This Friday is Wear It Purple Day. Wear It Purple Day is about the whole community supporting and standing with LGBTQIA+ young people. The theme this year is starting the conversation (and keeping it going) to support and empower young LGBTIQA+ people in the workplace and classrooms.
Senior Library Learning Advisor at La Trobe by day and Australian Queer Archives volunteer by night, Clare, is here to introduce you to some resources at La Trobe and beyond to help you start and continue the conversation.
The recent fourth Writing Themselves In: The Health and Wellbeing of LGBTQA+ Young People in Australia report, produced by La Trobe University colleagues at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) highlights why this is vital as it found that LGBTIQA+ young people still face significant discrimination and disadvantage in Australia. This slide deck produced by the research team highlights key figures that will help you start the conversation.
Below are some eBooks available via the Library which help make histories and theories related to gender and sexuality (and more topics) accessible and are great starting points for learning and research:
Democracy in difference: Debating key terms of gender, sexuality, race and identity by Carolyn D'Cruz (and listen to this playlist as you read)
Gender: a graphic guide by Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele
Queer: a graphic history by Meg-John Barker and Jules Scheele
Transgender warriors : making history from Joan of Arc to RuPaul by Leslie Feinberg
If you want to dig deeper and find even more research and histories, check out the following databases:
LGBT Thought and Culture collection has La Trobe University Emeritus Professor Dennis Altman on the editorial board and contains a diverse range of material documenting LGBTIQ+ political, social and cultural movements.
LGBTQ Source contains a diverse range of scholarly and popular publications, historically important primary sources, magazines, and newspapers documenting LGBT+ lives.
Archives of Sexuality and Gender is a collection of primary sources for the historical study of sex, sexuality, and gender and has evidence of La Trobe University Gay Society's Inaugural "Coming Out Party" in 1984.
Find even more resources and research tips in this Gender, Sexuality and Diversity Studies Expert Help Guide.
