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 - 17 of 17  There are a total of 267 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 "He/she/they"
Star rating for He/she/they
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"He/She/They uses storytelling and the art of conversation to give us the fundamental language and context of gender so that we can meet people where they are and pave the way to understanding, acceptance, and inclusion. As a transgender man, inclusion advocate, and LGBTQ educator, Schuyler Bailar is more than familiar with the myriad questions that come up. In [his book], he addresses them head on, such as why being transgender is not a choice, why...
Book cover for "XOXO, Cody"
Star rating for XOXO, Cody
Author:
Description:
"The beloved Peloton Instructor and Dancing with the Stars finalist chronicles his journey from small town North Carolina to New York City stardom in an empowering essay collection that reveals his secret to success: not taking yourself-or life-too seriously. Cody Rigsby has a lot of opinions: Kevin is the hottest Backstreet Boy; grape jelly is a crime against nature; if you wear flip-flops in New York City, you do not love yourself. But if there...
Book cover for "The baby on the fire escape"
Star rating for The baby on the fire escape
Description:
"An insightful and provocative exploration of the relationship between motherhood and art through the lives of women artists and writers. What does it mean to create, not in 'a room of one's own,' but in a domestic space? Do children and genius rule each other out? In The Baby on the Fire Escape, award-winning biographer Julie Phillips traverses the shifting terrain where motherhood and creativity converge. With fierce empathy and vivid prose, Phillips...
Book cover for "Black on black"
Star rating for Black on black
Description:
"... in his debut essay collection, Black gives voice to the experiences of those who often find themselves on the margins. Tackling topics ranging from police brutality to the AIDS crisis to the role of HBCUs to queer representation in the black church, Black on Black celebrates the resilience, fortitude, and survival of black people in a land where their body is always on display."--Provided by publisher.
Book cover for "Queer stepfamilies"
Star rating for Queer stepfamilies
Description:
"Lesbian, bisexual, and queer families formed after the dissolution of a marriage face a range of obstacles. In Queer Stepfamilies, Katie L. Acosta offers a wealth of insight into their complex experiences as they negotiate parenting among multiple parents and family-building in a world not designed to meet their needs. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Acosta follows the journeys of more than forty families as they navigate a legal and social landscape...
Book cover for "Burning my roti"
Star rating for Burning my roti
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
Part memoir, part guide, Burning My Roti is essential reading for a new generation of South Asian women. With chapters covering sexual and cultural identity, body hair, colourism and mental health, and a particular focus on the suffocating beauty standards South Asian women are expected to adhere to, Sharan Dhaliwal speaks openly about her journey towards loving herself, offering advice, support and comfort to people that are encountering the same...
Book cover for "The transgender issue"
Star rating for The transgender issue
Description:
"Journalist Shon Faye gives an incisive overview of systemic transphobia and argues that the struggle for trans rights is necessary to any struggle for social justice"--
Book cover for "Working girls"
Star rating for Working girls
Description:
"Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova took the world by storm with their Guide to Modern Womanhood, a book of expert advice on beauty, homemaking, and relationships. Now they're tackling an even bigger challenge: finding success in the modern workplace. In Working Girls, Trixie and Katya dole out both savvy and satirical advice for every stage of working life, from choosing a career path to sailing into a blissful retirement, in step-by-step guides,...
Book cover for "All down darkness wide"
Star rating for All down darkness wide
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"When Seán Hewitt meets Elias, the two fall headlong into a love story. But as Elias struggles with severe mental illness, they soon come face-to-face with crisis. All Down Darkness Wide is a perceptive and unflinching meditation on the burden of living in a world that too often sets happiness and queer life at odds, and a tender and honest portrayal of what it's like to be caught in the undertow of a loved one's deep depression. As lives are made...
Book cover for "Mouths of rain"
Star rating for Mouths of rain
Description:
"A groundbreaking collection tracing the history of intellectual thought by Black Lesbian writers, in the tradition of The New Press's perennial seller Words of Fire"--
Book cover for "The deepest South of all"
Star rating for The deepest South of all
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Natchez, Mississippi, once had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in America, and its wealth was built on slavery and cotton. Today it has the greatest concentration of antebellum mansions in the South, and a culture full of unexpected contradictions. Prominent white families dress up in hoopskirts and Confederate uniforms for ritual celebrations of the Old South, yet Natchez is also progressive enough to elect a gay black man for mayor...
Book cover for "Gay, Catholic, and American"
Star rating for Gay, Catholic, and American
Book cover for "A night at the Sweet Gum Head"
Star rating for A night at the Sweet Gum Head
Description:
"An electric and intimate story of 1970s gay Atlanta through its bedazzling drag clubs and burgeoning rights activism. Coursing with a pumped-up beat, gay Atlanta was the South's mecca-a beacon for gays and lesbians growing up in its homophobic towns and cities. There, the Sweet Gum Head was the club for achieving drag stardom. Martin Padgett evokes the fantabulous disco decade by going deep into the lives of two men who shaped and were shaped by...
Book cover for "Finding Latinx"
Star rating for Finding Latinx
Author:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Young Latinos across the United States are redefining their identities, pushing boundaries, and awakening politically in powerful and surprising ways. Many of them--Afrolatino, indigenous, Muslim, queer and undocumented, living in large cities and small towns--are voices who have been chronically overlooked in how the diverse population of almost sixty million Latinos in the U.S. has been represented. No longer. In this empowering cross-country travelogue,...
Book cover for "The pink line"
Star rating for The pink line
Description:
"A groundbreaking look at how the issues of sexuality and gender identity divide and unite the world today"--
Book cover for "Queer intentions"
Star rating for Queer intentions
Description:
Today, the options and freedoms on offer to LGBTQ+ people living in the West are greater than ever before. But is same-sex marriage, improved media visibility and corporate endorsement all it's cracked up to be? At what cost does this acceptance come? And who is getting left behind, particularly in parts of the world where LGBTQ+ rights aren't so advanced? Combining intrepid journalism with her own personal experience, Amelia Abraham searches for...