List of LGBTQ+ Friendly Books

Transgender Books

 

Keep Faith: A Queer Anthology [An anthology of 14 short stories, by 14 queer authors, where faith and queerness intersect. Incidental, purposeful, we-exist-and-that’s-why queerness. And faith meaning whatever you want it to mean.]

edited by Gabriela Martins

Anthology

Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity [An anthology exploring the act of passing-as the “right” gender, race, class, sexuality, age, ability, body type, ethnicity, and beyond.]

Matt Bernstein Sycamore

Anthology

Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People [Roughgarden takes on the medical establishment, the Bible, social science―and even Darwin himself. She leads the reader through a fascinating discussion of diversity in gender and sexuality among fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, and mammals, including primates.]

Joan Roughgarden

Evolutionary biologist on gender diversity in nature

a + e 4ever: A Graphic Novel [Asher Machnik is a teenage boy cursed with a beautiful androgynous face. Guys punch him, girls slag him and by high school he’s developed an intense fear of being touched. Art remains his only escape from an otherwise emotionally empty life. Eulalie Mason is the lonely, tough-talking dyke from school who befriends Ash. The only one to see and accept all of his sides as a loner, a fellow artist and a best friend, she’s starting to wonder if ash is ever going to see all of her…. ]

Ilike Merey

Graphic novel/Young Adult

My New Daddy [a short illustrated work of fiction following young Charles through the journey of his mother’s transition from female to male. It explains, in easy to convey and appropriate for young children words, the basic steps of, and reasons for, female to male gender reassignment surgery and the emotional and mental changes that occur during transitionhttps://www.smashwords.com/books/view/274343]

Lilly Mossiano

Guide for kids

My New Mommy [a short illustrated work of fiction following young Violet through the journey of her father’s transition from male to female. It explains, in easy to convey and appropriate for young children words, the basic steps of, and reasons for, male to female gender reassignment surgery and the emotional and mental changes that occur during transitionhttps://www.smashwords.com/books/view/292516]

Lilly Mossiano

Guide for kids

Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working With Gender-Variant People and Their Families [2004 clinical and theoretical overview of the issues facing transgendered/transsexual people and their families. Vews assessment and treatment through a nonpathologizing lens that honors human diversity and acknowledges the role of oppression in the developmental process of gender identity formation.]

Arlene Istar Lev, CSW-R, CASAC

Guide for therapists and professionals

Come Out and Win: Organizing Yourself, Your Community, and Your World [Come Out and Win will educate, engage, and agitate LGBT and straight activists to become involved in the political movement to win full equality under the law and sexual/gender freedom. Spurring a new generation of activists to positive social action, it not only tells the history of gay liberation but, crucially, offers guidance and practical advice for building organizations and taking concrete action to eradicate homophobia.]

Sue Hyde

Guide to activism

Gay-Straight Alliances: A Handbook for Students, Educators, and Parents [This guide tells students what it takes to start a GSA at their school, teachers how best to work with GSAs, and helps principals and superintendents to understand the applicable laws. Parents who read this book can discover for themselves just how positive an influence the GSA may be in their child’s life.]

Ian K. Macgillivray

Guide to activism

Through the Vitriol: Exploring Transgender and Gender Non-conforming Representation in Western Cinema [A 2022 zine that explores trans depictions in film]

Bug Shepher-Barron

Guide/Graphic novel

Before Trans: Three Gender Stories from Nineteenth-Century France [Before the term “transgender” existed, there were those who experienced their gender in complex ways. Before Trans examines the lives and writings of three French writers whose gender expression did not conform to nineteenth-century notions of femininity.]

Rachel Mesch

History

Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender [Illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history.]

Kit Heyam

History

Transgender History [Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events.]

Susan Stryker

History

Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman [This groundbreaking book—far ahead of its time when first published in 1996 and still galvanizing today—interweaves history, memoir, and gender studies to show that transgender people, far from being a modern phenomenon, have always existed and have exerted their influence throughout history. Leslie Feinberg—hirself a lifelong transgender revolutionary—reveals the origin of the check-one-box-only gender system and shows how zie found empowerment in the lives of transgender warriors around the world, from the Two Spirits of the Americas to the many genders of India, from the trans shamans of East Asia to the gender-bending Queen Nzinga of Angola, from Joan of Arc to Marsha P. Johnson and beyond.]

