{"id":25145,"date":"2025-07-26T09:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T09:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25145\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T09:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T09:02:09","slug":"pride-lives-on-in-what-we-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/25145\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride lives on in what we read"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/a> <\/p>\n

June, although a significant time of the year to honor LGBTQ+ history and ongoing efforts for equality, is not a finite window for support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One meaningful way to show allyship year-round is to read books that center LGBTQ+ voices as main characters, rather than limiting their presence to supporting roles. Doing so helps foster greater understanding of diverse identities and encourages empathy toward experiences that may differ from one\u2019s own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Below are three books I\u2019ve enjoyed with main characters who identify with the LGBTQ+ community. For each book I\u2019ve read, I note a book I\u2019d like to read to further my understanding of queer experiences and social constructs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNevada\u201d by Imogen Binnie<\/p>\n

As a certified cult classic, Binnie\u2019s \u201cNevada\u201d first came to my attention in January 2025 when it was added to Barnes & Nobles\u2019 \u201cBanned Books\u201d section amid a surge in efforts to censor reading materials in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Book bans disproportionately affect books about LGBTQ+ characters<\/a>. Perhaps this was reflected in my never having read a book with a transgender protagonist at the time. My purchase of \u201cNevada\u201d \u2014 a beautifully messy book about a trans woman \u2014 could possibly be seen as a form of protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cNevada\u201d boasts 29-year-old protagonist Maria Griffiths, living in New York when she loses her job and gets broken up with \u2014 two events that inspire her to undertake a near-cross-country road trip. The plot becomes increasingly interesting when she meets James, a character questioning his gender while in a heterosexual relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maria has transitioned, and James hasn\u2019t. Readers don\u2019t see either character transition because, as Binnie said in the afterword, \u201c\u2026 the mysterious in-between phase is the most salaciously interesting thing to people who don\u2019t have to go through it, (so) I decided to cut it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Binnie sees this as denying cisnormative approaches to honoring trans stories. Binnie also clarified in the afterword: this novel is not a representation of all (\u201cor even, necessarily, most\u201d) trans lives. One piece of literature is rarely representative of an entire group.<\/p>\n

The novel may tell a road trip story, but there is no destination. There is, however, a consistently strong narrative voice, a perspective switch that adds depth and the idea that cisgender people may learn from \u201cNevada\u201d precisely because it was not written for cisgender people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Topside Press reissue of the novel allows it to be shared freely under Creative Commons licensing (aka you can legally access a PDF online for free here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to read \u201cDetransition, Baby\u201d by Torrey Peters next.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cCall Me by Your Name\u201d by Andr\u00e9 Aciman<\/p>\n

Before there was Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet and Armie Hammer in an Oscar-winning film, there was just Elio and Oliver rendered on 248 pages.<\/p>\n

A story set in the 1980s about a six-week long same-sex romance in Italy between Elio Perlman and a house guest, \u201cCall Me by Your Name,\u201d as I once wrote in a Goodreads review, is \u201ca beautiful testament to overthinking, and grief, and first times, and anticipation, and acceptance \u2014 both of oneself and others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The novel is written in past tense, unrelenting in its assertion that the relationship, along with the summer that contains it, is fleeting.<\/p>\n

In the novel, Elio\u2019s father comforts him, encouraging him to feel deeply and honestly about his relationship with Oliver. In an interview with Goldman Sachs<\/a>, Aciman said of this father-son conversation, \u201cI would dream \u2026 every father who has a gay son or gay daughter, or every mother for that matter, would want to be inspired by the speech that the father gives. \u2026 If there is a mission in my book, I would like that to be the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every fleeting aspect of \u201cCall Me by Your Name\u201d provides a lasting lesson. Upon reading the novel, you may know whether it\u2019s better to speak or to die.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d next read \u201cEnigma Variations\u201d by Aciman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cConclave\u201d by Robert Harris\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cConclave\u201d follows the Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Lomeli, as he\u2019s tasked with organizing a conclave \u2014 an assembly of cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church to select the next pope \u2014 amidst his own crisis of faith.<\/p>\n

I appreciate this may be a controversial recommendation as the novel isn\u2019t marketed as an LGBTQ+ narrative, and it\u2019s written by a cisgender white male. I\u2019d argue, however, that for these reasons, \u201cConclave\u201d is a solid, unexpected introduction to a relatively less well-known community within a community.<\/p>\n

*Spoilers ahead!<\/p>\n

Although the novel is largely unconcerned with LGBTQ-issues, the plot hinges on a cardinal identifying as intersex.<\/p>\n

According to Medical News Today<\/a>, \u201cintersex\u201d is a term used for people possessing male and female sex characteristics, including genitalia, hormones, chromosomes and reproductive organs. Intersex falls under the plus sign in LGBTQ+.<\/p>\n

When Cardinal Benitez is selected to be the next pope, Cardinal Lomeli panics as he is one of two people who recently learned of an appointment Benitez had at a clinic that specializes in \u201cgender reassignment.\u201d Fearing what this may mean for the church, Lomeli rushes to speak with Benitez, forcing him to explain his medical history before his succession is announced to the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Benitez explains he decided not to undergo surgery to make his sex characteristics match his sex recorded at birth because he is what God made him.<\/p>\n

Ralph Fiennes plays Cardinal Lawrence (named Lomeli in the book) in the movie adaptation of \u201cConclave.\u201d \u201cI think the film asks the question \u2026 Who is the right person to take this extraordinary position of spiritual leadership? And what we want them to be spiritually, to have a great spiritual foundation as a person,\u201d Fiennes said in an interview with TODAY<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the course of six pages in the book, readers understand this, as well. A fact is presented for consideration and ultimately determined to be irrelevant to Benitez\u2019s eligibility as elected pope. The novel, nor film, made this twist explosive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is one way to present LGBTQ+ identities: as an introduction as if to say \u201cthese identities exist and are not the end of the world nor one institution. Knowing this is enough for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

After reading \u201cConclave,\u201d I\u2019d like to read \u201cIntersex (For Lack of a Better Word)\u201d by Thea Hillman.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s continue to read LGBTQ+ stories so that we may be more empathetic individuals during all months of the year.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"June, although a significant time of the year to honor LGBTQ+ history and ongoing efforts for equality, is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-25145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}