27 1980s LGBT literature

AARGH was a 76-page one-off comics anthology published by Mad Love in 1988.

After the Ball: How America Will Conquer its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90s is a 1989 book about LGBT rights in the United States by the neuropsychologist Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen. The book has been described as advocating the use of propaganda to advance the cause of gay rights, and has been criticized by social conservatives as an expression of the "homosexual agenda".

And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a 1987 book by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts. The book chronicles the discovery and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) with a special emphasis on government indifference and political infighting—specifically in the United States—to what was then perceived as a specifically gay disease. Shilts's premise is that AIDS was allowed to happen: while the disease is caused by a biological agent, incompetence and apathy toward those initially affected allowed its spread to become much worse.

The Body Politic was a Canadian monthly magazine, which was published from 1971 to 1987. It was one of Canada's first significant gay publications, and played a prominent role in the development of the LGBT community in Canada.

The Cancer Journals is a 1980 book of non-fiction by Audre Lorde. It deals with her struggle with breast cancer.

Coming to Power: Writings and Graphics on Lesbian S/M is a 1981 book edited by members of the lesbian feminist S/M organisation Samois. It is an anthology of lesbian S/M writings. It was a founding work of the lesbian BDSM movement.

Detour: A Hollywood Story is a 1988 memoir by Cheryl Crane, the only daughter of actress Lana Turner, with additional writing from Cliff Jahr. In the book, she recounts her early life, including her alleged sexual abuse by her stepfather Lex Barker, and the 1958 killing of Johnny Stompanato during a domestic struggle. She also details her coming out as a lesbian to her parents as a teenager, a fact that had not been publicly disclosed prior. The book went on to become a New York Times Best Seller.

Dykes to Watch Out For was a comic strip by Alison Bechdel. The strip, which ran from 1983 to 2008, was one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in popular culture and has been called "as important to new generations of lesbians as landmark novels like Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle (1973) and Lisa Alther's Kinflicks (1976) were to an earlier one".

Fugues is a gay magazine, which publishes monthly in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, since April 1984. The magazine is primarily in French, although some English content is published as well. It focuses on news related to LGBT communities, gay culture, nightlife, health, fitness, fashion, travel, festivals, arts and entertainment. Over 180 pages of news, trends, culture, nightlife, community activities, special folders and opinion articles.

The Gay and Lesbian Times was a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) newspaper in the San Diego, California area. The Times was a member of the National Gay Newspaper Guild. The paper originally launched in January 1988 as the San Diego Gay Times.

First published in 1989, Heather Has Two Mommies is a children's book written by Lesléa Newman with illustrations by Diana Souza. This ground-breaking novel was one of the first pieces of LGBTQ children's literature to garner broad attention. While the book is often noted as the first lesbian picture book, Jane Severance's book, When Megan Went Away, also has lesbian characters and debuted ten years before Newman's.

Henry and June: From the Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin is a 1986 book that is based upon material excerpted from the unpublished diaries of Anaïs Nin. It corresponds temporally to the first volume of Nin's published diaries, written between October 1931 and October 1932, yet is radically different, in that that book begins with a description of the landscape of and around her home and never mentions her husband, whereas Henry and June begins with discussion of Nin's sex life and is full of her struggles and passionate relationship with husband Hugo, and then, as the novel/memoir progresses, other lovers.

Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite is a 1980 English-language translation of Herculine Barbin's nineteenth-century memoirs, which were originally written in French. The book contains an introduction by Michel Foucault, which only appears in the English-language translation of the memoirs. Foucault discovered Barbin's memoirs during his research about hermaphroditism for The History of Sexuality.

The Homosexualization of America, The Americanization of the Homosexual is a 1982 book about LGBT rights in the United States by the gay rights activist Dennis Altman, in which the author discusses the emergence of gay people as a minority group. The book received positive reviews, crediting Altman with providing a useful discussion of gay people in the United States.

Incidents is a 1987 collection of four essays by Roland Barthes. It was published posthumously by François Wahl, Roland Barthes's literary executor.

Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin, originally Mette bor hos Morten og Erik, is a black-and-white picture book by the Danish author Susanne Bösche, published in 1981 in Danish and in 1983 in English. It was perhaps the first English-language children's book to discuss male homosexuality. Jane Severance’s (1979) When Megan Went Away preceded "Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin'"

Kuso Miso Technique is a Japanese one-shot bara manga written and illustrated by Junichi Yamakawa. It was first published in 1987 in Bara-Komi, a manga supplement of the gay magazine Barazoku. The short story is a famous meme on the Internet. It is largely considered the representative work of Yamakawa and responsible for the revived popularity of his manga.

The Mayor of Castro Street is a 1982 biography of Harvey Milk, written by Randy Shilts.

Meatmen: An Anthology of Gay Male Comics is a series of paperback books collecting short comics featuring gay and bisexual male characters. The comics included a mixture of explicit erotica and humor. Between 1986 and 2004, 26 black-and-white volumes of the series were published by Leyland Publications, making it the longest-running anthology of gay male pornographic comics.

The Normal Heart is a largely autobiographical play by Larry Kramer.

On Our Backs was the first women-run erotica magazine and the first magazine to feature lesbian erotica for a lesbian audience in the United States. It ran from 1984 to 2006.

Orca's Song is a 1987 picturebook written by Anne Cameron and illustrated in black and white by Nelle Olsen. Published by Harbour Publishing, the book is an adaptation of a Pacific Northwest Indigenous story. Orca's Song is a pourquoi story about a black orca who falls in love with an osprey; the two mate to create a baby orca with the black and white patterning found on the whales.

Reports from the Holocaust: The Making of an AIDS Activist is a 1989 book by Larry Kramer; a revised edition was published in 1994. Reports from the Holocaust contains a diverse selection of Kramer's nonfiction writings focused on AIDS activism and LGBT civil rights, including letters to the editor and speeches, which document his time spent at Gay Men's Health Crisis, ACT UP, and beyond.

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches is a collection of essential essays and speeches written by Audre Lorde, a woman who wrote from the particulars of her identity: Black woman, lesbian, poet, activist, cancer survivor, mother, and feminist writer. This collection, now considered a classic volume, of Lorde's most influential works of non-fiction prose has had a groundbreaking impact in the development of contemporary feminist theories. In fifteen essays and speeches dating from 1976 to 1984, Lorde explores the complexities of intersectional identity, while explicitly drawing from her personal experiences of oppression to include: sexism, heterosexism, racism, homophobia, classism, and ageism. The book examines a broad range of topics, including love, self-love, war, imperialism, police brutality, coalition building, violence against women, Black feminism, and movements towards equality that recognize and embrace differences as a vehicle for change. With meditative conscious reasoning, Lorde explores her misgivings for the widespread marginalization deeply-rooted in the United States’ white patriarchal system, all the while, offering messages of hope. The essays in this landmark collection are extensively taught and have become a widespread area of academic analysis. Lorde's philosophical reasoning that recognizes oppressions as complex and interlocking designates her work as a significant contribution to critical social theory.

Stop!! Hibari-kun! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hisashi Eguchi. It was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from October 1981 to November 1983, and the chapters were published in four tankōbon volumes by Shueisha from November 1982 to January 1984. The series was adapted into a 35-episode anime television series by Toei Animation that aired on Fuji Television from May 1983 to January 1984. The story focuses on Kōsaku Sakamoto, a high school student who goes to live with yakuza boss Ibari Ōzora and his four children—Tsugumi, Tsubame, Hibari and Suzume—after the death of his mother. Kōsaku is shocked to learn that Hibari, who looks and behaves as a girl, was assigned male at birth.

Young, Gay and Proud was a book written for adolescents who are exploring a gay identity. An earlier publication with the same title was published in 1977 by the Gay Teachers and Students Group (GTSG) in Melbourne, Victoria.

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name is a 1982 autobiography by American poet Audre Lorde. It started a new genre that the author calls biomythography, which combines history, biography, and myth. In the text, Lorde writes that "Zami" is "a Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers", noting that Carriacou is the Caribbean island from which her mother immigrated. The name proves fitting: Lorde begins Zami writing that she owes her power and strength to the women in her life, and much of the book is devoted to detailed portraits of other women.