This Book Is Gay

What an uplifting, affirming book for teenagers who are LGBTQ+. I ordered it myself and read the whole thing to see what all the recent controversy has been about. This is a book which helps teens to come out to the adults in their lives, affirms that they value and they matter, and helps them to make safe and responsible choices for themselves and any dating/romantic partners they may have. It emphasizes consent and sexual health + safety. Five star book.

As an ally, I purchased this book among others as a desire to learn more about the experience of the LGBTQ+ community. The writing is targeted towards a teenage demographic and reads as a guidebook to coming to terms with one's sexuality/gender identity. While it certainly is an easy read and I'm sure has been helpful for people, I found myself yearning to learn more about the social issues and history of the LGTBQ+ community and ultimately switched to different books/avenues of education. If choosing to buy this book, understand its discussion regarding social issues and the historical context of the LGBTQ+ community is pretty shallow/limited which may be due to the younger demographic the writing is geared towards. It serves to provide an understanding of the experience of a queer person on an individual scale. In my personal reason for reading the book, I feel like I could have easily obtained this information from speaking to a queer friend.

This book includes almost everything you need to know about being gay. It would be great for gay teenagers, as well as people that want to understand the experience of being gay. There is a chapter that is very explicit as it explains sex for gay youth.

I bought this purely because it’s a banned book. It’s aimed at younger readers, maybe teenagers, but is well written, humorous at times, and very well researched. Even adults are bound to learn a thing or 12 from it.

Well written with facts, humor and anecdotes. Non judgmental. Answers a lot of questions in well organized and self-contained chapters. Shame people want to ban it. The chapter on sex starts with a trigger warning and it's handled better than most public school Sex Ed classes.

I've had this book for over a year and the quality is fine but the info is a bit outdated or you could find it just as easy if you Google it. Its honestly just collecting dust but if you need a cheep gag gift or some color on your bookshelf this is the book for you

I am no parent but I imagine this book would be extremely helpful in navigating any LGBTQIA+ “issues” that may arise. It covers all the bases.

Reading this infuriated me. Not because it is an LGBT focused book, but because as an actual gay man I felt like queer/LGBT+ kids deserve better than this! The truth of matter is a whole entire book could be written just about being a gay young man, or just about being a non-binary individual. This book feels hastily written and a disgrace as a resource for things LGBT teens actually need to know. Tell me: WHY does the "Cheat Sheet" section with vocabulary words include "Scat: Eating poop," but NOT even the word "versatile"? How many gay men do you know eat poop?! There are multiple reasons why NOT to get this book or put it in your school library.1) OUT OF DATE/INACCURATE INFORMATIONThis book has a section on it about HIV. Great! But it doesn't even elaborate how signifcantly damaging this was to our beauitful community! No mention of Cleve Jones, no mention of the AIDS Quilt, no mention of Princess Diana. All what it says is that if you don't want HIV, wear a condom- which is far from true. It's virtually IMPOSSIBLE to get HIV if you do oral, frotting, hand jobs- basically anything that's not anal. Not only this, but this book treats HIV like a death sentence. No where does it mention anywhere U=U. For indiviudals living with HIV, there is modern day medicine that makes them live long and fulfilling lives. It mentions viral loads, but thanks to modern medicine HIV+ people can become undetectable, therefore unable to transmit the virus.2) LACKING QUEER HISTORY, FOCUSES ON WRONG PEOPLEWill & Grace and Sex and the City? Really? These are two shows mentioned at the end of the book important for the LGBT community to know. What a slap in the face to LGBT elders! The year is 2023. The modern day gay rights movement started in 1969; prior to that the first gay rights movement in the whole world began in Berlin, Germany but then was quickly squished by an evil man named Hitler. This book does not begin to touch the surface at all with queer history. It briefly covers the Stonewall Riots, which did start our modern movement today, but does not even bring up key figures like Marsha P Johnson or Syliva Rivera. It doesn't share the origin of the gay pride flag created by Gilbert Baker in San Francisco, it does not show the evolution of the pride flag which now also has the trans flag in it thanks to Daniel Quasar.Yet for some reason, it's SO important that the author decided to include "Scat" in the vocab section?! Scat is the fetish of eating/smearing feces during sex. It is NOT a LGBT concept. So why is it in this book?! If Juno wanted knowledge on the queer community's fetish side, why not have a section dedicated to the history of cruising. Gay men used to be so terrified of interacting verabally that we used to wear handkerchiefs in our back pockets. This was called the Handkerchief Code. Bottoms wore their hanky on their right side, tops wore their hanky on their left, vers men had both. This was a discerete way of communicating to other men what you wanted. That is 10000% more interesting than including scat!Why does this book include scat, but not fisting, bondage, puppy play, leathermen, etc.? It just feels SO vastily out of place, and quite frankly, off putting. Scat isn't even huge in the gay community. But our leather community has been fundamental! The Folsom Street Fair began because of AIDS and being proud of our LGBT identity. This book doesn't even have the leather flag, but it does have the vocab word for eating poop.3) ALREADY OUT OF TOUCH WITH THE YOUNGER GENERATIONThe first version of this book came out in 2014. Simply put, this book is WAY out of touch with modern day gay issues. Want the truth? The younger generation is already extremely accepting of one another and they could easily google what this book provides. It does not begin to cover what queer kids are focusing on now. Kids today know and understand what Grindr is, they don't need this book. In 2023, high school/college kids are obsessed with starting their own OnlyFans. What is OnlyFans? It is a website where you can upload your own NSFW content and charge people to watch. It's HUGE with the younger gay community. This book doesn't even address issues associated with social media that queer kids are obsessed over in the modern age.I'll be honest. This book reads a lot like an older queer trying to be cool and hip for a baby gay. I was born in 1995, now 27, grew up in a time where it was still not allowed to marry another man, and now I own hundreds of LGBT non fictional books. The truth is, if you're trans/want to learn more about being trans, I highly recommend reading Susan Stryker's Transgender History. It will provide an indepth look at pronouns and more queer history and understanding than this will. If you're gay/want to learn more about being gay, I highly recommend reading anything by Eric Marcus and his "Making Gay History."This book just ain't it, people.

