Oct. 9 book event on Black gay identity
On Friday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m., Women & Children First Bookstore, 5233 N. Clark St., will host an event that centers around the book What Color Is Your Hoodie?
In 13 essays, author Jarrett Neal examines several issues involving Black gay men, including racism, classism and even physical representations in the world of gay pornography.
Visit www.womenandchildrenfirst.com .
LGBT history celebration at Open Books Oct. 17
Windy City Times, Open Books and Chicago Review Press will co-host a gathering to promote LGBT history at Open Books' West Loop location, 651 W. Lake St., Saturday, Oct. 17, 1-3 p.m.
Families of all backgrounds are invited to explore the history of the LGBT rights movement with author Jerome Pohlen, who will lead activities and read from his book Gay and Lesbian History for Kids.
Part of the popular For Kids series, this book puts the historic struggle for LGBT equality into perspective Given today's news, it would be easy to get the impression that the campaign for LGBT equality is a recent development, but it is only the final act in a struggle that started more than a century ago. This timely resource helps put recent events into context for kids ages nine and up.
After a brief history up to 1900, each chapter discusses an era in the struggle for LGBT civil rights from the 1920s to today. The history is told through personal stories and firsthand accounts of the movement's key events like the 1950s "Lavender Scare," the Stonewall Inn uprising, and the AIDS crisis.
Readers will learn about civil-rights mavericks, like Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, founder of the first gay-rights organization; Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, who turned the Daughters of Bilitis from a lesbian social club into a powerhouse for LGBT freedom; and Harvey Milk, the first out candidate to win a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Also chronicled are the historic contributions of famous LGBT individuals, and 21 activities enliven the history. Kids can write a free-verse poem like Walt Whitman, learn the Madison line dance, design an AIDS quilt panel, and write a song parody to learn about the spirited ways in which the LGBT community has pushed for positive social change.
See www.open-books.org/event/lgbt-history-celebration/ .
Book explores 'Violence Against Queer People'
In Violence against Queer People ( from Rutgers University Press ), sociologist/professor Doug Meyer offers what a press release calls "the first investigation of anti-queer violence that focuses on the roles that race, class and gender play."
Drawing on interviews with 47 victims of violence, Meyer highlights the extent to which other forms of discrimination—including racism and sexism—shape LGBT people's experience of abuse.
Meyer contends that the present media focus on white, middle-class victims greatly oversimplifies and distorts the nature of anti-queer violence and that attempts to reduce this violence that ignore race, class and gender run the risk of helping only the most privileged subjects.
The book will be released Oct. 11—National Coming Out Day.
Full calendar of events at the link: www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/chicago/events/upcoming.php
