8 Memoirs by LGBTQ Elders You Need To Read

Before her recent ACT UP oral history, Sarah Schulman wrote a necessary, challenging memoir of going through the AIDS crisis as a queer woman. Never content to tell just one story, she also explains the socio-political reality of queer life before, during, and after the AIDS crisis, and how those who survived restricted queer liberation. Schulman is not one to pull punches when criticizing privilege. Weaving together her own experiences and the history of the AIDS crisis, Schulman mounts a searing critique of the systems that demand we move slowly, assimilate, ask politely for rights — instead of screaming, rioting, and demanding.

In 1987, Peter Staley was a closeted gay man working on Wall Street who kind of stumbled into AIDS activism. Staley was featured in the book and documentary How to Survive a Plague, and in this book, he gives his personal account of participating in this world-changing activism. Staley was involved in some of ACT UP’s biggest protests, like the condom over Senator Jesse Helms’s home. Staley recounts how ACT UP organized and pushed public health institutions to understand AIDS and treat it like an actual problem instead of just an unfortunate occurrence for gay men.

I have deliberately included Janet Mock on this list, even though she is quite young at age 39, because the life expectancy of Black transgender women in America is 30-35 years old. This is a deeply upsetting number that Mock understands all too well. For over 10 years, Mock has been open about her story and her struggles in order to be the representation she never had while navigating her transition as a teenager. Mock is an important voice in the community because she writes with such clarity and honesty about her struggles and successes.

Audre Lorde is one of the most innovative writers in history and would not have been content writing a simple memoir. Lorde chronicles her life in the 1950s in New York City as a queer woman. Her work as a poet is evident in her lyrical prose about being in love and feeling like an outsider. This is a book that demands your attention. Lorde’s invention of the word “biomythography” encourages us to think about ourselves in grander terms than just an A to B story — as a queer woman, this was a radical act.

If you think of a favorite piece of queer media from the last few decades, Harvey Fierstein was probably involved. Harvey Fierstein was always bound for the stage and tells us how he made his way through the experimental theater scene of downtown New York City to his triumph of Broadway. Fierstein gives us an inside look of the vibrant queer artistic community on the 1970s and ’80s, and his involvement in AIDS activism. He gives us amazing stories about his time in iconic productions like La Cage Aux Folles and The Fiddler on the Roof, with gossip to delight every theater kid. He’s a true icon, and having seen him as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, I can confirm he is excellent every night.

Cherrìe Moraga is a seminal queer activist, and this book documents her mother’s life as well as her own. In the early 1900s, Cherríe’s mother Elvira Moraga became a cigarette girl in Tijuana, while Cherrìe grew up in Pasadena in the 1950s. Alongside her coming out story in the 1970s, Cherrìe experienced her mother’s declining state because of Alzheimer’s. This is a mother-daughter story, and Cherrìe’s love for her mother was always important alongside her coming out journey. Alongside her mother’s story, Cherrìe reconnects with her roots and gains a stronger understanding of herself and her future.

Growing up in an Ojibwa-Cree community in Ontario, Ma-Nee Chacaby struggled to come to terms with herself in a space where she could barely stop to take a breath. From a young age, Chacaby suffered from abuse, alcoholism, and sexual assault. Despite all of her challenges, Chacaby remains generous in her ability to share a story. She came out as a lesbian and marched in her first pride parade in 2013.