Voices of LGBTQ+
A Conversation Starter for Understanding, Supporting, and Protecting Gay, Bi, Trans, and Queer People
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Why do so many people reject those who are different?
Though the mainstream acceptance of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, and Queer community has great improvements over the past few years, many groups within our society still respond to the LGBTQ+ community with an overwhelming reaction of “us” vs. “them.” Despite the progress that has been made, hatred, misunderstanding, aggression, animosity, and violence still affect this community on a deep level. A strong ally, Lynda Wolters knows firsthand: she has come to have a deep respect for the community through her son, who is gay.
Including highly personal anecdotes, Voices of LGBTQ+ outlines some of the most critical challenges the community faces today, with insights into:
• Homelessness
• Hate crimes
• Suicide
• Economic challenges
• Discrimination and lack of equality
• Religious and biblical conflicts
Though judgment and divisiveness still run deep, Wolters highlights the first key distinction that will help eradicate bigotry: those who are different are not choosing to be, they simply are, and it’s our differences that make us stronger. Voices of LGBTQ+ helps educate, dispel fears, and start positive conversations about what knowing, loving, or simply peacefully and positively coexisting with someone in the LGBTQ+ community truly means.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Blogger Wolters (Voices of Cancer) provides a cursory survey of the realities and complications of LGBTQ lives. As a mother of a gay son, Wolters lays out some basics of sexual diversity, including details of gender confirmation surgery, and explains her desire to focus largely on trans individuals, who she feels are "unfairly marginalized and invisible to the vast majority of the ." She provides a real sense of the problem of family abandonment before offering a summary of various religious responses to the LGBTQ community, including both rejection and affirmation. She then turns to current political debates, particularly bathroom laws and the thwarted campaign in her native Idaho to expand antidiscrimination legislation to include sexual orientation and gender identity. She closes with suggestions for providing more support to LGBTQ loved ones, such as encouraging inclusive language and creating safe spaces. While Wolters shares affecting stories, the repetition of testaments from the same individuals and some broad generalizations ("there is a social order within the LGBTQ+ community... with lipstick lesbians' the term for conventionally beautiful' women being the pinnacle of them all") raise questions about the depth of her research. For those entirely unfamiliar with queer lives, this is a workable introduction, but it's too basic for most readers.
