An engaging collection of biographies about LGBTQ people from across history and around the globe. This updated and expanded edition of the 2017 original includes three new profiles (Ai of Han & Dong Xian; Francisco Manicongo; and Simon Nkoli) and a new forward.
“The version of history we learn in school puts a straight, cisgender mask on almost everyone,” author Sarah Prager writes. In fact, though, “queer people have existed for as long as people have existed…. Recognizing the world’s rich history of queerness helps reduce homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, and helps welcome queer identities to the mainstream with love and acceptance.”
Prager offers a thoughtful exploration of historical terms for what we now call “queer” identities, an overview of queerness in every populated region of the world, and profiles that are both informative and entertaining. The figures run the gamut from the famous Abraham Lincoln to the relatively unknown Union soldier Albert Cashier. Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin are there, as is Harvey Milk, but so are lesser-known figures like the Roman Emperor Elagabalus, erstwhile Queen of Sweden Kristina Vasa, Mexican nun and poet Juana Inés de la Cruz, professional baseball player Glenn Burke, and many more. One might quibble with some of the choices (Cashier is important as a pre-modern transgender person, but did he really change the world?) and wish for others, but no book this length can encompass all of the many queer people in history. We can only hope there’s a sequel.
This book is aimed at teens; I’m including it in this database in case some older middle graders might also find it interesting—but Prager’s Rainbow Revolutionaries: Fifty LGBTQ+ People Who Made History covers similar territory with text and topics geared to the middle grade set.
