Resources for Educators Dealing With Gay & Lesbian Issues

Jan 01, 1999

GENERAL BACKGROUND

·\tLOOKING AT GAY AND LESBIAN LIFE by Warren Blumenfeld and Diane Raymond is a good general introduction;

·\tIS IT A CHOICE?: ANSWERS TO THREE HUNDRED OF THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT GAY MEN AND LESBIANS by Eric Marcus is a good starting point as well;

·\tTHE NEW LOVING SOMEONE GAY by Don Clark offers answers and information from a therapist for gay people and their families.

SCHOOLS

THE EDUCATION COMMITTEE REPORT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR'S COMMISSION ON GAY AND LESBIAN YOUTH, MAKING SCHOOLS SAFE FOR GAY AND LESBIAN YOUTH, surveys the needs of gay youth and presents detailed recommendations for action by schools to meet those needs. Its recommendations were adopted as state educational policy by the Massachusetts Board of Education in May 1993. Write the Commission at State House Room 111, Boston, MA 02133, to receive a copy.

Specifically focusing on independent schools:

·\tBREAKING THE SILENCE: ADDRESSING GAY ISSUES IN INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS, available from Bob Riddle of the Crossroads School (310-829-7391);

·\tVoices of teachers are found in ONE TEACHER IN TEN: GAY AND LESBIAN EDUCATORS TELL THEIR STORIES, edited by Kevin Jennings, a collection of autobiographical writings by 36 openly gay and lesbian teachers;

·\tSCHOOL'S OUT: THE IMPACT OF GAY AND LESBIAN ISSUES ON AMERICA'S SCHOOLS by Dan Woog is an collection of "snapshots" of what is happening in schools around the country;

·\tTHE GAY, LESBIAN, AND BISEXUAL STUDENTS' GUIDE TO COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND GRADUATE SCHOOLS by Jan-Mitchell Sherrill is a wealth of information on post-secondary education.

YOUNG CHILDREN

·\tThe "ALYSON WONDERLAND" series, including such books as HEATHER HAS TWO MOMMIES by Leslea Newman and UNCLE WHAT-IS-IT? IS COMING TO VISIT by Michael Wilhoite, consists of books which introduce children to gay people in age-appropriate ways.

A catalogue is available from Alyson Publications, 40 Plympton St., Boston, MA 02118.

MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

·\tThe Chelsea House "LIVES OF NOTABLE GAY MEN AND LESBIANS" biography series is excellent;

·\tAM I BLUE?: COMING OUT FROM SILENCE, ed. by Marian Bauer, an anthology of pieces by well-known children's writers, is also excellent;

Good novels include:

·\tANNIE ON MY MIND by Nancy Garden;

·\tTHE DROWNING OF STEPHAN JONES by Bette Green.

ADOLESCENTS

A useful book for gay adolescents (or closeted people of any age) is OUTING YOURSELF: HOW TO COME OUT AS LESBIAN OR GAY TO YOUR FAMILY, YOUR FRIENDS, AND YOUR COWORKERS by Michelangelo Signorile, which is exactly what it says it is -- a step-by-step guide to coming out.

Works addressing the experiences of gay youth include:

·\tGROWING UP GAY, GROWING UP LESBIAN:A LITERARY ANTHOLOGY edited by Bennett Singer, which includes a detailed resource guide to all national support groups in its appendix;

·\tTWO TEENAGERS IN TWENTY: WRITINGS BY GAY AND LESBIAN YOUTH, ed. by Ann Heron;

·\tNOT THE ONLY ONE: LESBIAN AND GAY FICTION FOR TEENS by Tony Grima;

·\tDEATH BY DENIAL:STUDIES OF GAY AND LESBIAN YOUTH SUICIDE by Gary Remafedi collects research on this subject (including the Mass. Governor's Commission report, see above);

·\tHELPING GAY AND LESBIAN YOUTH: NEW POLICIES, NEW PROGRAMS, NEW PRACTICES ed. by Teresa DeCrescenzo and THE GAY TEEN ed. by Gerald Unks (originally published as an issue of "The High School Journal") contain many useful articles.

