This is a list of all texts currently in the Gender Community Lending Library collection. Click on a title for more information. If the book is on loan, you can still request it, but you will be added to a waiting list. ‘Pending’ means that a copy of the book has been pledged to the Library and is on its way.
We also have a list of free books available from other sources.
Non-fiction
| Title | Author | Restrictions* | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Queer Intentions | Amelia Abraham | None | Available |
| Queer City | Peter Ackroyd | 16+ | Available |
| Mobile Subjects | Aren Aizura | Pending | |
| Transgender Studies Reader 2 | Edited by Aren Aizura, Susan Stryker | Pending | |
| Non-Binary Lives | Edited by Meg-John Barker, Kat Gupta, Jos Twist and Ben Vincent | None | On Loan |
| How to Transform Your School into an LGBT+ Friendly Place | Ellie Barnes, Anna Carlile | None | Available |
| Transgender People and Education | Clare Bartholomaeus, Damien Riggs | None | Available |
| Transgender Cinema | Rebecca Bell-Metereau | None | Available |
| Memoirs of a Man’s Maiden Years | N. O. Body | None | Available |
| Queer Kinship and Family Changes in Taiwan | Amy Brainer | 16+ | Available |
| Karamo | Karamo Brown | 16+ | Available |
| Welcome to Fairyland | Julio Capó | Pending | |
| After Eunuchs | Howard Chiang | 16+ | Available |
| Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific | Howard Chiang | March release | |
| Man-Made Woman | Ciara Cremin | 16+ | Available |
| Heterosexual Histories | Rebecca L. Davis, Michele Mitchell | 16+ | Available |
| Palatable Poison | Laura Doan, Jay Prosser | Pending | |
| Sapphic Slashers | Lisa Duggan | 16+ | Available |
| TERF Wars | Sonja Erikainen, Ruth Pearce, Ben Vincent | None | Available |
| The History of Sexuality: 1: The Will to Knowledge | Michel Foucault (Translated by Robert Hurley) | 16+ | Available |
| Blind to Sameness | Asia Friedman | None | Available |
| Representing Queer and Transgender Identity | Alexandra Gonzenbach Perkins | 16+ | Available |
| Gender Trauma | Alex Iantaffi | None | Available |
| Queer Lovers and Hateful Others | Jin Haritaworn | 16+ | Available |
| Sporting Gender | Joanna Harper | None | Available |
| The New Woman | Emma Heaney | 16+ | Available |
| Testosterone | Rebecca Jordan-Young, Katrina Karkazis | 16+ | Available |
| Trans | Juliet Jacques | None | Available |
| Ishtyle | Kareem Khubchandani | None | Available |
| Original Plumbing | Edited by Rocco Kayiatos, Amos Mac | 18+ | On Loan |
| Travesti | Don Kulick | Pending | |
| Trans Like Me | CN Lester | None | Available |
| The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister | Anne Lister (Edited by Helena Whitbread) | 16+ | Available |
| The Narrative of Lucy Ann Lobdell | Joseph Lobdell (Edited by Lisa Macchia Ohliger) | None | Available |
| Female Husbands | Jen Manion | None | Available |
| Towards a Gay Communism | Mario Mieli (Translated by David Fernbach and Evan Calder Williams) | 16+ | Available |
| America Through Transgender Eyes | Lain A.B. Mathers and J.E. Sumerau | None | Available |
| Before Trans | Rachel Mesch | 16+ | Available |
| Camp TV | Quinn Miller | None | Available |
| Gender Politics | Surya Monro | 16+ | On Loan |
| Conundrum | Jan Morris | None | Available |
| After Queer Theory | James Penney | 16+ | Available |
| Queering Families | Carla Pfeffer | 16+ | Available |
| Symposium | Plato (Translated by Robin Waterfield) | None | Available |
| Second Skins | Jay Prosser | Pending | |
| Working with Transgender Young People and their Families | Damien Riggs | None | Available |
| Queer Sex | Juno Roche | 18+ | Available |
| Conditionally Accepted | Baker Rogers | None | Available |
| Trans Men in the South | Baker Rogers | 16+ | Available |
| A Practical Guide to Searching LGBTQIA Historical Records | Norena Shopland | None | Available |
| You’ve Changed | Laurie Shrage | Pending | |
| True Sex | Emily Skidmore | None | Available |
| Black on Both Sides | C. Riley Snorton | None | Available |
| Spectrums | Edited by Maxfield Sparrow | None | Available |
| Transgender History | Susan Stryker | None | On Loan |
| The Transgender Studies Reader | Edited by Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle | 16+ | Available |
| Beyond the Gender Binary | Alok Vaid-Menon | None | Available |
| Transgender Health | Ben Vincent | None | Available |
| Chemically-Enhanced Butch | Ty Bo Yule | 16+ | Available |
Fiction
| Title | Author | Restrictions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nightwood | Djuna Barnes | 16+ | Available |
| The Literature of Lesbianism | Edited by Terry Castle | None | Available |
| The Thirty Names of Night | Zeyn Joukhadar | 16+ | Available |
| Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones | Torrey Peters | 16+ | Available |
| Little Fish | Casey Plett | 18+ | Available |
