John Andrade 11/3/11 WR 13300 Annotated Bibliography The topic that I am currently researching is how the modern gay

rights movement in America has affected LGBTQ youths and the change over the course in the past thirty to forty years in how these young people have been able to (or not) form an identity as individuals. I am interested in this topic because it is a very important topic in todays world and because I can relate to my thesis on a more personal level. As for research questions, I will ask how LGBT people lived their lives before the modern movement, how society has looked at homosexuality as a whole from the birth of the modern movement to today, and relate the previous two to the current issues that these youths face today. I will investigate as broadly as possible at first when it comes to the gay rights movement and then narrow it down as to how it relates to those most affected by it: the future LGBT adults. Source #1 Savin-Williams, Ritch C. The New Gay Teenager. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2005. Print. This book is a source that describes how LGBTQ youth has looked at itself since the dawn of the modern American gay rights movement at Stonewall. SavinWilliams, a professor at Cornell University and a part-time therapist specializing in gay issues, has observed gay youth over the course of the past thirty to forty years and has discussed with them how they view themselves with reference to their orientation. Savin-Williams, who is gay himself, appears to have a very caring view towards these young people and created this work to help those youths struggling with who they are. The main argument of this source is that as homosexuality has become more accepted in American society, especially amongst younger generations, young people with same-sex attractions feel less pressure to label themselves and conform to the traditional labels of gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. The source does not really echo too much of other authors, but rather gives a very unique look at how LGBTQ youth today view themselves. This work should definitely be useful, as it is directly related to my argument, as it describes very well the struggle of obtaining an identity as an individual for these young people. Source #2 Spencer, Colin. Homosexuality in History. London: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1995. Print. This source, also a book, gives a general overview as to how homosexuality was viewed by various different cultures throughout human history, dating back from the days of the ancient Greeks and Hebrews to the modern era. In the source it is not specified who specifically Spencer is, but he describes himself as a man fed up with homophobic responses relating to divine law and the Bible. As a result, his attitude appears to be very anti-homophobia, but at the same time also very scholarly, with the work as a whole having a very neutral, scholarly tone towards a general audience. The purpose of the source is to analyze how various societies viewed homosexuality. There is no obvious central thesis to the work, as it is an analysis piece. As it is very general, it echoes other sources in the sense that different societies have been more accepting of LGBT people than others, but at the same time it shows a unique side describing views of ancient societies on homosexuality, which is not prevalent in other sources to the extent that it is in this work. Thus, it will be very useful to my argument because it will provide great background information.

John Andrade 11/3/11 WR 13300 Source #3 Zack, J., Alexandra Mannheim, and Michael Alfano. I Didnt Know What to Say Four Archetypal Responses to Homophobic Rhetoric in the Classroom. High School Journal (2010): 98-110. Print. This scholarly journal article provides a very interesting look as to how todays LGBTQ youth are treated in the classroom by interviewing student teachers. The authors are two professors at the University of Connecticut and one a professor at Capital Community College in Hartford, Connecticut. They all created the article with the hopes of raising the awareness of the general public of the use of homophobic language in the classroom and what teachers are or are not doing about it. The attitude of the article is very educated and without bias, but at the same time somewhat urgent, as the authors are trying to communicate that the use of homophobic language in schools is a major issue. This argument that this use of language is an issue is supported by showing not only how frequently it is used, but also the general lack of a response by student teachers when they hear it. This source echos other sources because it shows how homophobia is present at all levels of society, even in the supposedly safe environment that is schools. It will be useful to my paper, as it directly relates to my thesis by displaying the challenges LGBTQ youth face on a daily basis. Source #4 Nichols, Jack. The Gay Agenda: Talking Back to Fundamentalists. Amherst: Prometheus, 1996. Print. The author of this book, Jack Nichols, has been an activist for LGBT rights since well before the modern movement began in the late 1960s. That being said, he has a very pro-gay rights attitude throughout the work. The audience is pretty general, but as the book contains many counterarguments to fundamentalist teachings against homosexuality, the work is especially directed towards those having to deal with homophobia on a normal basis and/or are struggling with their own identity. The overall purpose of the work is to essentially destroy any homophobic argument fundamentalists have that are supposedly based on the Bible. Thus, the central argument to the work would be that fundamentalists arguments regarding homosexuality are created from this group of conservative Christians manipulating the words of the Bible to fit their ideology. This source does not really echo other sources, at it is very specifically made to discredit fundamentalists arguments and does not really focus on youth. However, it does echo other sources in the sense that it shows how homophobia is still everpresent in modern society. It should be useful to my paper because while it does not really talk about youth specifically, it does give an overview on one group of societys views on homosexuality, which could indirectly affect gay youth today.

Source #5 Cloud, John. "The Battle Over Gay Teens." Time 10 Oct. 2005. Web. This magazine article was published in Time, a weekly newsletter with an audience of the general public. This article was written in response to the significant change going on in the classroom related to the growing prevalence of LGBTQ students. The overall purpose of the

John Andrade 11/3/11 WR 13300 source is to educate the general public about gay teens being more out in public and how to protect them from harm. The argument being made is that, as stated before, there is an exponentially growing number of openly LGBT teens in schools and that they are becoming more accepted than they ever were. This article echoes other sources in the sense that it states that homosexuality is starting to become more accepted than ever before, and as a result LGBTQ teens are less likely to hide than they were before. While this source is very general, it does directly relate to my thesis and provides a very nice, simplified discussion of the issue at hand. Source #6 Gierach, Ryan. "Acceptance and Rejection: The State of Gay Youth in America." Lesbian News Nov. 2001. Web. This magazine article was published in Lesbian News, which I am not terribly familiar with, but I would assume targets more of an LGBT-oriented audience. The overall purpose of this article is to show the extreme contrast between experiences that LGBT youth have upon coming out of the closet. The main argument is that while for some gay teens the environment in which they live is becoming more accepting, while for others they are doomed to a life of rejection. The argument is supported by showing the stories of two different sets of gay kids, one set who got lucky and the other not so much. The source echoes others because it does say that in some cases life for LGBT youth is getting better. On the other hand, it does not echo other works because it sheds light on the many not-so-fortunate youths that face the same amount of discrimination that they would have forty years ago. This will be useful for my paper because it shows the different levels of hardships that gay youths have to go through to be able to grow up in a healthy way and form normal identities as individuals.