What We’re Reading – July 2020

Beef wellington, European bans, and the queer countryside… It doesn’t have to be Pride Month to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of LGBTQ+ lives and authors, and their unique stories.
This is what we’re reading —
I’ll Never Be Able to Cook the Bad News Away. But I Try Anyway.
June 22, 2020
bon appétit
New York Times best-selling author Roxane Gay shares how quarantine has given her time to perfect her layer cake technique and finally learn how to use those pasta-making attachments on her stand mixer. But the victories are bittersweet.
5 mins
The coronavirus lockdown has dramatically worsened mental health for LGBTQ people
June 17, 2020
LGBTQNation
The pandemic is having an outweighed impact on LGBT mental health. COVID continues to have negative short-term and long-term consequences on nearly every community, but the current situation is only exacerbating mental health issues in the LGBT community.
2 mins
Nondiscrimination against LGBT individuals isn’t just the law—it helps organizations succeed
May 16, 2020
The Conversation
“The Supreme Court ruled on June 15 that an employer who fires an individual for being gay or transgender violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In other words, discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals is now forbidden under federal law. Although the Supreme Court has finally and firmly banned LBGT discrimination, companies that have already embraced more inclusive workplaces have long been reaping the benefits.”
3 min
Rural Queer Fiction: A Reading List
May 21, 2020
Literary Hub
Carter Sickels‘ curated list of literature is packed with contemporary novels that are driven by queer subtexts—featuring either queer central characters or an overt queer storyline.
3 mins
How the Pride March Made History
May 16, 2020
The New York Times
“Fifty years after the first march, prominent organizers and activists tell its story and talk about how it spread across the globe.”
13 min
A Little Life
2015
Fiction novel by Hanya Yanagihara
This epic, decade-spanning novel chronicles the friendship of four queer men in New York. It touches on issues surrounding sexuality, domestic violence, and the ever-present attempt to overcome childhood trauma. It’s prose is beautiful, haunted, and masterfully precise.
720 pages
Albania Just Became the Third Country in Europe to Ban Anti-Gay Conversion Therapy
May 20, 2020
them.
“Under the new regulations, any practitioner registered through the Order of Psychologists could face disciplinary action if caught offering conversion therapy. It is unclear whether the move applies solely to LGBTQ+ youth or if it includes all LGBTQ+ people.”
3 mins
Less
2017
Fiction novel by Andrew Greer
Pulitzer-prize winning author Andrew Sean Greer’s novel, Less, is a sometimes-comedy, sometimes-tragedy about age, loss, love, and figuring out one’s life purpose after the age of 50. It blends emotional vulnerability and farce together that can make you laugh just as easily as it can make you cry.
272 pages
Like these suggestions? Check out what else we’ve been reading:
What We’re Reading – June 2020
What We’re Reading – May 2020
What We’re Reading – April 2020
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