FAMILY ISSUES

·\tCOMING OUT TO PARENTS: A TWO WAY SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN AND THEIR PARENTS by Mary Borhek provides practical advice to both gay youth and their parents from the mother of a gay son;

·\tBEYOND ACCEPTANCE: PARENTS OF LESBIANS AND GAYS TALK ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES by Carolyn Griffin;

·\tSTRAIGHT PARENTS, GAY CHILDREN: KEEPING FAMILIES TOGETHER by Robert Bernstein;

·\tTHE FAMILY HEART: A MEMOIR OF WHEN OUR SON CAME OUT by Robb Forman Dew;

·\tPRAYERS FOR BOBBY: A MOTHER COMES TO TERMS WITH THE SUICIDE OF HER GAY SON by Leroy Aarons;

·\tNOW THAT YOU KNOW: WHAT EVERY PARENT SHOULD KNOW ABOUT HOMOSEXUALITY by Betty Fairchild and Nancy Hayward;

·\tTHERE'S SOMETHING I'VE BEEN MEANING TO TELL YOU by Loralee MacPike addresses coming out by parents;

·\tTHE OTHER SIDE OF THE CLOSET: THE COMING OUT CRISIS FOR STRAIGHT SPOUSES AND FAMILIES by Anne Pierce Buxton tells an important side of the story;

·\tTHE LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTING HANDBOOK by April Merten offers practical information for gay parents and is useful reading for those who will be working with these families;

·\tA MEMBER OF THE FAMILY: GAY MEN WRITE ABOUT THEIR FAMILIES, ed. by John Preston, DIFFERENT DAUGHTERS: SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF LESBIANS TALK ABOUT THEIR LIVES by Louise Rafkin;

·\tALL THE WAYS HOME: PARENTING AND CHILDREN IN LESBIAN AND GAY COMMUNITIES, A Collection of Short Fiction edited by Cindy Rizzo et al, present important perspectives on gay and lesbian families.

LITERATURE AND HISTORY

Useful literary anthologies include:

·\tTHE PENGUIN BOOK OF LESBIAN SHORT STORIES, ed. by Margaret Reynolds;

·\tTHE FABER BOOK OF GAY SHORT FICTION, ed. by Edmund White;

·\tTHE PENGUIN BOOK OF GAY SHORT STORIES, ed. by David Leavitt and Mark Mitchell; GAY AND LESBIAN POETRY IN OUR TIME, ed. by Carl Morse and Joan Larkin;

·\tTHE PENGUIN BOOK OF HOMOSEXUAL VERSE, ed. by Stephen Coote;

·\tTHE PENGUIN BOOK OF INTERNATIONAL GAY WRITING, ed. by Mark Mitchell.

History books include:

·\tOUT OF THE PAST: GAY AND LESBIAN HISTORY FROM 1867 TO THE PRESENT by Neil Miller, a readable secondary source survey;

BECOMING VISIBLE: A READER IN GAY AND LESBIAN HISTORY FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS by Kevin Jennings, a documentary collection and curriculum for high school history classes;

·\tMAKING HISTORY: THE STRUGGLE FOR GAY AND LESBIAN CIVIL RIGHTS, 1945-1990, An Oral History by Eric Marcus, a collection of readable interviews with many important figures in the gay rights movement;

·\tGAY AMERICAN HISTORY and THE LESBIAN/GAY ALMANAC, both ed. by Jonathan Ned Katz, which contain exhaustive collections of primary and secondary documents;

·\tSURPASSING THE LOVE OF MEN: ROMANTIC LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN WOMEN FROM THE RENAISSANCE TO THE PRESENT and ODD GIRLS AND TWILIGHT LOVERS: A HISTORY OF LESBIAN LIFE IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICA, important works on the lesbian experience;

·\tSTONEWALL by Martin Duberman, which details the events leading up the 1969 riots generally considered the beginning of the modern gay liberation movement.

