There are many places in the world where book banning is a regular occurrence even in 2024!! It seems that many people claim free speech as the only entitlement we have as individuals until our ideal doesn’t meet their expectations, and then do everything in their power to take it away! We all know representation is vital for the wellbeing of young people exploring their sexual orientation and gender identity, but also helps all people of any age understand difference, and books or TV are really the only private outlets to do so.

So, we are going to fight this in our very own small way and celebrate those queer writers, queer stories and queer education and give our top picks each month.

It is in 1950s’ Brighton that Marion first catches sight of the handsome and enigmatic Tom. He teaches her to swim in the shadow of the pier and Marion is smitten – determined her love will be enough for them both. A few years later in Brighton Museum Patrick meets Tom. Patrick is besotted with Tom and opens his eyes to a glamorous, sophisticated new world. Tom is their policeman, and in this age it is safer for him to marry Marion. The two lovers must share him, until one of them breaks and three lives are destroyed.

A Little Gay History of Wales tells the compelling story of Welsh LGBT life from the Middle Ages to the present day. Drawing on a rich array of archival sources from across Britain together with oral testimony and material culture, this pioneering study is the first to examine the experiences of ordinary LGBT men and women, and how they embarked on coming out, coming together and changing the world. This is the story of poets who wrote about same-sex love and translators who worked to create a language to describe it; activists who campaigned for equality and politicians who created the legislation providing it; teenagers ringing advice lines for guidance on coming out and revellers in the pioneering bars and clubs on a Friday and Saturday night. It is also a study of prejudice and of intolerance, of emigration and isolation, of HIV/AIDS and Section 28 – all features of the complex historical reality of LGBT life and same-sex desire. Engaging and accessible, absorbing and perceptive, this book is an important advance in our understanding of Welsh history.

You can pick up your copy of this month’s books from your local Book:ish store in Abergavenny or Crickhowell or online here: https://www.book-ish.co.uk/ If these are unavailable at Book:ish, then you can find them online at https://www.queerlit.co.uk/ , the biggest queer bookshop in the UK.

What if you could glimpse into LGBTQIA+ life from decades ago? Since 1974 volunteers at Switchboard, the LGBT+ helpline, have written notes in the charity’s log books. Hosts Tash Walker and Adam Zmith are re-opening these pages today, to explore untold stories from Britain’s queer history. Each episode explores a different theme from LGBTQIA+ life through log book entries, dozens of voices sharing their own memories, and conversations about being queer today.

Pose (stylized as POSE) is an American drama television series about New York City’s ball culture, an LGBTQ subculture in the African-American and Latino communities, throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Featured characters are dancers and models, who compete for trophies and recognition in this underground culture and who support one another in a network of chosen families known as Houses.

Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Steven Canals