Brian Katcher, Winner of Stonewall Book award for Youth for "Almost Perfect" comes to Stonewall Live! March 3, 9PM EST

Winner of the 2011 Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award.
Almost Perfect was listed by the American Library Association as one of the Best Books for Young Adults in 2010.
A Capitol Choice Noteworthy Book for 2010
A Lambda Award nominee, 2010
A 2011 TAYSHASH (Texas) Reading List Book


After a painful breakup with the only girl he ever loved, senior Logan Witherspoon is gun-shy when it comes to romance. New girl Sage, however, makes him reconsider, even though she makes it clear early on that she can’t offer anything more than friendship, and even though her parents keep her under strange and severe strictures. When Logan and Sage find their attraction rising, she tells him her secret: she was born male. Katcher, author of Playing With Matches, manages a delicate balance here: Sage is utterly credible and utterly sympathetic, but so are Logan’s shock and reservations. His narration explores the emotional issues—does this mean he’s gay? Can he face his small Missouri town if people know?—while the story conveys the daunting details of Sage’s everyday realities, such as going to great lengths to avoid showing her driver’s license, which classifies her as male. Though the book is programmatic at times and gives Logan too much responsibility for Sage’s well-being and identity, this is a solid, reality-based exploration of transgender issues and the possibly insurmountable task of facing them as a teenager in a small town. While transgender readers will find support here, the book’s focus on a bystander broadens the book’s credence, and the message of acceptance is thoughtfully conveyed.

From School Library Journal, December, 2009 edition
A small-town Missouri boy’s world is rocked when he falls for the new girl at school, and she eventually confesses that she is a biological male. Logan’s world is small, as is his mind at first, but throughout the book he grows to accept and love Sage for who-not what-she is. This remarkable book takes a hard look at the difficulties and pain experienced by young male-to-female transsexuals from an easily relatable perspective, as Julie Ann Peters did in Luna. Logan is a conservative 18-year-old Everyman whose generic voice isn’t-and doesn’t need to be-anything special; although readers follow his growth; it is Sage’s story that is truly important. A remarkably “clean” book dealing with sexuality and identity, this is neither preachy nor didactic while directly challenging prejudice and intolerance. With realistic characters and situations, it is a first purchase for all high school collections, and could easily be given to middle school readers who are undaunted by its length.

Join me on Thurs, March 3 9PM EST at as I welcome Brian Katcher for what I know will be a fantastic interview. www.blogtalkradio.com/stonewalllive

Brian Katcher, Winner of Stonewall Book award for Youth for "Almost Perfect" comes to Stonewall Live! March 3, 9PM EST

Winner of the 2011 Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award.
Almost Perfect was listed by the American Library Association as one of the Best Books for Young Adults in 2010.
A Capitol Choice Noteworthy Book for 2010
A Lambda Award nominee, 2010
A 2011 TAYSHASH (Texas) Reading List Book


After a painful breakup with the only girl he ever loved, senior Logan Witherspoon is gun-shy when it comes to romance. New girl Sage, however, makes him reconsider, even though she makes it clear early on that she can’t offer anything more than friendship, and even though her parents keep her under strange and severe strictures. When Logan and Sage find their attraction rising, she tells him her secret: she was born male. Katcher, author of Playing With Matches, manages a delicate balance here: Sage is utterly credible and utterly sympathetic, but so are Logan’s shock and reservations. His narration explores the emotional issues—does this mean he’s gay? Can he face his small Missouri town if people know?—while the story conveys the daunting details of Sage’s everyday realities, such as going to great lengths to avoid showing her driver’s license, which classifies her as male. Though the book is programmatic at times and gives Logan too much responsibility for Sage’s well-being and identity, this is a solid, reality-based exploration of transgender issues and the possibly insurmountable task of facing them as a teenager in a small town. While transgender readers will find support here, the book’s focus on a bystander broadens the book’s credence, and the message of acceptance is thoughtfully conveyed.

From School Library Journal, December, 2009 edition
A small-town Missouri boy’s world is rocked when he falls for the new girl at school, and she eventually confesses that she is a biological male. Logan’s world is small, as is his mind at first, but throughout the book he grows to accept and love Sage for who-not what-she is. This remarkable book takes a hard look at the difficulties and pain experienced by young male-to-female transsexuals from an easily relatable perspective, as Julie Ann Peters did in Luna. Logan is a conservative 18-year-old Everyman whose generic voice isn’t-and doesn’t need to be-anything special; although readers follow his growth; it is Sage’s story that is truly important. A remarkably “clean” book dealing with sexuality and identity, this is neither preachy nor didactic while directly challenging prejudice and intolerance. With realistic characters and situations, it is a first purchase for all high school collections, and could easily be given to middle school readers who are undaunted by its length.