COLLECTIONS ADDRESSING DIVERSITY

Numerous publications now address the diversity of the gay and lesbian community, including:

·\tTWICE BLESSED: ON BEING LESBIAN OR GAY AND JEWISH, by Christine Balka;

·\tIN THE LIFE: A BLACK GAY ANTHOLOGY, ed. by Joseph Beam;

·\tBROTHER TO BROTHER: NEW WRITINGS BY BLACK GAY MEN, ed. by Essex Hemphill;

·\tPIECE OF MY HEART: A LESBIAN OF COLOR ANTHOLOGY. ed. by Makeda Silvera;

·\tLIVING THE SPIRIT: A GAY AMERICAN INDIAN ed. by Will Roscoe;

·\tA LOTUS OF ANOTHER COLOR: AN UNFOLDING OF THE SOUTH ASIAN GAY AND LESBIAN EXPERIENCE, ed. by Rakesh Ratti;

·\tCOMPANERAS: LATINA LESBIANS, by Juanita Ramos;

·\tAFREKETE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF BLACK LESBIAN WRITING ed. by Catherine McKinley et al;

·\tEYES OF DESIRE: A DEAF GAY AND LESBIAN READER ed. by Raymond Luczak. FILMS

FRAMELINE, a San Francisco-based distributor, maintains a large catalog of gay films (415-703-8650)

YOUTH FILMS INCLUDE:

RESPECT FOR ALL: PREVENTING HOMOPHOBIA AMONG SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN, a collection of four videos that look at how to educate K-6 students on gay and lesbian issues, available from Women's Educational Media (415-641-4616);

BOTH OF MY MOMS' NAMES ARE JUDY, aimed at young children of gay and lesbian parents and their experiences (available from the Gay and Lesbian Parents Coalition 202-583-8029); Gay Youth (40 minutes) is an excellent documentary on the topic ($60, from Wolfe Video, P.O. Box 64, New Almaden, CA 95042);

WHO'S AFRAID OF PROJECT 10? (23 minutes), a profile of one of the nation's first in-school gay youth groups (from Friends of Project 10, 7850 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90046);

THE DISCO YEARS (30 minutes), a gay teen story told in an "After School Special" style (Select Media 1-800-707-MEDIA);

THE INCREDIBLY TRUE ADVENTURE OF TWO GIRLS IN LOVE, a feature depicting a coming-of-age romance between two young lesbians (not yet commercially available on video).

DOCUMENTARIES INCLUDE:

BEFORE STONEWALL (90 minutes), a history of the pre-Stonewall gay community;

LAST CALL AT MAUD'S, which examines pre-liberation lesbian life by studying a well-known lesbian bar in San Francisco;

COMING OUT UNDER FIRE: GAY MEN AND LESBIANS DURING WORLD WAR TWO (75 minutes), which shows how this event was a seminal moment in creating the modern gay community and movement;

THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK (90 minutes), the 1984 Academy Award winner profiling the life and assassination of the first gay man to be elected to public office in the U. S.;

COMMON THREADS: STORIES FROM THE QUILT (85 minutes), the 1990 Academy Award winner which tells the human and political history of the AIDS epidemic through stories behind panels of the NAMES Project Quilt;

VOICES FROM THE FRONT (90 minutes), which details the history of AIDS civil disobedience movement led by ACT-UP.

FEATURES INCLUDE:

THE WEDDING BANQUET, a comedy which tells the story of a gay Chinese man whose sexuality is revealed when he attempts a "green card" marriage;

DESERT HEARTS, the love story of a woman who falls for another woman awaiting her divorce in Nevada;

GO FISH, a portrait of life among some twenty-something lesbians;

PARTING GLANCES, 24 hours in the life of a gay New York couple and their best friend, who has AIDS;

MAURICE, the Merchant-Ivory film based on Forster's novel;

TORCH SONG TRILOGY, based on Harvey Fierstein's Tony-winning play.