Official News Outlet for the Rainbow Round Table of the American Library Association
An article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry on April 18, 2014 by the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London has found a link between bullying and negative health effects for decades to follow. The 7,771 people in this study were all born in the same week in 1958. They were analyzed for the […]
In late March, the United States Department of Justice unveiled a new outreach program that seeks to quell the often contentious relationship between law enforcement and the transgender community. A 2011 study found that 20 percent of transgender respondents had experienced harassment at the hands of law enforcement, and that 6 percent had suffered physical […]
Only one out of the top ten of ALA’s 2013 challenged books is for homosexuality – The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Are values changing? View all ten books in the slideshow below.
The United States came out 12th in a Pew poll about attitudes regarding homosexuality in 40 countries. The survey asked this question: “Do you personally believe that homosexuality is morally acceptable, morally unacceptable, or is it not a moral issue?” Spain was first, with only 6 percent of the respondents stating that homosexuality is morally […]
The LGBT win in SmithKline Beecham Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories is now closer to providing a strong win for LGBT rights. The case dealt with a man who was excluded from being a juror in because he is gay. The three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals used “heightened scrutiny” in its ruling […]
Two countries are releasing stamps to honor gay men. In Finland, the late graphic artist Tom of Finland, born Touko Laaksonen, will be represented on a new series of stamps to be available in September (NSFW-ish). Tom of Finland became an icon because of his homoerotic drawings. is about to become further cemented as an icon […]
Alison Bechdel, author of the graphic narrative Fun Home, was so horrified that South Carolina legislators had censored her book that she helped make arrangements to have the off-Broadway musical based on the book presented at the College of Charleston. Two performances were shown on the evening of April 21 with almost 1,000 tickets sold […]
The New York Public Library is providing stipends for up to two Martin Duberman Visiting Scholars, including travel to New York City and related expenses to do research in the Library’s premier LGBT (Lesbian, Gay,Bisexual, and Transgender) history collections. The travel grants awarded range from $1,000 to $8,500. The program is limited to emerging scholars—those […]
By Tess Goldwasser Involved with the GLBTRT Program Planning Committee for the past five years, Shawn is now the chair. He also served a short term as director-at-large on the board and is moving into a role on the Bylaws committee and an ad-hoc committee planning a 2015 preconference. He hopes to use different responsibilities […]
While Mississippi may have signed a “religious freedom” bill into law last week, that doesn’t mean that all Mississippi businesses are taking the news lying down. The law allows businesses to refuse service to any person based on the sincerely held religious belief of the person providing the service. Although targeted towards the LGBT community, […]