Books like The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman

A collection of linked short stories that follows a platoon of American soldiers and their experiences, thoughts, and burdens during the Vietnam War.

A Raisin in the Sun is a seminal American drama about the Younger family's hopes and struggles on Chicago’s South Side as they confront race, housing discrimination, and generational conflict.

A two-part play by American playwright Tony Kushner, exploring themes of AIDS, religion, and modern America through the lens of a gay romance story and the lives of gay and lesbian Mormons.

A novel in verse, October Mourning is a powerful tribute to Matthew Shepard, a gay college student who was murdered in 1998. The author uses poetic imagination to create fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence where Shepard was tied to death. The novel is a memorial for readers too young to remember the tragic events of that day.

Judy Shepard tells the personal story of her son Matthew, the tragic murder that sparked national gay‑rights activism, and her journey from grief to advocacy.

Robert Beachy chronicles how 1920s and 1930s Berlin became the world’s gay capital, pioneering gay journalism, rights organizations, sexual science, and gender‑affirming surgery, and how these developments shaped modern concepts of sex and gender.

One-man play by Doug Wright that dramatizes the life of transvestite antiques dealer Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who survived Nazi and Communist Germany while living openly as a gay drag queen.

Every liberal democracy has laws or codes against hate speech, except the United States. For constitutionalists, regulation of hate speech violates the First Amendment and damages a free society. Against this absolutist view, the author argues that hate speech should be regulated as part of our commitment to human dignity and to inclusion and respect for members of vulnerable minorities. Causing offense, by depicting a religious leader as a terrorist in a newspaper cartoon, for example, is not the same as launching a libelous attack on a group's dignity, according to the author, and it lies outside the reach of law. But defamation of a minority group, through hate speech, undermines a public good that can and should be protected: the basic assurance of inclusion in society for all members. A social environment polluted by anti-gay leaflets, Nazi banners, and burning crosses sends an implicit message to the targets of such hatred: your security is uncertain and you can expect to face humiliation and discrimination when you leave your home. Free-speech advocates boast of despising what racists say but defending to the death their right to say it. The author finds this emphasis on intellectual resilience misguided and points instead to the threat hate speech poses to the lives, dignity, and reputations of minority members. Finding support for his view among philosophers of the Enlightenment, he asks us to move beyond knee-jerk American exceptionalism in our debates over the serious consequences of hateful speech.

The Book of Matt examines the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard through an exhaustive investigation, revealing that the tragedy was driven by complex, drug‑related motives rather than simple homophobia.

Neil Miller’s investigative history uncovers how a 1954 child‑murder case in Sioux City, Iowa, triggered the arrest, institutionalization, and stigmatization of 20 gay men during a period of widespread anti‑homosexual hysteria.

American Honor Killings exposes a series of murders involving gay and straight men, tracing hate, bullying, and identity struggles from 1999 to recent convictions across Alabama, San Quentin, and New York.

A nonfiction exploration of the 1998 murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matt Shepard, its impact on a remote Wyoming community, and the wider national response to violence against LGBTQ people.

A groundbreaking book that reveals the shocking problem of anti-gay/lesbian violence.

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the legal issues concerning gender and sexual nonconformity in the United States. Part One, which covers the years from the post-Civil War period to the 1980s, is a history of state efforts to discipline and punish the behavior of homosexuals and other people considered to be deviant. During this period such people could get by only at the cost of suppressing their most basic feelings and emotions. Part Two addresses contemporary issues. Although it is no longer illegal to be openly gay in America, homosexuals still suffer from state discrimination in the military and in other realms, and private discrimination and violence against gays is prevalent. William Eskridge presents a rigorously argued case for the "sexualization" of the First Amendment, showing why, for example, same-sex ceremonies and intimacy should be considered "expressive conduct" deserving the protection of the courts. The author draws on legal reasoning, sociological studies, and history to develop an effective response to the arguments made in defense of the military ban. The concluding part of the book locates the author's legal arguments within the larger currents of liberal theory and integrates them into a general stance toward freedom, gender equality, and religious pluralism.

A tender collection of American lesbian dramas that follows two aging women as they humorously reflect on the joys and challenges of love with other women. A touching mix of laughter, memory, romance and insight.

A collection of two novels by John Grisham featuring legal narratives and investigative stories.