Online Resources and Groups

The Audrey Lorde Project

The Audre Lorde Project is a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Two Spirit, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color community organizing center, focusing on the New York City area.

Online Reading

Say What?

How to Talk about Trans and Gender Non Conforming People, Youth and People in the Sex Trade Respectfully

Created by FIERCE, Streetwise and Safe (SAS),
and the Audre Lorde Project

Medical Resources

Books

Trans and Autistic: Stories from Life at the Intersection

by Noah Adams and Bridget Liang

This ground-breaking book foregrounds the voices of autistic trans people as they speak candidly about how their autism and gender identity intersects and the impact this has on their life.

Drawing upon a wealth of interviews with transgender people on the autism spectrum, the book explores experiences of coming out, with self-discovery, healthcare, family, work, religion and community support, to help dispel common misunderstandings around gender identity and autism, whilst allowing autistic trans people to see their own neurodiverse experiences reflected in these interviews.

An incisive introduction clearly sets out up-to-date research and thinking, before each chapter draws together key findings from the interviews, along with advice and support for those providing support to autistic trans individuals. Both accessible and authoritative, Trans and Autistic is an essential publication for autistic trans people, their families, and professionals wanting to understand and support their clients better.

Once a Girl, Always a Boy: A Family Memoir of a Transgender Journey

by Jo Ivester

Jeremy Ivester is a transgender man. Thirty years ago, his parents welcomed him into the world as what they thought was their daughter. As a child, he preferred the toys and games our society views as masculine. He kept his hair short and wore boys’ clothing. They called him a tomboy. That’s what he called himself.

By high school, when he showed no interest in flirting, his parents thought he might be lesbian. At twenty, he wondered if he was asexual. At twenty-three, he surgically removed his breasts. A year later, he began taking the hormones that would lower his voice and give him a beard―and he announced his new name and pronouns.

Once a Girl, Always a Boy is Jeremy’s journey from childhood through coming out as transgender and eventually emerging as an advocate for the transgender community. This is not only Jeremy’s story but also that of his family, told from multiple perspectives―those of the siblings who struggled to understand the brother they once saw as a sister, and of the parents who ultimately joined him in the battle against discrimination. This is a story of acceptance in a world not quite ready to accept.

Embracing the Journey: A Christian Parents’ Blueprint to Loving Your LGBTQ Child

by Greg McDonald and Lynn McDonald

A sympathetic, compassionate, and inspiring guide for parents—from the founders of one of the first Christian ministries for parents of LGBTQ children.

Greg and Lynn McDonald had never interacted with members of the LGBTQ community until they discovered that their son was gay. Without resources or support, they had no idea how to come to terms with this discovery. At first they tried to “fix” him, to no avail. But even in the earliest days of their journey, the McDonalds clung to two absolutes: they would love God, and they would love their son.

“An essential resource for Christian parents of LGBTQ kids,” (Matthew Vines, Executive Director of The Reformation Project) this book follows the McDonald family’s journey over the next twenty years, from a place of grief to a place of gratitude and acceptance that led the McDonalds to start one of the first Christian ministries for parents of LGBTQ children. Based on their experience from counseling and coaching hundreds of struggling Christian parents, they offer tools for understanding your own emotional patterns and spiritual challenges. They also help you experience a deeper relationship with God while handling difficult or unexpected situations that are out of your control. You will discover tested principles, patterns, and spiritual lessons that can change the way we all see our families, and help Christians at large think through Christ-like ways to respond to the LGBTQ community.

Written in an unvarnished, honest, reassuring, and relatable voice, this is a practical guide for parents and a roadmap to learning to love God, the people He created, and the church, even when they seem to be at odds.

Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws

by Kate Bornstein

Celebrated transsexual trailblazer Kate Bornstein has, with more humor and spunk than any other, ushered us into a world of limitless possibility through a daring re-envisionment of the gender system as we know it.

Here, Bornstein bravely and wittily shares personal and unorthodox methods of survival in an often cruel world. A one-of-a-kind guide to staying alive outside the box, Hello, Cruel World is a much-needed unconventional approach to life for those who want to stay on the edge, but alive.

Hello, Cruel World features a catalog of 101 alternatives to suicide that range from the playful (moisturize!), to the irreverent (shatter some family values), to the highly controversial. Designed to encourage readers to give themselves permission to unleash their hearts’ harmless desires, the book has only one directive: “Don’t be mean.” It is this guiding principle that brings its reader on a self-validating journey, which forges wholly new paths toward a resounding decision to choose life.

Tenderly intimate and unapologetically edgy, Kate Bornstein is the radical role model, the affectionate best friend, and the guiding mentor all in one.

Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us

by Kate Bornstein

“I know I’m not a man . . . and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m probably not a woman, either. . . . . The trouble is, we’re living in a world that insists we be one or the other.” With these words, Kate Bornstein ushers readers on a funny, fearless, and wonderfully scenic journey across the terrains of gender and identity. On one level, Gender Outlaw details Bornstein’s transformation from heterosexual male to lesbian woman, from a one-time IBM salesperson to a playwright and performance artist. But this particular coming-of-age story 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.

Gender Outlaw was decades ahead of its time when it was first published in 1994. Now, some twenty-odd years later, this book stands as both a classic and a still-revolutionary work—one that continues to push us gently but profoundly to the furthest borders of the gender frontier.

