I realize that I know very little about LGBTQIA culture and lifestyles and am interested to learn in the hopes of becoming more empathetic and cultured in general.

So is there something akin to 'Gay Lit: 101'? If so what books would make up that list?

I'm a slow-ear reader so if you list 10 books that ought to keep me busy for a number of years. But if you have a favorite or a book which you think as a must-read, please list it.

Not sure what would equate as "101", but I ended up getting into a collective known as Sister Spit some time ago that promotes queer lit and is a decent starting point, they used to do spoken word tours with their books (mostly West Coast now) and I can't really remember how I discovered them. It's historically female/lesbian centric but promotes the entire spectrum. http://www.citylights.com/collections/?Collection_ID=338

From that group I'd specifically recommend The Creamsickle by Rhiannon Argo, it's a great novel and outside of its characters it grasps well the feeling of that period in a young stage of your life that you don't want to end but know is going to, and captures the way people change through that really well. Michelle Tea is the founder and has a lot of fiction and memoir work out there that is worth checking out.

Outside of that, something pretty recent I'd recommend is Katie Heaney, her newest book Would You Rather is her late age coming out story, which works 'contrary' to her first memoir 'Never Have I Ever' about her never having had a boyfriend at like 25 and chronicling her past and being stuck on that. She's a really good writer and is hilarious at times while attempting to describe the process of finding herself pretty honestly.

I'd recommend 'In One Person' as a good novel to hit the marks you're looking for. I could probably mention more if this doesn't die off, or if anything else is contributed.

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Obviously White

I'll have to check out that link as well.