50 Ways to Support Lesbian and Gay Equality: The Complete Guide to Supporting Family, Friends, Neighbors--or Yourself »

Homosexuality has been politicized. But when the issue hits home, whether it involves a family member, colleague, or neighbor who's gay, all that controversy fades in the face of a real, live person who wants and deserves basic human rights and freedoms. Written by gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people and those who care about them, 50 Ways to Support Lesbian and Gay Equality is a compendium of informative, joyful, and poignant essays by well-known experts, activists, and leaders, each promoting understanding while suggesting simple actions. From defining terminology ("What's gay baiting?"), to exploring family issues ("How can I support a lesbian couple who want to have children?"), the book deftly navigates workplace, cultural, and political issues. This timely and much-needed guide demonstrates positive ways to deal with everyday homophobia and heterosexism, or just plain uncertainty at the unfamiliar, offering guidance on issues ranging from the personal — what to say to a closeted friend — to the political — how to support gay rights around the world.

Library Journal

Advocacy seems to be the buzzword of the gay rights movement today, and one sign is the plethora of books aimed at the sympathetic heterosexual audience. Ayres (law, Yale Law Sch.) and Brown (law, Quinnipiac Univ. Sch. of Law) approach the subject of advocacy in the book's first half by positing the notion of heterosexual privilege and its concomitant responsibility to make society more inclusive to its gay citizens. That privilege, they argue, should be used to further a broad-based program of legislative and legal change in education, the workplace, and civic organizations. Additionally, the authors provide "concrete steps to take at home" and print and Internet resources for further study. The second half moves into more conceptual waters, promoting the notion of "ambiguation" whereby heterosexual supporters of gay rights make their own sexual orientation more publicly ambiguous (e.g., by using gender-neutral speech) in the hope of fighting stereotypes and encouraging positive change. Finally, the authors lay out a theoretically elegant (if realistically problematic) incremental and voluntary approach to open up the U.S. military to gays and lesbians. 50 Ways takes a much more personal look at heterosexual advocacy for gay rights in the form of short personal essays by a variety of gay rights advocates that includes celebrities, writers, and artists. These clear-cut essays ask readers to do the simple things: read a gay book, mentor a gay teen, and choose words with care. Among the contributors are Ben and Jerry's cofounder Jerry Greenfield, who discusses ways to create a gay-friendly workplace; author and award-winning high school soccer coach Dan Woog (School's Out), who urges gays and straights alike to come out of the "locker room closet"; and comedian Margaret Cho, who urges supporters to "grab the brass ring of equality" by standing up to the "silent complicity of the status quo." Larger public libraries may opt for both titles given their different approaches, while smaller libraries may find 50 Ways preferable for its more personal take.-Jeff Ingram, Newport P.L., OR Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.