Tea Uglow

Great LGBTQ+ Speeches from Tea Uglow and illustrated by Jack Holland is a very nice collection of speeches that span both history and objectives.

These are excerpts (of course, most speeches are fairly long and by necessity meander a bit) that highlight some of the most powerful statements of LGBTQ+ rights, and by extension human rights. Each speech is preceded by a brief introduction of both the person and the historical context of the speech.

While I tend to be one of those readers who turn most books into multimedia affairs, Uglow suggests looking up some of these that are available to either watch, listen to, or read in their entirety. I would absolutely second that suggestion. There are a couple that I am still looking to find the full text of, and I will succeed, I just may have to dig a little deeper.

Though I am interested in reading a few of these as complete texts, the excerpts have been chosen very well. There are powerful moments. Some may make you a little sad before getting fired up. Some may make you start looking for how to make a difference right now. Some may even make you see the person and/or the time period a little differently. Hopefully they all generate a desire to find ways to begin or extend one's activism. Times may be changing but change isn't always unidirectional, so we have to keep pushing it the way we want.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mehr)

Loud and Proud is a beautiful collection of speeches from the LGBTQ rights battle. As the author notes, LGBTQ activism has a history of over 150 years, and is not just post Stonewall, and these speeches are taken from different points along that timeline. The author acknowledges that the book focuses on the western narrative, but it does attempt to bring in diverse perspectives, including some speeches from people in countries outside of Europe and North America. The intro mentions that many voices are absent from the pages, for a number of different reasons, and whilst there are a lot of other people I would have liked to see in this book, the selection chosen are interesting, and talk about a number of different topics that affect LGBTQ people.

Amongst the more familiar faces, like Ian Mckellen, Sylvia Rivera, Harvey Milk and Audre Lorde, there were also lesser known activists, and some allies. The intro states that this isn't a history book, but I found that it did give a lot of historical context and information before each speech. This is a good thing! I definitely learnt some new things. Each speaker has a bio before their speech, which sums up their life and their relevance to the LGBTQ community. This commentary, as well as providing me with new interesting facts, is helpful for understanding the older speeches, and also gives context to parts of speeches that modern readers may find problematic, offensive or outdated, without editing the original words.

The colourful pages are visually pleasing, and reminded me of the LGBTQ rainbow. The artwork and photos are exciting and unique. Whilst I read the ebook version of the book, I can see the hardback being a wonderful coffee table book, to dip in and out of as it takes your fancy.

Obviously, a lot of speeches are cut short in order to keep the book a reasonable length. In some cases this highlights the most powerful parts of the speech, making them hard hitting. In others, it can make them feel a little bit lacking. The author does tell the reader to go and look the speeches up in full online in some instances, because the full speech or the way that the speaker presents the speech adds to the message.

This book shows how far we have come in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and inspires us to keep fighting. Some speeches are more inspiring and radical than others, but all of them document important parts of our community's history. I won't go into detail on the content of the speeches, because honestly, they speak for themselves. I will note that my favourite in the book was Lee Mokobe's speech.

Use this book as a starting point if you are interested in LGBTQ history. Use it as a pick me up, to remind you how much progress we have made. And use it as an inspiration, as we continue the fight.… (mehr)