Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1555835589 ISBN 13: 9781555835583

Publisher: Alyson Books, 2000

Invisible. Unheard. Alone. Chilling words but apt to describe the isolation and alienation of queer youth. In silence and fear they move from childhood memories of repression or violence to the unknown, unmentored, landscape of queer adulthood, their voices stilled or ignored. No longer. Revolutionary Voices celebrates the hues and harmonies of the future of gay and lesbian society, presenting not a collection of stories but a collection of experiences, ideas, dreams, and fantasies expressed through prose, poetry, artwork, letters, diaries, and performance pieces.

Amy Sonnie is a 1998 journalism graduate of Syracuse University. Her writing has appeared in Sojourner, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Equal Time, and Frontera, among others. She is the senior editor for Equal Time Magazine and lives in San Francisco.

Review:

This groundbreaking, multicultural collection of stories by the queer and young should be required reading for every jaded adult--teachers, parents, politicians--and anyone who fears for the future of our country. In fact, 22-year-old editor Amy Sonnie should run for Congress. Her introduction to this touching, funny, and sometimes sad anthology is smarter and more thoughtful than any political rhetoric this old queer has heard lately. While the work is wildly diverse (one of my favorites involves a mother who bakes a cake to help her queer daughter celebrate Ellen DeGeneres's coming-out), all of it speaks to the isolation and fear of being queer and young. A boy lies awake at night practicing to be more masculine. An intersexed gay boy comes out to his high school. A butch girl tells of years of daily bashing. Fear, though, is not the overriding emotional tone to this collection. The contributors exhibit a belief in themselves, a well-placed youthful confidence that speaks as loudly as the most poignant writing. Their determination to survive and thrive despite a homophobic society comes through loud and clear. It's the perfect antidote to adult cynicism about youth. --Jack Connolly

About the Author:

Amy Sonnie began working on this anthology when she was 19 years old, while attending Syracuse University. She is a young queer, feminist, writer, educator and activist. In 2000, she co-founded RESYST, a national project run by and for queer youth using arts, education and community organizing for radical social change. This is her first book.