Shelf Check is a webcomic set in a public library that frequently touches on GLBTQ issues – see for example the strip on ‘transgender’ in the Library of Congress subject headings and a recent blog post asking “As a GLBTQ library patron, I feel welcomed when…” [complete the sentence].

Politics
Got an iPhone? You can now use it to sign a petition to repeal Proposition 8 in California. Sign the petition at http://restoreequality2010.com/ipod.htm or signal boost this article about it.

Benjamin Solah writes about a protest for same-sex marriage in Melbourne.

Kei Kei has created a sourced timeline of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

And of course, remember to Queer the Census!

For more regular linkdumps, please let me know of any interesting links in comments, by email, on the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

Books and bookstores

After 35 Years, Lambda Rising [bookstore] to Close (that is, in the January that’s just been).

Chris / M-Brane SF  reviews Wired Hard 4, an anthology of m/m erotica “packed with terrific speculative fiction”.

The Science Fiction for Lesbians Website “is a list of science fiction books with lesbian characters or by lesbian authors” (specifically excluding fantasy). The site is divided into categories for:

• Lesbian Authors
• Lesbian/Bi Female Characters
• Female/Gay Dominated Worlds
• Other Books of Interest

Politics and religion

Chris / M-Brane SF writes that [Senator Inhofe (R-OK)] needs to be removed from office regarding his involvement in Uganda and its anti-gay laws.

News worth celebrating: Fiji’s new decree says gay sex is now legal. The article quotes (among others) Christian church ministers both for and against the law change, and so I segue neatly into an essay describing the way Jesus affirmed a gay couple (from the Would Jesus Discriminate? collection extracted from The Children Are Free: Reexamining the Biblical Evidence on Same-sex Relationships by gay Christians Rev. Jeff Miner and John Tyler Connoley).

For more regular linkdumps, please let me know of any interesting links in comments, by email, on the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

Inspired by the Writers of Color 50 Book Challenge, the Queer Authors 50 Book Challenge has been created to encourage reading books by queer authors. The FAQ includes links to lists of queer sf authors and to zahrawithaz’s list of More than 50 books by Queer People of Color for inspiration.

Richard Norton, a scholar of gay history, has a website of essays on Gay History and Literature – there’s a particular focus on the 18th century (including a sourcebook of hundreds of primary documents from 18th century England) but the essays range from centuries BCE through to the 20th century.

Writing Gay Characters by Megan Rose Gedris covers topics including:

• Why write gay characters at all?
• “Gay Characters” vs. “Characters Who Just Happen to Be Gay”
• Avoiding cliches.
• Romance: How Much is Too Much / Not Enough?
• Gay characters in children’s/ young adult fiction
• Books with Excellent Gay Characters

For more regular linkdumps, please let me know of any interesting links in comments, by email, on the Outer Alliance forum or bookmark them on delicious or diigo with tag “outeralliancelinks“.

A recent conference in New Zealand brought together leaders and youth from sexual minority communities across the Pacific; the article touches on Fa’afafine in Samoa and New Zealand.

On gay literature
Michael Stevens writes about the change in how important gay literature has been to him: “Now there are hundreds of books, by many different authors available. And yet I feel little compunction to follow the latest trends in gay fiction or poetry. It just doesn’t seem to matter to me any longer. Yet once it was central to me discovering who I was and how to negotiate the world.” and “By reading I learnt what it was to be a gay man.”

On LiveJournal community 50books_poc are three recent reviews of LGBT-focused writing:

• M+O4EVR by Tonya Cherie Hegamin, along with a general introduction about LGBT fiction, YA lit, race, and the few other books about African-American queer girls;
• Southland by Nina Revoyr
• “Gay Imperialism: Gender and Sexuality Discourse in the ‘War on Terror’” by Jin Haritaworn, with Tamsila Tauqir and Esra Erdem

And GLBT Fantasy Fiction Resources “provides an opportunity for readers to express their thoughts regarding fantasy and sci-fi with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered protagonists through book reviews, essays, and reading lists in a non-commercial environment”.

Gay characters on TV
In the Bay Area Reporter, “Going, going, gone!: the case of the missing LGBT characters” looks at the dearth of gay characters on US television. [Though personally I'm disappointed that they describe Thirteen on House as "previously queer" and "now heterosexual" when the show itself has made it clear that she is and always has been bisexual and just happens to be dating a guy at present. The show does plenty else wrong, but - at least as far as I've seen - it doesn't deny her bisexuality.] An interview with writer/director Alan Ball discusses directions for gay characters (both existing ones and new ones) in season 3 of True Blood.

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“.

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”.