Leslie Feinberg.

History

The Human Agenda: Conversations about Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity [In these wide-ranging and probing conversations, amazing people share their personal and professional stories along with their profound commitment to freedom and equality.]

Joe Wenke

Interviews

Beyond the Gender Binary [Poet, artist, and LGBTQIA+ rights advocate Alok Vaid-Menon deconstructs, demystifies, and reimagines the gender binary.]

Alok Vaid-Menon

Intro to nonbinary people

A Queer and Pleasant Danger: A Memoir [In the early 1970s, a boy from a Conservative Jewish family joined the Church of Scientology. In 1981, that boy officially left the movement and ultimately transitioned into a woman. A few years later, she stopped calling herself a woman—and became a famous gender outlaw. Gender theorist, performance artist, and author Kate Bornstein is set to change lives with her stunningly original memoir. Wickedly funny and disarmingly honest, this is Bornstein’s most intimate book yet, encompassing her early childhood and adolescence, college at Brown, a life in the theater, three marriages and fatherhood, the Scientology hierarchy, transsexual life, LGBTQ politics, and life on the road as a sought-after speaker.]

Kate Bornstein

Memoir

A Year Without a Name: A Memoir [Dunham brings us inside the chrysalis of gender transition, asking us to bear witness to an uncertain and exhilarating process that troubles our most basic assumptions about who we are and how we are constituted. A potent, thrillingly unresolved queer coming of age story.]

Cyrus Grace Dunham

Memoir

Amateur: A Reckoning with Gender, Identity, and Masculinity [A trans man, sets out to uncover what makes a man—and what being a “good” man even means—through his experience training for and fighting in a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden. A self-described “amateur” at masculinity, McBee embarks on a wide-ranging exploration of gender in society, examining sexism, toxic masculinity, and privilege.]

Thomas Page McBee

Memoir

Conundrum [One of the earliest books (1974) to discuss transsexuality with honesty and without prurience, tells the story of James Morris’ hidden life and how he decided to bring it into the open, as he resolved first on a hormone treatment and, second, on risky experimental surgery that would turn him into the woman that he truly was.]

Jan Morris

Memoir

Mom, I Need to be a Girl [Written by the single mother of a transsexual teen-ager, this is a true account of their experiences wending their way through the morass of roadblocks and confusion in seeking approval for the son to become the daughter she had always been meant to be.]

Just Evelyn

Memoir

My Brother Beth [My Brother Beth is a moving story about siblings and their relationship. Then suddenly after 36 years your sister tells you that she is sexually transitioning and will soon be your brother!]

Rebecca Sardella

Memoir

Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender [Nick identifies as neither male nor female and invites readers to view gender not as a binary or a spectrum but as an infinitely beautiful ‘kaleidoscope.’ Narrated with verve, charm, and humor.]

Nick Krieger

Memoir

Raising My Rainbow: Adventures in Raising a Fabulous, Gender Creative Son – The heart of this memoir is love. Ms. Duron is a strong, loving mother. She doesn’t just support her child C.J., but listens and respects his personal emotional needs. In this book we see and acknowledge the struggles of a mother fighting for her child’s right to be himself. She does so even as she herself is berated for not forcing her child to conform to the standards of gender presentation in our society to be someone he is not. The book covers the period from Ms. Duron’s early first awareness that C.J.’s interests differ from his typical older brother Chase’s through C.J.’s entry into first grade. It details Ms. Duron’s initial tolerance, then acceptance, of C.J.’s interests and creative gender expression. It shows the general societal resistance to a boy who likes “girl” things. The efforts Ms. Duron puts forth to support C.J. throughout this period reflect the love of this exceptional mother for her gender-creative child.

Lori Duron

Memoir

She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders [One of the first works to present trans experience from the perspective of a literary novelist, opening a door to new understanding of love, sex, gender, and identity.  Boylan inspired readers to ask the same questions she asked herself:  What is it that makes us—ourselves?  What does it mean to be a man, or a woman?  How much could my husband, or wife, change—and still be recognizable as the one I love? Boylan’s humorous, wise voice helped make She’s Not There the first bestselling work by a transgender American–and transformed Boylan into a national spokeswoman for LGBTQ people, their families, and the people that love them.]

