Dustin Lance Black

In 1978, Harvey Milk asked Gilbert Baker to create a unifying symbol for the growing gay rights movement, and on June 25 of that year, Baker's Rainbow Flag debuted at San Francisco's Gay Freedom Day Parade. Baker had no idea his creation would become an international emblem of liberation and inclusiveness, forever cementing his pivotal role in helping to define the modern LGBTQ movement. Rainbow Warrior is Baker's passionate personal chronicle, from a repressive childhood in 1950s Kansas, to a harrowing stint in the US Army, and finally his arrival in San Francisco, where he bloomed as both a visual artist and social justice activist. His fascinating story weaves through the early years of the struggle for LGBTQ rights, when he worked closely with Milk, Cleve Jones, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Gilbert Baker often called himself the "Gay Betsy Ross," and readers of his colorful, irreverent, and deeply personal memoir will find it difficult to disagree.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 POLARI PRIZE'A magnificent achievement . . . I cannot remember a book where I cried so often. Brave, insightful, unflinching, funny, sad, triumphant . . . everything. And both a warning and a hope for the times to come' STEPHEN FRYDustin Lance Black wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk and helped overturn California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8, but he grew up in a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas. His mother, Anne, was raised in rural Louisiana, and contracted polio when she was two years old. She endured brutal surgeries, as well as braces and crutches for life, and was told that she would never have children or a family. Wilfully defying expectations, she found salvation in an unlikely faith, raised three sons, and escaped the abuse and violence of two questionably devised Mormon marriages before finding love and an improbable career in the U.S. civil service.When Lance came out to his mother at twenty-one, he was already studying the arts instead of going on his Mormon mission. She derided his sexuality as a sinful choice and was terrified for his future. Mama's Boy explores what it took to remain a family despite such division -- a journey that stretched from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to the woodsheds of East Texas. In the end, the rifts that have split a nation couldn't end this relationship that has defined and inspired their remarkable lives. Mama's Boy is their story. It's a story of the noble quest for a plane higher than politics - one of family, foundations, turmoil, tragedy, elation, and love. It is a story needed now more than ever.'To outsiders, my mom and I should have been enemies. Our house should have been divided -- North vs South, red vs blue, conservative vs progressive, or however you want to put it. Instead, my mom and I fuelled each other. Her oil lit my lamp, and eventually mine lit hers. The tools I'd learned to wield growing up in her conservative, Christian, southern, military home were the same I'd used to wage battles that had taken me from a broken-down welfare apartment where gunfire sang me to sleep, to the biggest stages in the world, and to the front row of the United States Supreme Court to fight for LGBTQ equality.'

This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a celebrated filmmaker and activist and his conservative Mormon mother built bridges across today's great divides--and how our stories hold the power to heal. - Adapted as an HBO documentary now streaming on HBO Max."A beautifully written, utterly compelling account of growing up poor and gay with a thrice married, physically disabled, deeply religious Mormon mother, and the imprint this irrepressible woman made on the character of Dustin Lance Black." --Jon Krakauer, bestselling author of Missoula and Under the Banner of Heaven Dustin Lance Black wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Milk and helped overturn California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8, but as an LGBTQ activist he has unlikely origins--a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas. There he was raised by a single mother who, as a survivor of childhood polio, endured brutal surgeries as well as braces and crutches for life. Despite the abuse and violence of two questionably devised Mormon marriages, she imbued Lance with her inner strength and irrepressible optimism. When Lance came out to his mother at age twenty-one, she initially derided his sexuality as a sinful choice. It may seem like theirs was a house destined to be divided--and at times it was. But in the end, they did not let their differences define them or the relationship that had inspired two remarkable lives. This heartfelt, deeply personal memoir explores how a mother and son built bridges across great cultural divides--and how our stories hold the power to heal.

Stories of success, happiness and hope from the LGBT communityStories that comprise the best of LGBT history: Pride and Joy: LGBTQ Artists, Icons and Everyday Heroestells the stories of queer citizens of the world living OUT and proud happy, fulfilling, successful lives. Diverse and global. Famous and unsung. There is a story here for everyone in the LGBT community who has ever questioned their sexual orientation or gender identity, or discovered it. Discover LGBT community stories that will stir you and reveal: why Tony Kushner quit cello and how Colm Toibin found his voice. why Emma Donoghue calls her experience a fluke and the best advice Bill T. Jones got was from his mother. how being an inaugural poet changed Richard Blanco’s life and how Ugandan activist “LongJones” escaped death threats and gained asylum. Award-winning writer and longtime LGBTQ activist Kathleen Archambeau tells the untold stories from diverse LGBT community voices around the corner or around the world. Not like the depressing, sinister, shadowy stories of the past, this book highlights queer people living open, happy, fulfilling and successful lives. Be inspired by LGBT community stories that celebrate the human spirit: Be emboldened by the bravery of a Uruguayan author who was rejected by her immediate family even as she began a family of her own. Be inspired by the audacity to fight for justice that motivates National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell, a Mormon who grew up in Utah. Learn how two couples transcend time and distance to finally be together and how one NBA sports executive summoned the courage to come out. Discover the message of love from the first openly lesbian United Methodist Church Bishop. Learn the secrets of successful OUT IBM executive based in London and the rewards of Ballroom Basix founder in Harlem. See how the Maori philosophy of whanau guided the MP who won marriage rights in New Zealand and how high expectations overcame disability and bullying for an acclaimed mezzo-soprano. Know how the Armenian Genocide and family tensions impacted a professional violinist and composer. Pride & Joy is a window into the LGBTQ community for straight friends, allies, parents and families of this finally emerging marginalized group. There’s hope that, in the words of Dan Savage, “It Gets Better” for: the transgender choreographer and dancer who continues to break rules and enlighten audiences to the Dutch singer, songwriter and independent theater producer who breaks down stereotypes. the Russian émigré award-winning computer scientist to the Chinese folk dancer. the founder of an award-winning smoking cessation program to the California Political Director of the Obama re-election campaign. and, for Entrepreneurs and gay dads, ballroom dancers and Hungarian activists on neo-Nazi “hit lists.”