| |
NAVIGATION
|
|
|
|
|
|
A lot of information exists on adoption, and a lot of information exists for the GLBTIQ community; below you will find books by gay adopted authors, excerpts from works by adopted authors who have a small section devoted to queer adoptees, and a few anthologies with chapters written by GLBTIQ adoptees. For additional bibliographic information, click on the highlighted link to open up the corresponding WorldCat web page to help you find the item in a nearby library (enter your zip code), to identify other subject search terms, or to read a review.
Brown, Rita Mae. (1973). Rubyfruit jungle. New York: Bantam Books. Rita Mae Brown is known for instilling laughter, tears and more laughter in most everyone who reads her novels. This is a coming-of-age and coming out story about an adopted lesbian named Molly and her colorful life-experiences.
Brown, Rita Mae. (1997). Rita will: Memoir of a literary rabble rouser. New York: Bantam Books. An autobiography that candidly captures growing up in the south as an adopted child in the 1940’s-1960’s. Full of wit, Brown describes her political involvement as a lesbian feminist, her growth as a writer, and how her family and society reacted to it all.
Hern, Katie and McGarry Carlson, Ellen. (1999). Reunion: A year in letters between a birthmother and the daughter she couldn’t keep. Seattle, WA: Seal Press. A collection of personal letters exchanged between Katie, the adoptee, and her birthmother Ellen; Katie comes out to her birthmother early in the correspondence. Among sexuality, issues of abandonment, trust, and resentment are raised and pose important questions.
Hickman, Craig. (2005). Fumbling toward divinity: The adoption scriptures. Winthrop, ME: Annabessacook Farm. African-American, gay, and an adult adoptee—this best-selling author’s memoir offers heartfelt insight into his relationships with his husband, adoptive parents, and birth family. Hickman’s work has received tremendous praise for sharing stories surrounding sexuality and his successful search for his birth relatives.
McKinley, Catherine E. (2002). The book of Sarahs: A family in parts. Washington D.C.: Counterpoint. An emotive memoir written by a mixed-race lesbian adopted from birth by a white couple in the late 1960’s. McKinley chronicles the search for her biological parents, her racial and ethnic identity and comes to realize her expectations may forever be challenged.
Winterson, Jeanette. (1985). Oranges are not the only fruit. New York: Grove Press. Winterson’s first novel is semi-autobiographical, and tells the story of an adopted orphan who struggles with her love for god and her love for women. This is a unique coming-of-age tale. |
|
|
|
Backus, Margot Gayle. (2001). I am your mother; she was a carrying case: Adoption, class, and sexual orientation in Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are not the only fruit. In Marianne Novy (Ed.), Imagining adoption: Essays on literature and culture (pp. 133-150). Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. An intelligent anthology that analyzes literary representations of adoption; Backus’ essay explores the point-of-view of Jeanette, the lesbian adoptee character of Winterson’s first novel, Oranges are not the only fruit.
Bruining, Mi Ok. (1995). A few thoughts from a Korean, adopted, lesbian, writer/poet, and social worker. In Hilda Hidalgo (Ed.), Lesbians of color: Social and human services (pp. 61-66). NY: Haworth Press. Also available online. A short personal essay on Mi Ok Bruining’s ongoing process to construct an identity.
Bruining, Mi Ok. (1995). Whose daughter are you? Exploring identity issues of lesbians who are adopted. In Hilda Hidalgo (Ed.), Lesbians of color: Social and human services (pp. 43-60). NY: Haworth Press. In this study, 13 adopted lesbians discuss such topics as adoption issues, relationships, coming out experiences, searching for birth parent, and identity issues. Though the study doesn’t have a large study group, it is fascinating to read the subjects responses to the questions. One of the prominent conclusions is that the majority of women are more comfortable with their lesbian identity than with their adoption issues.
Lifton, Betty Jean. (1994). The gay self. In Journey of the adopted self: A quest for wholeness (pp. 120-122). New York: BasicBooks. A few pages devoted to the gay and lesbian adoptee identity and a very short discussion of “feeling different” and “finding wholeness”.
Lifton, Betty Jean. (1979). Lost and found: The adoption experience. (pp. 66-68). New York: The Dial Press. In the chapter titled, “The Adoptee as Adult”, the author includes two pages of gay and lesbian interviewee responses on being gay and adopted.
Park, Pauline. (2004). Activism and the consciousness of difference. In Kevin K. Kumashiro (Ed.), Restoried selves: Autobiographies of queer Asian/Pacific American activists (pp. 93-99). New York: Haworth Press. Pauline reflects on childhood differences—growing up in Wisconsin as a foreign-born Korean adoptee; and differences that inform her adult activism and advocacy as a transgendered person of color. She discusses a consciousness of difference to bring about social change.
Park, Pauline. (2006). Homeward bound: the journey of a transgendered Korean adoptee. In Tumang, P. J. & de Reivera, J. (Eds.), Homelands: Women’s journeys across race, place and time. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press. From the book description: “Writers investigate the complexities of how women experience, remember, and imagine journeys to their homelands. Approaching the topic from varying perspectives—exile, longing, belonging, diaspora, and idealization — they show that “homeland” isn't just a physical place. It can also be an imagined community, a part of one's identity, or simply a wavering memory.” |
|
Last updated March 12, 2007
Create a
free website at Webs.com
| 
|
|
