The Meher Schools Equity and Inclusion Committee has compiled a list of books that parents have found helpful in their learning around gender and sexuality. If you have a title to add to the list, let us know! Quotes are from the publishers' descriptions.
The Social Justice Advocate’s Handbook: A Guide To Gender by Sam Killermann “explains all of the gender concepts in a way that is easy enough for a newbie to understand, but comprehensive enough for an expert to learn something.” It isn’t overly academic and is “less of a focus on overwhelming scholarship and more of a focus on enjoyable learning.”
The Savvy Ally: A Guide for Becoming a Skilled LGBTQ+ Advocate by Jeannie Gainsburg is “an enjoyable, humorous, encouraging, easy to understand guidebook for being an ally to the LGBTQ+ communities. It is chock full of practical and useful tools for LGBTQ+ advocacy.” For parents “who want to be supportive of their LGBTQ+ child, but don't know how,” this is a great book to start with.
Raising LGBTQ Allies: A Parent’s Guide to Changing the Messages From the Playground by Chris Tompkins “sheds light on the deeper, multi-faceted layers of homophobia. It opens up a conversation with parents around the possibility they may have an LGBTQ child, and shows how heteronormativity can be harmful if not addressed clearly and early. Although not every parent will have an LGBTQ child, their child will jump rope or play tag with a child who is LGBTQ.” Tompkins shows “the importance of having open and authentic conversations with children at a young age,” and helps parents “explore their own subconscious biases.”
Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family by Amy Ellis Nutt is an “inspiring true story of transgender actor and activist Nicole Maines, whose identical twin brother, Jonas, and ordinary American family join her on an extraordinary journey to understand, nurture, and celebrate the uniqueness in us all.”
Pride: The Story of the LGBTQ Equality Movement by Matthew Todd “documents the milestones in the fight for LGBTQ equality, from the victories of early activists to the passing of legislation barring discrimination, and the gradual acceptance of the LGBTQ community in politics, sport, culture and the media.” It “is a unique celebration of LGBTQ culture, an account of the ongoing challenges facing the community, and a testament to the equal rights that have been won for many as a result of the passion and determination of this mass movement.”
