Showing titles in Parenting & Families

What happens when two women commit to serving the Catholic Church as nuns taking vows of chastity, but fall passionately in love? They defy the Church's rules against same-sex relationships and blaze a bold trail for a joyous life together at a time when LGBTQ people could be killed for being gay and same-sex marriage was decades in the future.

What is the difference between men and women? Jennifer Finney Boylan, bestselling author of She’s Not There and co-author of Mad Honey with Jodi Picoult, examines the divisions—as well as the common ground—between the genders, and reflects on her own experiences, both difficult and joyful, as a transgender American.

Marriage in the Bible: What Do the Texts Say? is an honest engagement with the relevant passages in the two primary Testaments of the Christian Bible. Rather than making the Bible confirm a specific stance on marriage, the author invites her readers to be honest about what these biblical stories, laws, commands, and sayings meant in their original contexts.

In this inspiring self-help handbook, a trans activist dares us to be the change we want to see—both out in the world, and amongst our closest connections. Lifelong activist and educator Dean Spade dares us to decide that our interpersonal actions are not separate from our politics of liberation and resistance. Many activist projects and resistance groups fall apart because people treat each other poorly, trying desperately to live out the cultural myths about dating and relationships that we are fed from an early age.

There is much misinformation regarding surrogacy. The goal of this brief text is to provide factual and relevant information about the surrogacy journey so that women, like myself, can decide whether or not surrogacy is a good fit for themselves. Surrogacy may not be for everyone, but for those that are able to help someone else achieve their dream of having a family, it leaves a positive impact on your life forever. I found my surrogacy journeys to be one of the most empowering experiences of my life and I hope to share this opportunity with you. I have been in the surrogacy space for ...

So often trans and nonbinary people’s stories are told only through the lens of their struggles and challenges, including their political battles for legal rights, but trans and nonbinary people live rich and fulfilling lives full of joy and community too. Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families is a sweeping compilation of life stories and portraits of trans and nonbinary people, as well as their partners, parents, children, siblings, and chosen family members.

Karen Solt, an eighteen-year-old nonconformist with an alcohol problem, is working at a gas station when a slick Navy recruiter railroads her into enlisting in the military. Before she knows it, she is on a ship in the Deep South, struggling to navigate not only a world much different from her small Northern Arizona hometown, but also her new discovery: she’s gay.

I'm Jen Brister, stand-up comedian, middle-aged adolescent and, more recently, a mum. But not that mum - I'm the other one. Confused? Let’s back up a bit. Two years ago, my partner (a woman - we're not solicitors) gave birth to twins. Like every new parent, I had absolutely no clue what I was doing. Add ‘gay’ and ‘non-biological’ to the mix and what do you get? Not a weird box of detergent, but a panicked beige lesbian desperately googling, ‘Will my babies love me?’ at 3 a.m. This is a book for any parent who feels they don’t fit the mould of a traditional 2.4 family.

In this salacious, vulnerable, heartbreaking, and hilarious guide to surviving the digital hellscape that is modern dating, model and eating disorder activist Ryan Sheldon offers a path to healing while looking for real love. Ryan unapologetically shares it all (even the cringeworthy) about his escapades as a gay man looking for romance in a sea of f--kboys. F*ckboys Are Boring is a guidebook for anyone who has struggled with feeling inferior, unworthy, or less-than while looking for connection in this disconnected world.

How did Adeline Virginia Stephen become the great writer Virginia Woolf? Acclaimed biographer Gillian Gill tells the stories of the women whose legacies—of strength, style, and creativity—shaped Woolf’s path to the radical writing that inspires so many today. Gill casts back to Woolf’s French-Anglo-Indian maternal great-grandmother Thérèse de L’Etang, an outsider to English culture whose beauty passed powerfully down the female line; and to Woolf’s aunt Anne Thackeray Ritchie, who gave Woolf her first vision of a successful female writer.

In I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying, Youngmi jokes through the retelling of her childhood as an offbeat biracial kid in Saipan, a place next to a place that Americans might know. She jokes through her difficult adolescence where she must parent her own parents: a mother who married her husband because he looked like white Jesus (and the singer of The Bee Gees). And with humor and irreverence and full-throated openness, she jokes even while sharing the story of what her family went through during the last century of colonialism and war in Korea.

Are you in a mixed-orientation marriage where you or your partner identify as LGBTQ+? You’re not alone. Thousands of couples face similar challenges, and while it may feel overwhelming, there is a path to understanding, acceptance, and love. This guide offers practical tools and strategies for navigating the complexities of mixed-orientation marriage, whether you’re dealing with coming out, family dynamics, or legal and financial considerations.

In Baby Making for Everybody, queer millennial midwives Ray Rachlin and Marea Goodman use their professional expertise to demystify the dizzying process of pursuing parenthood as queer and solo people, offering detailed, gender-affirming, body-positive advice. The result is a much-needed compassionate step-by-step guide for every aspect of the complicated, messy, and glorious process of building a family.

Are you dreaming of starting a family but feeling overwhelmed by the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ parents? Or perhaps you’re already a parent looking for guidance that truly understands your experiences. You’re not alone. Many LGBTQ+ individuals share these concerns, longing for resources that embrace and celebrate their identity as parents.

From the time we’re born, a litany of do’s and don’ts are placed on us by our families, our communities, and society. We're required to fit into boxes based on our race, gender, sexuality, and other parts of our identities, being told by others how we should behave, who we should date, or what we should be interested in. For so many of us, those boxes begin to feel like shackles when we realize they don’t fit our unique shape, yet we keep trying because we crave acceptance and validation. But is “fitting in” worth the time, energy, and suffering?

One ordinary day, a caseworker from the Department of Children and Families knocked on the Hays family’s door to investigate an anonymous complaint about the upbringing of their transgender child. It was this knock, this threat, that began the family’s journey out of the Bible Belt but never far from the hate and fear resting at the nation’s core. Self-aware and intimate, A Girlhood asks us all to love better, not just for the sake of Hays’s child but for children everywhere enduring injustice and prejudice just as they begin to understand themselves.

Every story needs a hero. Sanctuary tells a story where the Church is the hero. Using experiences from his own life, Harry Schenkel relates how the Church has been the safe place and guiding light through many of life’s darkest moments. From drug addicted parents, to family sexual abuse, through a broken marriage, and his first son’s struggle with sexual identity, the Church, built upon the love and grace of Jesus Christ, has been Harry’s sanctuary. By telling his story, he hopes that the Church will be your sanctuary also.

Many arguments are made for and against same-sex marriage that end with divisiveness and confusion instead of thoughtful conversation. New York Times-bestselling author Dr. Preston Sprinkle provides a resource that will encourage respectful and thoughtful conversations around the question “Does the Bible support same-sex marriage?” Equipped with thorough research, history, and biblical context, this book will enable you to wade into some of the main arguments against the historically Christian view of marriage.

Compassionate, biblical, and thought-provoking, Embodied is an accessible guide for Christians who want help navigating issues related to transgenderism.

The Savvy Ally: A Guide for Becoming a Skilled LGBTQ+ Advocate is an enjoyable, humorous, encouraging, easy-to-understand guidebook for being an ally to the LGBTQ+ communities. It is chock-full of practical and useful tools for LGBTQ+ advocacy, including: current and relevant information on identities and LGBTQ+ language; tips for what to say and what not to say when someone comes out to you; LGBTQ+ etiquette and techniques for respectful conversations; common bloopers to avoid; and more.