Join me on Thurs, March 3 9PM EST at as I welcome Brian Katcher for what I know will be a fantastic interview.

Sean Strub, social justice activist and founder of POZ magazine comes to Stonewall Live! Thurs February 24th @9PM

The man who in 1991 was one of the AIDS activist that put a condom over then-US Senator Jesse Helms’ suburban Washington, DC home will be my guest next Thurs, February 24th. While this is probably not Sean Strub’s most noted life achievement, it is one that demonstrates the dedication and creativity.

Sean Strub is a longtime social justice activist, the founder of POZ Magazine (poz.com) and senior advisor to the Center for HIV Law & Policy's Positive Justice Project (hivlawandpolicy.com), combating HIV criminalization. Strub has been living with HIV for more than 30 years and serves on the board of directors of the North American regional affiliate of the Global Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS (GNP+). He has been particularly outspoken in his promotion of the people with HIV empowerment movement, advocating for better education about and access to post-exposure prophylaxis and combating HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

He is also the founder of several other magazines and websites, besides POZ magazine. POZ en Español, (for people impacted by HIV/AIDS), Mamm (for women impacted by breast cancer), Real Health (an African-American health magazine) and Milford Magazine (a regional title distributed in the Delaware River Highlands area of northeast Pennsylvania).

POZ magazine is widely distributed in the gay and straight community and has been a voice of reason and honesty when the stigma of HIV/AIDS created outspoken fear and irrational behavior from schoolyards to the White House. His voice, through the magazine was the shining beacon for those infected and affected by the virus. Rarely does one man have that effect on an issue.

Please join me Thursday, February 24 @9PM EST when Sean Strub comes to Stonewall Live! www.blogtalkradio.com/stonewalllive

Thursday, February 17th 9PM EST Justin Spring, author of "Secret Historian, The Life And Times of Sam Steward" comes to Stonewall Live!

What do Gertrude Stein, International Mr. Leather, Alfred Kinsey, Rudolf Valentino, and the birth of Gay Erotica have in common? They were all deeply influenced by a man named Sam Steward and next Thurs, Feb 17th we'll talk with Justin Spring, his biographer. Professor, Tattoo Artist, Sexual Renegade... Sam Steward 9PM EST 2/17/11 www.blogtalkradio.com/stonewalllive

Drawn from the secret, never-before-seen diaries, journals, and sexual records of the novelist, poet, and university professor Samuel M. Steward, Secret Historian is a sensational reconstruction of one of the more extraordinary hidden lives of the twentieth century. An intimate friend of Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and Thornton Wilder, Steward maintained a secret sex life from childhood on, and documented these experiences in brilliantly vivid (and often very funny) detail. Justin Spring’s latest book, “Secret Historian, the Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade” is a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a Finalist for the 2010 National Book Award, a Top 10 Biography of the Year on Amazon, an American Library Association Stonewall Honor Book for 2011, and a Top 10 Book of the Year in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Thurs, Feb 10th, Chris Glaser, LGBT theologian, author and role model comes to Stonewall Live!

"Too Often We Postpone Life, As If There Is No Deadline" Chris Glaser offers a new expression of his embodied, here-and-now, spirituality—his twelfth book, The Final Deadline: What Death Has Taught Me About Life. "Death forces us back on life, as a shut door forces us to find another passageway, a roadblock prompts us to take a detour, or a great loss encourages us to savor what remains."

As a writer, Chris Glaser experiences deadlines as friendly reminders that something has to be accomplished by a given time. He views death as the final deadline, one that insists we "get it" or "get it done" – whatever "it is" – during our lifetimes. Glaser depicts Death as an inscrutable Zen master ready to teach us, a spiritual director eager to inspire us, a soul-friend reminding us that our life spans have sacred worth. Movingly, he recounts the deaths that have shaped his soul, opening readers' hearts to their own discoveries facing The Final Deadline. Chris was also Grand Marshall at Atlanta Gay Pride 2009.

Chris Glaser, after graduation from Yale Divinity School in 1977, was a pioneer in queer activism in the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., seeking ordination as an openly gay man. This has led him to a variety of parish and campus ministries, and to a writing and speaking career that has produced twelve books and taken him to hundreds of campuses, congregations, LGBT centers, and AIDS groups. Part of his impetus was his awareness of "The Final Deadline"--death--and so comes his latest book by that title, subtitled "What Death Has Taught Me About Life."

Join me Thursday, February 10th, 2011 as Chris Glaser visits “Stonewall Live!” 9PM EST www.blogtalkradio.com/stonewalllive