Jennifer Boyle

Memoir

Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen [Some Assembly Required is a true coming-of-age story about knocking down obstacles and embracing family, friendship, and first love. But more than that, it is a reminder that self-acceptance does not come ready-made with a manual and spare parts. Rather, some assembly is always required]

Arin Andrews

Memoir

Becoming a Visible Man: Second Edition [With profoundly personal and eminently practical threads, Green clarifies transgender experience for transgender people and their families, friends, and coworkers. Medical and mental health care providers, educators, business leaders, and advocates seeking information about transgender concerns can all gain from Green’s integrative approach to the topic.]

Jamison Green

Memoir and history

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us [A coming-of-age story that is also a provocative investigation into our notions of male and female, from a self-described nonbinary transfeminine diesel femme dyke who never stops questioning our cultural assumptions.]

Kate Bornstein

Memoir and history

Just Add Hormones: An Insider’s Guide to the Transsexual Experience [More than a memoir, Just Add Hormones is full of sound advice for those who may be questioning their gender. And through his story, Kailey offers valuable insights to the families and friends of those who have started a transition..]

Matt Kailey

Memoir and Self help resource guide

Gender Failure [Accomplished, award-winning writers, musicians, and performers; the authors are also both admitted “gender failures.” In their first collaborative book, Ivan and Rae explore and expose their failed attempts at fitting into the gender binary, and how ultimately our expectations and assumptions around traditional gender roles fail us all.]

Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon

Memoirs

Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity [The powerful first-person narratives of this collection show us a world where gender exists along a spectrum, a web, a multidimensional space. Nuanced storytellers break away from mainstream portrayals of gender diversity, cutting across lines of age, race, ethnicity, ability, class, religion, family, and relationships.]

Edited by Micah Rajunov  and Scott Duane

Memoirs

At Certain Points We Touch [A story of first love and last rites, conjured against a vivid backdrop of London, San Francisco and New York – a riotous, razor-sharp coming-of-age story that marks the arrival of an extraordinary new trans talent.]

Lauren John Joseph

Novel

Flamboyant [Novel about the unlikely friendship between an orthodox Jewish woman teacher and her trans student, a teenaged sex worker and talented writer]

Elizabeth Swados

Novel

Girl, Woman, Other: A Novel [A magnificent portrayal of the intersections of identity and a moving and hopeful story of an interconnected group of Black British women that paints a vivid portrait of the state of contemporary Britain and looks back to the legacy of Britain’s colonial history in Africa and the Caribbean.]

Bernardine Evaristo

Novel

I am J [Easily the best book to date about the complicated condition of being a [transgender] teen, not only sharing important information that is artfully woven into the plot but also creating, in J, a multilayered, absolutely believable character whose pain readers will share. Perhaps most importantly, the author brings clarity and charity to a state of being that has too long been misunderstood, ignored, and deplored.]

Cris Beam

Novel

London Reign [Boston’s Boldest Boy-Toy London has a huge secret…and doesn it want it to ever come out! As this attractive, aggressive, androgynous teenager relentlessly tries to hide this dangerous scandal, charming London constantly battles great turmoil, the unpredictability of inner-city streets, verbal lashings and extreme physical abuse from an alcoholic father while enduring an exhausting tug-of-war of a tumultuous love triangle]

A.C. Britt

Novel

Luna [Awonderful book for teens (targeted for 15 and older) written from the perspective of Regan, a female high school sophomore. Her brother Liam, a brilliant senior, can’t stand the person he is during the day. His true self, Luna, reveals herself only at night. For years, Liam has transformed himself into the beautiful girl he longs to be with help from his sister’s clothes and makeup in the secrecy of their basement bedrooms. Now everything is about to change. Luna is preparing to emerge from her cocoon.]

Julie Anne Peters

Novel

Nevada [One of the most beloved cult novels of our time and a landmark of trans literature, Imogen Binnie’s Nevada is a blistering, heartfelt, and evergreen coming-of-age story, and a punk-smeared excavation of marginalized life under capitalism.]

Imogen Binnie

Novel

Parakeet [The week of her wedding, The Bride is visited by a bird she recognizes as her dead grandmother because of the cornflower blue line beneath her eyes, her dubious expression, and the way she asks: What is the Internet? Her grandmother is a parakeet. She says not to get married. She says: Go and find your brother. Spoiler alert: the novel has an important trans subplot.]