| Confessions of the Fox | Jordy Rosenberg | 18+ | Available |
| 7 Minutes | Paul Van Der Spiegel | 18+ | Available |
| Trans Deus | Paul Van Der Spiegel | 18+ | Available |
| On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous | Ocean Vuong | 16+ | Available |
| The Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde | None | Available |
| Orlando | Virginia Woolf | None | Available |
Poetry
| Title | Author | Restrictions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Black Flamingo | Dean Atta | None | Available |
| Clouds Cannot Cover Us | Jay Hulme | None | On Loan |
| Femme in Public | Alok Vaid-Menon | 16+ | Available |
Comics
| Title | Author | Restrictions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Come Together | Edited by Alex Assan and Tab Kimpton | 18+ | Available |
| Love is Love | Edited by Sarah Gaydos and Jamie S. Rich | 16+ | Available |
| Ambrosia | Edited by Tab Kimpton and Jade Sarson | 18+ | Available |
| Minority Monsters | Tab Kimpton | None | Available |
| Shades of A | Tab Kimpton | 18+ | Available |
| Sir, Butler & Boy | Tab Kimpton | 18+ | Available |
| Nimona | Noelle Stevenson | None | Available |
About GCLL’s Restricted Books
We restrict access to some of our books, typically by user age due to the presence of sexual content. We do this very carefully. The decisions are made case by case by the Library administration.
We expect many of our users to be teenagers. This is because teenagers can find it harder to gain access to queer content, whether because they cannot travel to libraries alone, or because they live with parents who are not accepting of their gender or sexual orientation. We don’t believe it is reasonable to expect many – or any – younger children to find and use this website. Our decisions are made with this in mind.
Whilst most teenagers with internet access have been exposed to far more explicit content than GCLL provides access to, there are laws around ‘obscene’ publications and whom they can be provided to. Similar projects to GCLL are often harassed by anti-transgender hate groups. Many of these groups have the funding and inclination to take us to court. We have to balance trying to provide the very best service that we can, with trying to remain online. For that reason, although we don’t believe that restricting access to books containing sexual content is always helpful to teenagers, we do so. Our guidelines are as follows:
Sexual education books that are appropriate for teenagers will NEVER be restricted. It’s important to us that young people can find open, honest answers to questions about sex. This includes texts providing details around transgender medical treatments and surgeries. Even where minors are not currently provided with these treatments in the UK, it’s important that all people are allowed to consider transition, for as long as they need, with access to accurate information.
Likewise, we will never restrict access to novels written with a teenage audience in mind. These books can be found in the teen fiction section of libraries and bookshops across the country.
Novels with some sexual content and non-fiction that examines sexual experiences from an academic perspective, will typically be restricted to users aged 16+. For example, the novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a widely acclaimed, semi-autobiographical story about a young Vietnamese-American gay man. It contains a sex scene, descriptions of violence, and discussion of drug use. But, we don’t regard it as inappropriate for 16-18 year olds, and neither do the schools that teach it in their English classes. The sex scene is brief and non-explicit, and neither violence or drug use are glorified. We are happy to lend this book to any users aged 16 or over.
Similarly, the non-fiction book Queering Families is classed in our collection as 16+. This is because it discusses the sex lives of transgender men and their feelings around their genitals – in very little detail. The book is informative, not explicit.
Should we stock texts that are explicit guides to partnered sex, these will be restricted to 18+ users. Likewise, any novels with explicit sex scenes will be classed as 18+. An example currently in our collection is Confessions of the Fox.
Again, we don’t want to give the impression that we believe that this content to be disgusting, inflammatory or offensive. Sex is an ordinary, important part of the lives of most queer people, and queer sexuality in particular has been stigmatised and villified for centuries. We are proud to stock texts about queer sexuality. However, it is just as important to us that GCLL can remain online, and this involves preventing minors gaining access to some works.
We hope you understand our reasoning. If you have any queries around why a specific text is classified the way that it is, contact us.
