Books and Authors

MONTPELIER, Vt. — Former Gov. Jim Douglas says he was acting on conscience in 2009 when he vetoed a same-sex marriage law that had been passed by the state Legislature. In a frank new memoir being released Wednesday, the 63-year-old Douglas said that he had no objection to same-sex couples forming relationships and that he and his wife Dorothy have gay friends.

PHILADELPHIA — The nation’s oldest gay bookstore will reopen next month in Philadelphia after closing three months ago due to financial problems. Philly AIDS Thrift says it’s taking over the shop called Giovanni’s Room. It had closed in May after 41 years, citing competition from online outlets. Philly AIDS Thrift already operates a secondhand store whose proceeds …

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — A Delaware school district has eliminated a summer reading list for incoming high school freshman over a challenge to the list’s inclusion of book whose main character is gay. The Cape Henlopen School Board initially voted to remove the novel “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” by emily m. danforth (the author uses all lower case letters…

NEW YORK — In Todd Parr’s world, it’s OK to wear your undies on your head, spill your milk or eat mac and cheese in the bathtub. Most of all, it’s OK to be yourself. Inclusion and acceptance are Parr’s mainstays in more than 30 quirky picture books for young kids, including “It’s Okay to Make Mistakes,” out this month from Little, Brown and Co.

SINGAPORE — Two children’s books dealing with gay subjects won’t be destroyed after all and will be restored to Singapore’s public libraries, an official said Friday. Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim had said in mid-July he supported the state-run National Library Board’s decision to pulp three books deemed to have inappropriate …

LOS ANGELES — Archie Andrews will die taking a bullet for his gay best friend. The famous freckle-faced comic book icon is meeting his demise in Wednesday’s installment of “Life with Archie” when he intervenes in an assassination attempt on Kevin Keller, Archie Comics’ first openly gay character. Andrews’ death, which was first announced in April, will mark the…

SINGAPORE — A children’s book inspired by a real-life story of two male penguins raising a baby chick in New York’s zoo has been deemed inappropriate by state-run Singapore libraries, and the conservative city-state’s information minister said he supports the decision to destroy all copies alongside two other titles. The National Library Board, which runs 26 public libraries in Singapore…

Comedian and author Joan Rivers on Monday officiated an impromptu wedding of a same-sex on at a book signing in New York City. Rivers, 81, was taking questions from her fans when Jed Ryan and Joe Aiello, a couple of three years, raised their hands and ask if the comic – who is an ordained minister capable of officiating weddings – would marry them …

NEW YORK — Writer David Levithan last year marked the 10th anniversary of his “Boy Meets Boy,” a romantic teen comedy where the homecoming queen was once a guy and the gay-straight alliance was aimed at helping the straight kids learn how to dance. And there was Paul, who meets Noah…

One of the original researchers to expose the ties between U.S. right-wing evangelicals and anti-LGBTQ laws in Uganda and other parts of Africa has released releasing a new book that shows U.S. activists exactly how to stop Americans like Scott Lively and Rick Warren from pushing their hateful beliefs abroad.

NEW YORK — Television executive and personality Andy Cohen has more to spill about the glamorous life. Publisher Henry Holt and Company announced Wednesday that Cohen has a deal for “The Andy Cohen Diaries.”

For all the consternation the book “Forcing the Spring” has caused, Jo Becker’s trespass in portraying American Foundation for Equal Rights founder Chad Griffin as the Rosa Parks in the fight for marriage equality is not much worse than all the many times newspapers, magazines, and even knowledgeable people in the LGBT community have casually pronounced Stonewall as the start of the gay civil rights movement and rioting drag queens as the pioneers. The movement started decades earlier, and its pioneers were people who pushed back against discrimination in many different ways…

NEW YORK — As transgender people strive to gain more acceptance and legal protections, they will soon have a hefty new resource to assist them — a 672-page book, written by scores of transgender contributors, that encompasses social history, gender politics and wide-ranging advice on health, law, relationships and many other matters.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Senate’s budget-writing committee has rejected an effort to punish two South Carolina universities for assigning gay-themed books to freshmen.

PHILADELPHIA — The nation’s oldest gay bookstore is writing its final chapter. The owner of Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia says he’ll close the doors to the 41-year-old store by the end of next month.

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A state House budget proposal to cut $70,000 from two South Carolina universities for assigning gay-themed books to freshmen might not get much of a reception in the Senate.

WARRENTON, Va. — A Virginia high school review committee has voted not to censor a contested book from the school’s library that depicts two boys kissing on its cover.

To say there’s been a flurry of discussion around the release of a new book Tuesday on the legal case that challenged California’s Proposition 8 would be an understatement. The book, “Forcing the Spring,” by The New York Times writer Jo Becker, has been thoroughly pilloried by many plugged-in LGBT activists and journalists this week, both publicly and privately.

Leslie Cheung’s fans came to him through their love of his music and his performances on the screen, both large and small, but they stayed with him, and even now, over 11 years after his death, they stay with him because of his warmth, simplicity and humbleness of character.

WARRENTON, Va. — A Virginia high school is once again considering a parent’s appeal to remove a book from the school’s library that depicts two boys kissing on its cover.