But first, on a brief related note: USans can get your free Queer the Census sticker from CREDO Action partnering with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Coming Out Day posts culled from the mailing list:

• Alex Jeffers posts an excerpt from chapter three of his work in progress the unexpected thing (blog banner mildly NSFW)
• Kyell Gold posts an excerpt from “Waterways”
• Inanna Arthen posts an excerpt from forthcoming novel “The Longer the Fall”
• Katherine Beutner posts on bisexuality in response to Malinda Lo’s essay in “After Ellen“
• K L Richardson posts an excerpt from “Heart Sense”
• Sophie Gail posts an excerpt from her work in stasis
• Hayden Thorne posts a light-hearted excerpt from “Masks: Evolution”
• Mel Green posts on current events in Alaska
• Jarla Tangh posts about her friendships
• Chris / M-BraneSF writes about “a few times in my life where I basically outed myself by other behavior short of a “formal” coming-out”
• Drew talks about Philly Outfest and queer bookshop Giovanni’s Room (image heavy)
• Kevin shares about the night of his Senior Prom
• Natania Barron writes about discovering her POV character was gay
• Alan Yee writes about being semi-out of the closet
• Keffy writes about coming out as trans and his mixed feelings about “Coming Out” day

And more Coming Out Day posts found with a blog search:

• yond_cassius writes a short piece of Coming Out Day spec fic
• Cheryl Morgan posts a roundup of news that has caught her attention this week
• John Coulthart posts a couple of art pieces he’s been working on (mildly NSFW)

If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks”.

The American Library Association (ALA) celebrated Banned Books Week from 26 September – 3 October this year. Their 2009 list of challenged/banned books (PDF, 8.4MB) includes “And Tango Makes Three”, “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding”, “King & King”, “Girl, Interrupted”, “The Joy of Gay Sex” and “The Lesbian Kama Sutra”, among others. (Speculative fiction books included “The Golden Compass” “The Great Tree of Avalon”, “Brave New World”, and more.) For the curious, past lists of challenged/banned books are also available.

If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks”.

Benjamin Solah reviews Tom Cho’s short story collection Look Who’s Morphing.

As part of a series on American women athletes, the Angry Black Woman writes about transgender athletes.

• Benjamin Solah also blogs about the recent media circus surrounding Caster Semenya.
• On the same topic, Chris / M-Brane SF says Do we ask if Michael Phelps is really a human male and not half fish?

Anna Caro writes City of Possibilities as part of New Zealand Speculative Fiction Blogging Week.

The Lambda Literary Foundation has announced changes in its board of trustees and its executive director position. These have coincided with a clarification of the Lambda Literary Award guidelines (see the guidelines at the LLF website).

Coming Out in Middle School in the New York Times explores the trend of gay and bisexual middle-schoolers increasingly being able to come out to friends, family, and adults at school. Benoit Denizet-Lewis talks to students, parents, and educators:

Though many of the parents I spoke to needed a period of adjustment before accepting their children’s announcement that they were gay or bisexual, others offered immediate and unequivocal support. “The biggest difference I’ve seen in the last 10 years isn’t with gay kids — it’s with their families,” says Dan Woog, an openly gay varsity boys’ soccer coach at Staples High School in Westport, Conn., who helped found a gay-straight alliance at his school in 1993. “Many parents just don’t assume anymore that their kids will have a sad, difficult life just because they’re gay.”

If you come across any links to share for next week’s linkdump, please post them to the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks”.

If you’ve already emailed/commented, don’t worry about using the link. We’ll be adding you directly.

Thanks for the overwhelming support! More updates soon.