My Invisible Kingdom : Letters from the Secret Lives of Teens

by Scott Fried

A collection of letters sent to Scott, “My Invisible Kingdom” is a private glimpse into the secrets that teens carry with them in their pockets. Moving, honest, and unfiltered, this book shares insights that every parent should see.

Trans Power: Own Your Gender

by Juno Roche

“All those layers of expectation that are thrust upon us; boy, masculine, femme, transgender, sexual, woman, real, are such a weight to carry round. I feel transgressive. I feel hybrid. I feel trans.”

In this radical and emotionally raw book, Juno Roche pushes the boundaries of trans representation by redefining ‘trans’ as an identity with its own power and strength, that goes beyond the gender binary.

Through intimate conversations with leading and influential figures in the trans community, such as Kate Bornstein, Travis Alabanza, Josephine Jones, Glamrou and E-J Scott, this book highlights the diversity of trans identities and experiences with regard to love, bodies, sex, race and class, and urges trans people – and the world at large – to embrace a ‘trans’ identity as something that offers empowerment and autonomy.

Powerfully written, and with humour and advice throughout, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in the future of gender and how we identify ourselves.

The Trans Self-Care Workbook: A Coloring Book and Journal for Trans and Non-Binary People

by Theo Lorenz

If you’re transgender, non-binary, or any other gender under the wide and wonderful trans umbrella, this book is for you. A creative journal and workbook with a difference, this book combines coloring pages celebrating trans identity, beauty and relationships, with practical advice, journaling prompts and space for reflection to promote self-affirmation and wellbeing.

Drawing on CBT and mindfulness techniques, the book covers topics including body positivity and neutrality, coming out, euphoria and dysphoria, building new friendships and navigating relationships with your friends and family, and is the go-to resource for anybody who has ever felt the pressure to conform to a singular definition or narrative.

Theo Nicole Lorenz’s heart-warming and empowering illustrations of trans people will provide reassurance that you are never alone, and are a reminder to always treat yourself kindly.

Coming Out Like a Porn Star

by Jiz Lee

This one-of-a-kind book shares intimate personal stories of porn performers “coming out” to family, friends, partners, lovers, and community. The contributors represent a wide range of races, ethnicities, and genders. They include Joanna Angel, Annie Sprinkle, Betty Blac, Nina Hartley, Candida Royalle, Conner Habib, Dale Cooper, Christopher Zeischegg, Cindy Gallop, Drew DeVeaux, Erika Lust, Gala Vanting, Casey Calvert, Lorelei Lee, Stoya, Ignacio Rivera AKA Papí Coxxx, and many others.

Jiz Lee is a veteran porn performer who had worked in over two-hundred projects within indie, queer, and hardcore gonzo adult genres. Lee is the editor of Coming Out Like a Porn Star, and co-editor of the Porn Studies Journal Special Issue: Porn and Labour.

Luna

by Julie Anne Peters

Regan’s brother Liam can’t stand the person he is during the day. Like the moon from whom Liam has chosen his female name, his true self, Luna, only reveals herself at night. In the secrecy of his basement bedroom Liam transforms himself into the beautiful girl he longs to be, with help from his sister’s clothes and makeup. Now, everything is about to change: Luna is preparing to emerge from her cocoon. But are Liam’s family and friends ready to elcome Luna into their lives?

Compelling and provocative, this is an unforgettable novel about a transgender teen’s struggle for self-identity and acceptance.

Queer Africa: New and Collected Fiction

by Karen Martin

Queer Africa was awarded a Lambda Literary Award for best LGBT anthology in 2014.

Queer Africa is a collection of unapologetic, tangled, tender, funny, bruising and brilliant stories about the many ways in which we love each other on the continent – In these unafraid stories of intimacy, sweat, betrayal and restless confidences, we accompany characters into cafes, tattoo salons, the barest of bedrooms, coldly gleaming spaces into which the rich withdraw, unlit streets, and their own deepest interiors.

Queering the Tarot

by Cassandra Snow

Tarot is best used as a tool for self-discovery, healing, growth, empowerment, and liberation. Tarot archetypes provide the reader with a window into present circumstances and future potential. But what if that window only opened up on a world that was white, European, and heterosexual? The interpretations of the tarot that have been passed down through tradition presuppose a commonality and normalcy among humanity. At the root of card meanings are archetypes that we accept without questioning. But at what point do archetypes become stereotypes?

Humanity is diverse–culturally, spiritually, sexually. Tarot has the power to serve a greater population, with the right keys to unlock the tarot’s deeper meanings. In Queering the Tarot, Cassandra Snow deconstructs the meanings of the 78 cards explaining the ways in which each card might be interpreted against the norm. Queering the Tarot explores themes of sexuality, coming out, gender and gender-queering, sources of oppression and empowerment, and many other topics especially familiar to not-straight folks. Cassandra’s identity-based approach speaks directly to those whose identity is either up in the air or consuming the forefront of their consciousness. It also speaks to those struggling with mental illness or the effects of trauma, all seekers looking for personal affirmation that who they are is okay.

What Does LGBT+ Mean?: A Guide for Young People (and Grown-Ups)

by Olly Pike

An introductory guide for young people (and grown-ups) who are ready to explore identity, gender, love, sexual orientation, privilege, discrimination, pride, allyship and more.

Designed for use at school and home, this book will open up conversations, answer questions and provide the foundations for exploring LGBT+ identities.