This book was okay and provides a very simple overview of LGBT. The reason why I gave one star is because I felt the section on religions was extremely inaccurate. The book suggests being LGBT and Christian is a breeze, very inaccurate and portrays LGBT issues as non existent which I felt doesn't reflect accurate experience. The writer obviously isn't religious, which isn't a problem, but they should have conducted accurate research into all areas

This Book is Gay is the first book that I have ever seen that is marketed for teenagers to address LGBTQ+ issues that hasn’t been patronising or written by someone well meaning but clueless about what it is to live as an LGBTQ+ person. Juno Dawson, however, offers honest, witty, and entertaining information within her book This Book is Gay – those who are aware of Juno Dawson (if you haven’t then, seriously, where have you been?) you will know that she has a bit of experience living as an LGBTQ+ woman.She discusses the often unavailable information about living in this community to an audience who have very limited experience. Those who are either taking tentative steps to understand their part in the LGBTQ+ community or friends and family who also have limited knowledge and want to be supportive.Juno Dawson addresses the inadequacies in the school system – why is heteronormative sex the only thing taught in schools; she looks at dating and how difficult it can be. She also talks to people who are LGBTQ+ so we don’t feel that her writing is preachy. She is and has lived it and she knows what she is talking about but you don’t feel talked AT.I firmly believe that This Book is Gay should be issued to schools. Young students who are struggling to find their place would find this book so comforting and feel that there is somewhere that they can feel included. That someone out there, beyond the microcosm of their small world knows what it feels like.I was genuinely in awe of this book.

I loved this book, and I wish it had been around when I started wondering about my sexuality. It doesn't take itself too seriously, and handles all the basics without getting hysterical. It also covers likely reactions of family and friends - possibly the biggest barrier to coming out. It makes you feel ok about being gay, and that's so important for young people. It also made me giggle a lot, because Juno Dawson's take on so many aspects of gay/straight life is hilarious. Life is far too short to take seriously, and this book really gets that. All parents should also read it, whether or not anyone in the house is gay. Definitely one to buy, read, and then put on the most available bookshelf in your house if you have rising teens. Don't freak out if it goes missing. It's probably doing the rounds of all the questioning young people in your children's circle, and you will be known as the coolest parent for having bought it and made it available (especially if the spine is well-creased).

My son wanted me to order this book -This Book is Gay from my account to my address as he needed confidence and support in coming out to his dad (my ex) and my ex inlaws as they just did not understand him. He found it very useful and managed to write them a letter to explain to them after readig the book.

I would recommend this to 14 year old me who didn’t realise that having feelings for girls was an option.If we give books to kids to learn about periods, puberty and heterosexual sex and procreation then why not include this? I’d like to see this in a bundle ready for those 11th birthdays!My only criticism is that I wish it was co-written with a women who identified as lesbian. Everything was extremely well researched and I liked that there were quotes from LGBT people but here and there it was a bit too male gay for me. But still 5 stars over allIt will have you measuring your fingers to see if the research is correct!!