50 Ways to Support Lesbian and Gay Equality: The Complete Guide to Supporting Family, Friends, Neighborsor Yourself...

I just bought this book for my mom, as she's been trying to be more supportive in the gay community but is sometimes unsure of how to help or how to get involved (beyond her monthly PFLAG meetings). I read through this book before giving it to her, and I really liked the variety of views in the 50+ essays. From my experienced gay perspective, there was nothing really new, although a lot of the passages were reassuring and reminded me of the reasons we have to fight. However, I think this book is a great guide for someone who's not as confident about how to respond to homophobia at work, what to call your child's same-sex romantic partner, knowing the difference between the terms transgender and transvestite, correct pronoun usage, reconciling religion and tolerance, writing to politicians about gay rights, etc. I also liked the box at the end of each essay that lists concrete things that gays and straights alike can do to support the cause that the essay focuses on. Great, timely book!

Like the previous reviewer, I am also a contributor to this anthology. This being said, I found this to be a helpful resource with a lot of potential. It's not overly dense with gayisms so it makes for a very practical gift for friends and relatives of GLBT folks. It would also be a useful tool in any school/church library.

Disclosure: I'm one of the authors. However, I honestly believe this is a very interesting and worthwhile book. It provides a perspective on 50 of the most important aspects of the LGBT movement from the movement's most important leaders in each of these areas. There's a lot of substance here since each author only had a couple of pages to make their point. A good overview of the movement, with a practical what-you-can-do-to-help focus, and suitable for both LGBT people, their friends, family and supporters, and anyone else who just wants to understand the the LGBT movement better.