The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook

By Ashley Molesso and Chessie Needham

A joyful celebration of the LGBTQ+ community’s development, history, and culture, packed with facts, trivia, timelines, and charts, and featuring 100 full-color illustrations.

Compiled and designed by queer power couple and illustrators extraordinaire, