Hard Love, by Ellen Wittlinger

Wittlinger, Ellen. (1999). Hard Love. New York: Simon & Schuster. 224 pages. 

Description from Alex Sanchez's Web listing:

This very hip, very contemporary novel set in the world of homemade zines (magazines) finds 16-year-old John “Gio” Galardi, Jr., falling in love with the amazing Marisol Guzman, a self-proclaimed Puerto Rican Cuban Yankee Lesbian. The two form an unlikely friendship based on zines, alienation, and dreams of escape. John questions his own sexuality as he struggles with his unrequited love for Marisol, who has no doubts at all about who she is. Hard Love is an absorbing book about loss, love, trust, family, transformation, and, interestingly, authorship. 

Available at SF Public Library.

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson, Jacqueline. (1995). From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun. New York: Scholastic. 141 pages.
 
Description from Alex Sanchez's listing of LGBTQ resources:

13-year-old Melanin Sun’s comfortable, quiet life is shattered when his mother reveals she has fallen in love with a woman. Adding even greater dimension to this story is the fact that Melanin and his mother are black, while the woman his mother has fallen in love with is white. Wonderfully written, as are all of Woodson’s books. While only a few of the author’s books deal with gay or lesbian characters, almost all deal with issues of race. 

Available at the SF Public Library. Is this a middle school book?

glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture

An online resource that students should learn to consult regularly. Features include

• Wide range of topics
• Searchable
• Each entry features a bibliography for further research
• Each entry includes links to related topics
• Each entry lists citation information at the bottom
  

Gay Pioneers, directed by Glenn Holsten

Holsten, Glenn (Director/Producer). (2004). Gay Pioneers. United States: WHYY, Equity Forum. 30 minutes.

From the film's Web site:

... Gay Pioneers is a 30-minute documentary chronicling the first organized gay and lesbian civil rights demonstrations. These "Annual Reminders" took place in front of Independence Hall each Fourth of July from 1965 to 1969, paving the way for the Stonewall Uprising and the New York Pride Parade.

Available from SFUSD School Health Services. Not available at the SF Public Library. Available for purchase for $100. Teaching guide available online.

Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria, directed by Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker

Silverman, Victor, & Stryker, Susan. (Directors). (2005). Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria. United States: Independent Television Service, KQED, Frameline. 57 minutes.

Erik has a copy. Also available at the SF Public Library. From the catalog description: "Screaming Queens tells the little-known story of the first known act of collective, violent resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the United States — a 1966 riot in San Francisco's impoverished Tenderloin neighborhood, three years before the famous gay riot at New York's Stonewall Inn."

Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up, directed by Debra Chasnoff and Sue Chen

Chasnoff, Debra, & Chen, Sue (Directors). (2009). Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up. United States: GroundSpark. 67 minutes.


From the production company's Web site

Filmed in the same intimate style as That’s a Family! and Let’s Get Real, the heart of Straightlaced is candid interviews with more than 50 teens from diverse backgrounds.

With a fearless look at a highly charged subject, Straightlaced unearths how popular pressures around gender and sexuality are confining American teens. Their stories reflect a diversity of experiences, demonstrating how gender role expectations and homophobia are interwoven, and illustrating the different ways that these expectations connect with culture, race and class.

Not yet available at SF Public Library. Can purchase for $100 from New Day Films. Study guide being developed.

Madame Satå, directed by Karim Ainouz

Ainouz, Karim (Director). (2002). Madame Satå. Brazil/France: VideFilms. 105 minutes.

Film based on the real story of a young man in the Lapa neighborhood of Rio de Janiero in the 1930s. Very interesting questions around his sexual identity, which doesn't fit any of our contemporary standard models but which is probably not all that unusual in Brazilian culture of the period.

Available from the SF Public Library. Library summary:

Based on the life of João Francisco dos Santos, a gay performer, his triumphs and tragedies amid the violence and poverty of 1930's Brazil.

Available in DVD and streaming format from Netflix. Netflix summary:

Rio de Janeiro's Lapa neighborhood is full of outrageous personalities, but few hold a candle to the fascinating Madame Sata (Lazaro Ramos), a transvestite singer who worked the streets in order to survive day to day. Director Karim Ainouz based his film on the extraordinary life of this eccentric character (born Francisco dos Santos), who was also a murderer and spent decades in jail.

Is he gay? Is he a transvestite? Bisexual? Other? Parsing his identity would be a good student exercise. Racial issues suggested in the film are also interesting. Three brief scenes that would need to be skipped in the classroom (M2M lovemaking with nudity; bare female breasts; the naked protagonist being hosed down when he's is admitted to jail).