The year is 1973. It’s the time of Watergate and the E.R.A. Social change is in the air, and for 15-year-old Shawn Stuart, that means coming to terms with feelings for his best friend, Brad. Brad has been his best friend since preschool. The two have always been close, so it seems natural enough that, as a new term of high school begins and Brad begins questioning his sexuality, he decides to show his feelings for his best friend…by laying a kiss on him. Shawn is a straight boy, with eyes on a girl who seems to have eyes on him too, but after the kiss with Brad, he’s not so sure of his sexuality. As the big school dance comes up, and Shawn goes steady with his girl, he wrestles with the question: how can he like girls and like guys the same way? The answer isn’t obvious in a society where such things are not talked about, even between the closest of friends. Shawn and Brad must hide behind the veil of their secret, yet might there be a way for their future to be defined by the calling of the heart? And, in the winds of social change, can Shawn be true to himself, while also fitting into the expectations of the world?

It's 1973 and fifteen-year-old Shawn Stuart is looking forward to the two best Christmas presents he could ever ask for—spending the holidays with his boyfriend and a visit from his lookalike cousin Will. For Will, this holiday visit to Shawn’s family is a much-needed break from his work on the family farm. It’s a chance to get to know his cousin better and to just relax by the pool at Shawn’s fancy house. But tragedy strikes and Shawn and Will go in search of a long-buried family secret that will forever change both their lives. As they get closer to the truth, they start to realize that seeking that answer will only raise new questions, questions that no one wants to answer. As the secret unravel, Shawn’s love for his boyfriend is strengthened, but Will’s faith in love is questioned. For Will, his solace may be found in Weston, a mysterious boy who’s suffered his own tragedy. This is a journey of love, friendship, and discovering that even in tragedy, there is hope.

Corbin has two secrets. The first secret is that he’s gay. He’s known it for a while now and six months ago he met a cute guy and they’ve been dating ever since. But he can’t tell anyone. His father is like a one-man Marine recruitment poster and has made every effort to raise Corbin to be an alpha male. If he finds out Corbin is gay, he’ll forbid Corbin from seeing his boyfriend, dooming the relationship to an unhappy end. The second secret is that he’s a drag queen. On Sundays he heads to the queer café and dons his best dress, wig, and heels, and becomes Misty Rain, putting on a captivating show to an adoring crowd. While coming out as gay would lead to a crack-down from his Dad, the punishment for putting on a dress and heels would be ten times worse—he’d be shipped off to military school and there’d be absolutely no hope for Corbin and his love. So far, Corbin has managed to keep his secrets. But when his older brother comes home while on leave from the Marines, he happens to catch the drag show featuring Corbin—and he spots his brother right away. Corbin’s perfectly structured life and his big dreams are all about to come crashing down.

The year is 1973. It's the time of Watergate and the E.R.A. Social change is in the air, and for 15-year-old Shawn Stuart, that means coming to terms with feelings for his best friend, Brad.Brad has been his best friend since preschool. The two have always been close, so it seems natural enough that, as a new term of high school begins and Brad begins questioning his sexuality, he decides to show his feelings for his best friend...by laying a kiss on him.Shawn is a straight boy, with eyes on a girl who seems to have eyes on him too, but after the kiss with Brad, he's not so sure of his sexuality. As the big school dance comes up, and Shawn goes steady with his girl, he wrestles with the question: how can he like girls and like guys the same way? The answer isn't obvious in a society where such things are not talked about, even between the closest of friends.Shawn and Brad must hide behind the veil of their secret, yet might there be a way for their future to be defined by the calling of the heart? And, in the winds of social change, can Shawn be true to himself, while also fitting into the expectations of the world?

A cultural history of the customs, fashions, and figures of gay life in the twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries-and how they have changed us for the better. How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization presents a broad yet incisive look at how an unusual "immigrant" group, homosexual men, has influenced mainstream American society and has, in many ways, become mainstream itself. From the way camp, irony, and the gay aesthetic have become part of our national sensibility to the undeniable effect the gay cognoscenti have had on media and the arts, Cathy Crimmins examines how gay men have changed the concepts of community, family, sex, and fashion.

