Journeys of Resilience from Adolescence to Adulthood
Michael SadowskiForeword by Carol Gilligan
Adolescence is a difficult time, but it can be particularly stressful for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer-identifying youth. In order to avoid harassment and rejection, many LGBTQ teens hide their identities from their families, peers, and even themselves.
Educator Michael Sadowski deftly brings the voices of LGBTQ youth out into the open in his poignant and important book, In a Queer Voice. Drawing on two waves of interviews conducted six years apart, Sadowski chronicles how queer youth, who were often "silenced" in school and elsewhere, now can approach adulthood with a strong, queer voice.
In a Queer Voice continues the critical conversation about LGBTQ youth issues—from bullying and suicide to other risks involving drug and alcohol abuse—by focusing on the factors that help young people develop positive, self-affirming identities. Using the participants' heartfelt, impassioned voices, we hear what schools, families, and communities can do to help LGBTQ youth become resilient, confident adults.
"An important contribution to the argument for a more nurturing environment for young GLBT people."
— Publishers Weekly
"Liberation begins when you find your voice and begin to use it. In a Queer Voice is a groundbreaking longitudinal study that follows a cohort of LGBTQ youth over nearly a decade of their lives. Michael Sadowski gives us invaluable insight into how queer youth find their voices and use them to liberate themselves, and lays out a road map for how we can better insure these youth grow into happy, healthy adults."
—Kevin Jennings, Founder, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network)
"In this thoughtful study, Sadowski profiles six young people whom he interviewed in their adolescence and then revisited several years later to see how they transitioned from their early isolated... insular silence regarding their gender or sexuality to their 'queer voices' of strength, optimism, and defiance.... An intellectual complement to the 'It Gets Better' project, this works as both a moving human document and a springboard for discussion and research in human sexuality, psychology, sociology, and linguistics."
—Library Journal
"While reading a personal account from an LGBT teen can be enlightening, Sadowski provides added insight by allowing the teens to speak for themselves and analyzing their linguistics to uncover deeper meaning. In a Queer Voice is an excellent piece for teachers, mental-health providers or other professionals looking to learn more about the psyche of LGBT youth. It can also be a wonderful resource for teens themselves, or their families, who arein need of help."
—Philadelphia Gay News
"(An) ambitious and illuminating new book.... The stories in this book are compelling and very much worth the attention of anyone, including educators, parents, mental health professionals, and policy makers, with an interest in the well-being of youth, and LGBTQ youth in particular. In its emphasis on listening to these young people, and connecting to their autobiographies, the book also embodies what might be the most helpful prescription for therapists or other professionals working with this population, creating a space where they can share their life stories in all of their vulnerability, passion, and resilience."
—Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health
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