Kids aren’t the only ones getting great new LGBTQ-inclusive books! Four new LGBTQ parenting books—two on supporting trans children and two on being queer parents—offer useful insights and guidance from a variety of perspectives.
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Free to Be: Understanding Kids & Gender Identity, by Jack Turban (Atria), is an authoritative guide by one of the leading child and adolescent psychiatrists working with trans children today. The book brings extensive research to bear but remains nicely readable as it explains what it means to be transgender and nonbinary, debunks many of the myths surrounding trans-related medical care, and explores often fraught topics like trans kids’ participation in school sports.
Readable, well-reasoned, and always with an eye towards the best interests of the very real young people who have necessitated it, this book should be an essential read for parents and practitioners caring for trans and nonbinary youth, but it’s also likely to be a volume folks will reach for (and should share!) when they need to confront misinformation in the public sphere.
My Child Is Trans, Now What? A Joy-Centered Approach to Support, by Ben V. Greene (Rowman & Littlefield) is notable because LGBTQ inclusion consultant Greene, a trans man himself, has both personal and professional experience with the subject at hand. The book is actually aimed at any adult who wants to support trans youth, whether that means a child, other relative, student, patient, or trans youth in general. Greene infuses the entire book with a judgment-free, conversational vibe and a sense of queer joy.
The Queer Parent: Everything You Need To Know From Gay to Ze, by Lotte Jeffs and Stu Oakley (Cleis) is not primarily a how-to manual for starting a queer family, although it touches on that; instead, it looks broadly at being a queer parent and some of the particular experiences and challenges we may have. Jeffs and Oakley, former hosts of the U.K.-based LGBTQ parenting podcasts From Gay to Ze and Some Families, have distilled their wisdom and that of their guests, friends, and other experts into an informative and fun guide for the adventure that is queer parenting.
They offer information for parents across the LGBTQ spectrum, including transgender and nonbinary parents, and they notably include voices of bi parents in different-sex couples, often overlooked in discussions of queer parenting. The authors are the chatty friends you want to hang with when you have questions, need to vent, or just want to hear stories about this difficult, rewarding, irreplaceable journey, making this a highly recommended title. (The book actually came out in the U.K. last year, and is now available in the U.S.)
Love Out Loud, by Terrell and Jarius Joseph (Legacy Lit), is partly a memoir by these two fathers, influencers, and advocates, and partly a guide to relationships, parenting, and how to build a life you love. As they unfold their own story of becoming dads via surrogacy, they also offer advice on finding your parenting style, keeping the relationship with a spouse/partner healthy and thriving, and supporting your children as they grow. A rare and needed memoir by a two-dad family of color, with an earnest, conversational tone throughout, it’s one that many families will likely turn to for both inspiration and guidance.