Marie-Helene Bertino

Novel

Parrotfish [A peek into the life of one high-school student as he struggles with the pressures of bullying, isolation and the unknown. Grady was born a girl. When he announced that he was actually a boy, his mother was devastated, his sister was horrified, and his father was…. well, at least his father was trying to be understanding. Grady’s best friend since childhood, Eve, refuses to even look at him in school. She becomes part of the gang of girls whose primary reason for living is to torture Grady. Grady feels totally alienated and alone.]

Ellen Wittlinger.

Novel

Confessions of a Gender Defender : A Psychologist’s Reflections on Life Among the Transgendered [Although published in 1996, this book is still relevant today. Newcomers to transgender are showing up daily – especially parents of young children – who need her perspective. “Confessions” is made up of a series of anecdotes, notes, and memories accumulated over nearly three decades as a therapist. It encompasses segments about transgender patients ranging from young children to octogenarians. Dr. Ettner includes stories both happy and sad, as seen through her eyes.]

Randi Ettner, Ph.D.

Personal histories of trans people

Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family [The inspiring true story of transgender actor and activist Nicole Maines, whose identical twin brother, Jonas, and ordinary American family join her on an extraordinary journey to understand, nurture, and celebrate the uniqueness in us all. Nicole appeared as TV’s first transgender superhero on CW’s Supergirl.]

Personal history

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out [Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken.]

Susan Kuklin

Personal stories of trans teens

Finding the Real Me: True Tales of Sex and Gender Diversity [A compilation of stories by transgenders about their accepting, transitioning, and coming out process.]

Edited by Tracie O’Keefe and Katrina Fox

Personal stories of trans teens

Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits [A unique and extraordinary photographic collection by artist Loren Cameron. Body Alchemy is Loren Cameron’s intensely personal photo documentary of female-to-male transsexuals (FTMs).]

Loren Cameron

Photography

The End [A dystopian/time travel/sci-fi/fantasy with a cast of LGBTQ heroes that bring romance, drama, and a whole lot of action to saving the world.]

Nora Olsen

Scifi novel

The Trans Space Octopus Congregation [Scifi and speculative fiction stories by a Hungarian Jewish agender trans person (e/em/eir/emself or singular they pronouns)]

Bogi Takács

Scifi short stories

Always My Child: A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, or Questioning Son or Daughter [The first book (2003) to focus on the day-to-day experiences of adolescents dealing with sexual identity issues, Always My Child provides the insights and practical strategies parents need to support their kids and cope themselves.]

Kevin Jennings, Executive Director of GLSEN and Pat Shapiro, MSW

Self help resource guide

Coming Around: Parenting Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Kids [a resource for understanding and coming to terms with a child’s sexual orientation and maintaining a dialogue between parent and child. With compassion and wisdom, Dohrenwend addresses parents’ fears regarding what to say and what not to say, bigotry and social and religious prejudice, the legal issues facing LGBT individuals and how to understand homophobia.]

Anne Dohrenwend

Self help resource guide

Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children [Dr. Diane Ehrensaft has worked with children lfor over 30 years and offers parents, clinicians, and educators guidance on both the philosophical dilemmas and the practical, daily concerns of working with children who don’t fit a “typical” gender mold. She debunks outmoded approaches to gender nonconformity that may actually do children harm. And she offers a new framework for helping each child become his or her own unique, most gender-authentic person.]

Diane Ehrensaft

Self help resource guide

GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Teens [An indispensable resource for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning teens. This fully revised and updated edition retains all of the straightforward information and practical advice of the original edition while providing a contemporary look at society and its growing acceptance of people who are GLBTQ.]

Kelly Huegel

Self help resource guide

Out Law: What LGBT Youth Should Know about Their Legal Rights [Discusses the shifting legal terrain for such issues as when schools can censor messages on T-shirts or library computer research into LGBT-related Web sites. It gives youth tips on how to document efforts to curb their rights and where to turn for help in protecting those rights.] (NOTE: The law is always changing and this was published in 2007, so you need to keep current online)

Lisa Keen

Self help resource guide

Queer, 2nd Edition: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens [Updated in 2019. A humorous, engaging, and honest guide that helps LGBTQ teens come out to friends and family, navigate their social life, figure out if a crush is also queer, and challenge bigotry and homophobia. Personal stories from the authors and sidebars on queer history provide relatable context. This completely revised and updated edition is a must-read for any teen who thinks they might be queer or knows someone who is.]