"This is where sex and gender collide, then ricochet like fragments of heart rending shrapnel. Rarely has a book about lust been full of so much love, conflict, and intelligence. If you think you already know what's in these stories, or you think you don't need to know, you're wrong."—Patrick Califa, author of Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism Exploring the crossroads of gender and sexuality, Trans/Love: Radical Sex, Love & Relationships Beyond the Gender Binary offers unusually engaging narratives that create a raw and honest depiction of dating, sex, love, and relationships among members of the gender variant community. FTM, MTF, thirdgender, genderqueer, and other non-traditional identities beyond the gender binary of traditional male and female are included in this often heartwarming, occasionally heartbreaking, always heartfelt groundbreaking anthology. From monogamous love and marriage to anonymous sex and one-night hook-ups (and everything in between), these stories offer readers insight into the precarious emotional and practical mechanics of intimacy among gender-variant experiences. Features contributions from award-winning authors including Julia Serano, Sassafras Lowery, and Max Valerio, alongside outstanding new writing by Tribe 8 guitarist and acclaimed film director Silas Howard, activist Joelle Ruby Ryan, filmmaker Ashley Altadonna, SisterSpit alum Cooper Lee Bombardier, and many other unique and talented voices. Morty Diamond is the editor of the critically-acclaimed anthology From the Inside Out: Radical Gender Transformation, FTM and Beyond. His performance work includes My Year In Pink and Ask A Tranny, a public performance piece on acceptance of and education about the trans experience.

For over half a century, organizations and individuals promoting ex-gay, conversion and/ or reparative therapy have pushed the tenet that a person may be able to, and should, alter their sexual orientation. Their so-called treatments or therapies have taken various forms over the decades, ranging from medical (including psychiatric or psychological) rehabilitation approaches, to counselling, and religious healing. Gay Conversion Practices in Memoir, Film and Fiction provides an in-depth exploration of the disturbing phenomenon of gay conversion 'therapy' and its fictional and autobiographical representations across a broad range of films and books such as But I'm a Cheerleader! (1999), This is What Love in Action Looks Like (2011) and Boy Erased (2018). In doing so, the volume emphasizes the powerful role the arts and media play in communicating stories around conversion practices. Approaching the timely and urgent subject from an interdisciplinary perspective, contributors utilize film theory, queer theory, literary theory, mental health and social movement theory to discuss the medicalization and pathologizing of queer people, the power of institutions ranging from church, psychiatry and family (sometimes in alliance), and the real and fictional voices of survivors.

Out is a fashion, style, celebrity and opinion magazine for the modern gay man.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “The Best Strangers in the World is a witty, poignant book that captures Ari Shapiro’s love for the unusual, his pursuit of the unexpected, and his delight at connection against the odds.”—Ronan Farrow, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and New York Times-bestselling author of Catch and Kill and War on Peace From the beloved host of NPR's All Things Considered, a stirring memoir-in-essays that is also a lover letter to journalism. In his first book, broadcaster Ari Shapiro takes us around the globe to reveal the stories behind narratives that are sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking, but always poignant. He details his time traveling on Air Force One with President Obama, or following the path of Syrian refugees fleeing war, or learning from those fighting for social justice both at home and abroad. As the self-reinforcing bubbles we live in become more impenetrable, Ari Shapiro keeps seeking ways to help people listen to one another; to find connection and commonality with those who may seem different; to remind us that, before religion, or nationality, or politics, we are all human. The Best Strangers in the World is a testament to one journalist’s passion for Considering All Things—and sharing what he finds with the rest of us.

'The best introduction to Deleuze, and to the collective writings of Deleuze and Guattari, available yet! Claire Colebrook has produced a truly accessible pathway into the labyrinthine enchantments offered for contemporary thought by Deleuzianism, making concepts clear, showing their political and theoretical complexity, elaborating their social and artistic relevance. A wonderful, lucid opening onto the new worlds of Deleuze.' Elizabeth Grosz, Rutgers University 'A wonderfully clear introduction to key Deleuzian concepts and to their effectiveness in fields ranging from ethics and politics to cinema, literary and cultural studies. Claire Colebrook provides a series of effortless transitions from Deleuze's philosophical concerns (eg: difference, representation, desire and affect) to concrete problems in a variety of fields. This book is an excellent guide to an important body of critical thought.' Paul Patton, Professor of Philosophy, University of NSW A genuine attempt to think differently, Gilles Deleuze's work challenges, provokes and frustrates. Surprisingly practical as well as innovative, it is now being seen as a 'must read' for students and scholars across the humanities and social sciences. Claire Colebrook's Understanding Deleuze offers a comprehensive and very accessible introduction to his work. hink differently. It is built on the notion of an immanent ethics: how can we have a political and ethical theory without some external foundation such as the subject or morality? He argues that the only way we can do this is with a theory of the virtual, and he sees all life (not just cyberculture) as virtual. Deleuze goes further than Foucault or Derrida in questioning the boundaries of the subject and knowledge. For Deleuze perception extends beyond the human, to animals, machines and microorganisms. Deleuze's writing is challenging and hard to read, and so far there is no introduction to his work. Claire Colebrook's primer offers an accessible introduction to the whole Deleuzian oeuvre, including the work he did with Guattari.