBTQ+ community.
In these perilous times for the LGBTQ+ community, including a recent lawsuit against Lexington Public Schools, these books and video are particularly pertinent.
- Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families (2023) is edited by Peggy Gillespie and published by the Unitarian Universalist Association in collaboration with PFLAG National, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, and Family Diversity Projects. It offers vivid portraits of trans and nonbinary people through photographs and in their own words, highlighting the importance of visibility and the power of love.
- Raising LGBTQ Allies: A Parent’s Guide to Changing the Messages from the Playground by Chris Tompkins (2021) shows how how heteronormativity can be harmful if not addressed clearly and early, and offers parents ways of preventing new generations from adopting homophobic and transphobic beliefs, while helping parents explore their own subconscious biases.
- Save Yourself (2022) by Cameron Esposito uses humor to tackle issues such as sexism, sexuality, white male privilege, and the Catholic childhood that prepared her for a career as an outspoken lesbian comedian.
- American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era (2024) by journalist Nico Lang narrates the stories of 8 trans teenagers living across the country, from Florida’s conservative panhandle to churches in Texas and mosques in Illinois.
Another very powerful, timely, and wise commentary well worth listening to is Imara Jones’s Ware Lecture from the General Assembly of the Unitarian Universality Association meeting in June 2025.
Find these titles in our online catalog or on the shelf in the Follen Library!