Kathy Belge & Marke Bieschke

Self help resource guide

The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students [This 2006 guide profiles the 100 U.S. institutions with the top “Gay Point Average” on critical LGBT issues.]

Shane L. Windmeyer

Self help resource guide

The Beginner’s Guide to Being A Trans Ally [This easy-to-read guide offers information and advice to anyone wanting to understand more about trans experiences. It explains what gender identity is and arms you with the correct terminology to use. Filled with real-life examples and FAQs, it offers helpful strategies to navigate respectful conversations, speak up against transphobia and create inclusive relationships and spaces. It’s the ideal tool for anyone wanting to become a better ally to transgender and/or nonbinary people.]

Christy Whittlesey

Self help resource guide

The Gay and Lesbian Guide to College Life [2007 guide featuring advice from students and administrators at more than seventy of the nation’s top colleges, the Gay and Lesbian Guide to College Life lets you know how to how to thrive on campus as a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning student.0

Princeton Review

Self help resource guide

The Transgender Child: Revised & Updated Edition: A Handbook for Parents and Professionals Supporting Transgender and Nonbinary Children [Updated 2022 The most trusted source of information for families wanting to understand and affirm their transgender, gender-expansive, or nonbinary child. Utilized around the world and translated into multiple languages, The Transgender Child has won accolades from medical and mental health professionals, teachers, and, most especially, from parents.]

Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper

Self help resource guide

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource by and for Transgender Communities 2nd Edition [There is no one way to be transgender. A revolutionary resource–a comprehensive, reader-friendly guide for transgender people, with each chapter written by transgender and gender expansive authors. Inspired by Our Bodies, Ourselves, the classic and powerful compendium written by and for cisgender women, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves is widely accessible to the transgender population, providing authoritative information in an inclusive and respectful way and representing the collective knowledge base of dozens of influential experts.]

Self help resource guide

Transitions of the Heart: Stories of Love, Struggle and Acceptance by Mothers of Transgender and Gender Variant Children [A collection of mother’s voices, representing a diversity of backgrounds and sexual orientations, affirms the experience of those who have raised and are currently raising transgender and gender variant children between the ages of 5-50.]

Rachel Pepper

Self help resource guide

True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism–For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and Helping Professionals [Groundbreaking book (in 2003) paints a vivid portrait of conflicts transsexuals face on a daily basis–and the courage they must summon as they struggle to reveal their true being to themselves and others.

Mildred L. Brown, PhD and Chloe Ann Rounsley

Self help resource guide

The New Queer Consciousness [A candid and compassionate introduction to queer responsibility. Eli calls on his Jewish faith to underline how kindness and support within the queer community can lead to a stronger global consciousness. More importantly, he reassures us that we’re not alone. In fact, we never were. Because if you mess with one queer, you mess with us all.]

Adam Eli

Short intro

Almost Perfect [Logan Witherspoon befriends Sage Hendricks at a time when he no longer trusts or believes in people. He’s drawn to Sage, with her constant smile and sexy voice, and his feelings for her grow so strong that he can’t resist kissing her. Sage finally discloses a big secret: she was born a boy. Enraged, frightened, and feeling betrayed, Logan lashes out at her–a reaction he soon desperately wishes he could take back. Once his anger cools, Logan is filled with incredible regret, and all he wants is to repair his friendship with Sage.]

Brian Katcher

Teen romance

The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Other Identities [YA authors Levithan and Merrell have collected original poems, essays, and stories by young adults in their teens and early 20s. The Full Spectrum includes a variety of writers—gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight, transitioning, and questioning—on a variety of subjects: coming out, family, friendship, religion/faith, first kisses, break-ups, and many others.

David Levithan

Young Adult anthology

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children [Gabe has a secret. He is really Liz. Born a female, he is cautiously beginning his transition to male. Only his parents and his lifelong best friend, Paige, know. But when a girl at school, where he is callously called “that lesbo chick,” discovers the truth and outs Gabe, things become difficult, if not downright dangerous. In the meantime, Gabe is a part-time DJ on the local community radio station, where his show, “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children,” is fast becoming an underground hit. ]

Kirstin Conn-Mills

Young adult novel