Ancestors. It means our parents, and their parents. And our grandparents’ parents, and on and on, back through time.

And it also means our collective, community ancestors. For those of us in the LGBTQIA2+ community, we didn’t grow up knowing this part of our heritage. That’s starting to change, and my hope is that “No Way, They Were Gay? Hidden Lives and Secret Loves” will let Queer kids and teens and their allies know that we have these community ancestors. We have a proud Queer legacy to discover, and claim, and own…

Not that every Queer person in history was a great person. And it’s just as impossible that every great person in history was a white, straight, cis, able-bodied rich man from Europe.

There have been men who loved men, and women who loved women, and people who loved without regard to gender, and people who lived outside gender boundaries, across time and around our world. And that’s what this book celebrates.

There’s a launch party today, and there are so many people to thank. I thanked some in the book’s acknowledgements, and I’m going to share some gratitude here, too:

Thank you…

Melissa Stewart and Claire Bidwell Smith for helping me figure out how to take this idea and make it a book proposal.

Thank you Victoria Sutherland for hearing the whole crazy story (of the first publisher chickening out and the first agent lying about so much) and suggesting Hallie Warshaw of Zest Books might be the perfect new home for “No Way, They Were Gay?”

Thanks to my new amazing agent Marietta Zacker, for bringing it all together, always telling me the truth, and believing in me and my work.

Thanks to the entire Zest Books/Lerner Publishing Group team who helped me make “No Way, They Were Gay?” the best it could be – Ashley Kuehl and Shaina Olmanson, for brilliant and really thoughtful editing; Giliane Mansfeldt (photo editor), Lindsey Owens (designer), Danielle Carnito (art director) and the entire production crew; and Rachel Zugschwert, Lindsay Matvick, and Megan Ciskowski for their marketing and PR expertise.

Thanks to Kendall for sharing stories, and memories, and photos of the woman she loved, M’e Mpho Nthunya, with me, so I could include M’e Mpho’s story in the book. It felt so important to talk about the traditional, culturally celebrated love between women in Lesotho and how that changed in M’e Mpho’s lifetime, and how we need to work harder to hear the stories of women who loved women, especially Black women and women of color. Thanks as well to Walter Naegle, for his kindness in letting me share the photos and writings of the man he loved, Bayard Rustin. In researching this book, Bayard became one of my heroes, and I’m so happy to share his proud Gay and Black story with every reader. Kendall and Walter’s romantic connection to these people from history made me feel that Queer history wasn’t that impossible to imagine. It’s right here, at our fingertips. We’re making Queer history, today, too.

Thanks to my friends, and co-workers at IBPA and SCBWI, and my family, for cheering me on with this 11-year-to-publication project. Special shout out to my blurbers, who broke speed records in turning around kind words about the book that’s social proof it’s not just me and the publisher who think it’s worthwhile. Thank you Linda Sue Park, Ellen Hopkins, Judy Grahn, Michael D. Cohen, Lesléa Newman, Susan Yaegley, Yapha Mason, Ellen Wittlinger, Bruce Coville, Elisabeth Abarbanel, Matthew Winner, Steve Krantz, and Alex Sanchez, who gets thanked twice for being my author buddy for the Launch party interview!

Thanks to Jess, and Kayla, and Amy, and the entire Brave Trails team, for once again helping get my book that’s all about empowering young LGBTQIA2+ kids and teens into those kids’ and teens’ hands.

Thanks to Linda, and Kristin, and Pam, and Casey, and everyone at {pages} a bookstore in Manhattan Beach, California, for being my local indie bookstore and working with me to sell signed copies of all my books and host today’s launch event!

Thanks to my husband Mark, and our amazing teenage daughter, for loving me and letting me love them. That’s the best gig of all.

And of course, thank you. If you’re reading this, you’re part of my community. And I’m grateful.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you, and today, does a *happy dance*,
Lee