LGBTQ - Nonfiction

This list has been created by a Library Assistant at Wake County Public Libraries (WCPL) and encompasses *most* of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus other identitites such as, intersex, asexual, aromantic, demisexual, demiromantic, nonbinary, genderqueer, and more) titles categorized under "Nonfiction" and "Biography" in the WCPL collection as of March 11, 2025.

Showing 1 - 20 of 27  There are a total of 257 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "In the garden of beasts"
Star rating for In the garden of beasts
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
In 1933, President Roosevelt personally selected William E. Dodd to be the United States ambassador to Nazi Germany. Dodd took his family with him, including his daughter Martha. Initially enamored with the Nazi party and its passion, Martha supported the Third Reich. However, when Hitler's violent policies became apparent, Martha changed her opinion and watched in horror. Here, author Erik Larson offers a chilling first-person account of Germany's...
Book cover for "Exile and Pride"
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Description:
First published in 1999, the groundbreaking Exile and Pride is essential to the history and future of disability politics. Eli Clare's revelatory writing about his experiences as a white disabled genderqueer activist/writer established him as one of the leading writers on the intersections of queerness and disability and permanently changed the landscape of disability politics and queer liberation. With a poet's devotion to truth and an activist's...
Book cover for "Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable"
Star rating for Atmospheres of Violence: Structuring Antagonism and the Trans/Queer Ungovernable
Description:
Eric A. Stanley examines the forms of violence levied against trans/queer and gender nonconforming people in the United States and shows how, despite the advances in LGBTQ rights in the recent past, forms of anti-trans/queer violence is central to liberal democracy and state power.
Book cover for "Congratulations, the best is over!"
Star rating for Congratulations, the best is over!
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"The beloved bestselling author of Here for It presents a collection of heartening, thoughtful, and laugh-out-loud funny essays about the lifelong search for community and returning home. After going viral "reading" the chaotic political news, having one-too-many awkward social encounters, and coming to terms with his intersecting identities, R. Eric Thomas is ready to live his best life. Or, if not, at least his best-ish life. Now, in this collection...
Book cover for "A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality"
Star rating for A Quick & Easy Guide to Asexuality
Description:
Asexuality is often called the "invisible orientation." You don't learn about it in school, and you don't hear "ace" on television. So it's kinda hard to be ace in a society so steeped in sex that no one knows you exist. Too many young people grow up believing that their lack of sexual desire means they are broken, so writer Molly Muldoon and cartoonist Will Hernandez—both in the ace community—are here to shed light on society's misconceptions...
Book cover for "Pink Triangles and Rainbow Dreams"
Star rating for Pink Triangles and Rainbow Dreams
Description:

This book is intended for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and non-gay readers. It is divided into three sections: "On Being Gay," "On Being Politically Correct," and "On Being Gay in the Real World."

Section I, "On Being Gay," focuses almost exclusively on what it means to be gay, the kinds of discrimination gays and lesbians face in their daily routines and lives, and how to face those issues of inequality, discrimination, and bigotry.

...
Book cover for "Weightless"
Star rating for Weightless
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:

A poignant and ruthlessly honest journey through cultural expectations of size, race, and gender—and toward a brighter future—from National Book Award nominee Evette Dionne

My body has not betrayed me; it has continued rebounding against all odds. It is a body that others map their expectations on, but it has never let me down.

In this insightful, funny, and whip-smart book, acclaimed writer Evette Dionne

...
Book cover for "Pageboy"
Star rating for Pageboy
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
"The Oscar-nominated star who captivated the world with his performance in Juno finally shares his truth. "Can I kiss you?" It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. A previously unfathomable experience. Here he was on the precipice of discovering himself as a queer person, as a trans...
Book cover for "We are never meeting in real life"
Star rating for We are never meeting in real life
Average Rating:
3.2 stars
Description:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • This essay collection from the “bitches gotta eat” blogger, writer on Hulu’s Shrill and HBO's And Just Like That, and “one of our country’s most fierce and foulmouthed authors” (Amber Tamblyn, Vulture) is sure to make you alternately cackle with glee and cry real tears.
"A sidesplitting polemicist for the most awful situations.”—The
...
Book cover for "Quietly hostile"
Star rating for Quietly hostile
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
"Beloved writer Samantha Irby has returned to the printed page for her much-anticipated, sidesplitting fourth book following her 2020 breakout, Wow, no thank you, a Vintage Books Original. The success of Irby's career has taken her to new heights. She fields calls with job offers from Hollywood and walks the red carpet with the iconic ladies of Sex and the City. Finally, she has made it. But, behind all that new-found glam, Irby is just trying to...
Book cover for "Normal family"
Star rating for Normal family
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"In this unputdownable story of nature, nurture, and coming to terms with one's true inheritance, the author, introducing her deeply dysfunctional yet fiercely loving family that is anything but "normal," reveals how a colorful cast of characters were thrown together by chance and DNA"--
Book cover for "I'll show myself out"
Star rating for I'll show myself out
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
The best-selling author and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer hilariously destroys the cultural myths and impossible expectations of modern-day motherhood and explores the humiliations, poignancies, and possibilities of midlife.
Book cover for "How we fight for our lives"
Star rating for How we fight for our lives
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Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"Written from the crossroads of sex, race, and power in America, [this is a] coming-of-age memoir and a ... reflection of the nation as a whole"--
Book cover for "Logical family"
Star rating for Logical family
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:

""I fell in love with Maupin's effervescent Tales of the City decades ago, and his genius turn at memoir is no less compelling. Logical Family is a must read.""—Mary Karr

In this long-awaited memoir, the beloved author of the bestselling Tales of the City series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to freewheeling San Francisco, and his evolution from curious youth to ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer.

Armistead

...
Book cover for "Naturally Tan"
Star rating for Naturally Tan
Author:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:

"Tan France's unique accent, chummy intimacy, and cheeky delivery make audio the best way to experience his memoir." — AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by the author, with a special guest appearance!
In this heartfelt, funny, and touching memoir, one of the stars of Netflix's Emmy Award-winning smash-hit Queer Eye reveals how an Englishman raised in a traditionally religious home

...
Book cover for "Over the top"
Star rating for Over the top
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

NPR'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

INDIE BESTSELLER

GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER: BEST MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPHY



A laugh-and-cry-out-loud memoir from the beloved star of Netflix's Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness

Who gave Jonathan Van Ness permission to

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17. Untamed

Book cover for "Untamed"
Star rating for Untamed
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Description:
"There is a voice of longing inside every woman. We strive so mightily to be good: good mothers, daughters, partners, employees, citizens, and friends. We believe all this striving will make us feel alive. Instead, it leaves us feeling weary, stuck, overwhelmed, and underwhelmed. We look at our lives, relationships, and world, and wonder: Wasn't it all supposed to be more beautiful than this? We quickly silence that question, telling ourselves to...
Book cover for "Transition"
Star rating for Transition
Author:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
Chaz Bono's groundbreaking and candid account of a forty-year struggle to match his gender identity with his physical body and his transformation from female to male
At first, America knew the only child of Sonny and Cher as Chastity, the cherubic little girl who appeared on her parents' TV show. In later years, she became famous for coming out on a national stage, working with two major organizations toward LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual,...
Book cover for "The fire next time"
Star rating for The fire next time
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Contains a letter to Baldwin's nephew on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Also describes his childhood, views on Black Muslims, and his visions.
Book cover for "Bad feminist"
Star rating for Bad feminist
Author:
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay. "Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I'm not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue." In these funny and...