Vicious attempts to strike down fundamental rights and freedom of expression are happening all across the country. In New Mexico, we respect personal freedom and are proud that our state has some of the strongest protections for LGBTQIA+ people in the country. This year's summer reading list celebrates the profound and beautiful storytelling by and of LGBTQIA+ authors and characters.
Gender Queer: A Memoir*
By Maia Kobabe
Genre: Memoir, Graphic Novel
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
From The Stars in The Sky to The Fish in The Sea
By Kai Cheng Thom
Genre: Children’s
This unique children’s book honors timeless fairy-tale themes while challenging gender, racial, and body stereotypes.
Red, White & Royal Blue
By Casey McQuiston
Genre: Romance
Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic.
Is It Hot in Here (Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth)?
By Zach Zimmerman
Genre: Comedy Essays
This book is a candid and hysterical look at one person's journey toward making peace with the past and seeking hope in the future.
Julián is a Mermaid
By Jessica Love
Genre: Children’s
Mesmerizing and full of heart, Jessica Love's author-illustrator debut is a jubilant picture of self-love and a radiant celebration of individuality.
Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
By Kit Heyam
Genre: Nonfiction
Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
By Ocean Vuong
Genre: Fiction
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.
Darius the Great is Not Okay
By Adib Khorram
Genre: YA Fiction
Adib Khorram’s brilliant debut is for anyone who’s ever felt not good enough—then met a friend who makes them feel so much better than okay.
Tell Me I’m Worthless
By Alison Rumfitt
Genre: Horror
A dark, unflinching haunted house novel that takes readers from the well of the literary gothic, up through Brighton's queer scene, and out into the heart of modern-day trans experience in the UK.
*Gender Queer: A Memoir has been widely banned across the country. It was the subject of a recent attempted ban in Rio Rancho public libraries.
Note: Much of this information has been pulled from www.goodreads.com
