BILLY’S PICK

Reading the diaries of Lou Sullivan is like meeting a gay, trans uncle I never knew I had. And then also finding out that that uncle used to fangirl over boybands and is the reason transmasc people of all sexualities can access medical transition. I think every single queer person alive today should read this book and I’m really not exaggerating. -BB

We Both Laughed In Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan narrates the inner life of a gay man moving through the shifting social, political, and medical mores of the second half of the 20th century. Sullivan kept comprehensive journals from age 11 until his AIDS-related death at 39. Sensual, lascivious, challenging, quotidian and poetic, the diaries complicate and disrupt normative trans narratives. Entries from twenty-four diaries reveal Sullivans self-articulation and the complexity of a fascinating and courageous figure.

Paperback | 440 pages | 6.00″ x 8.00″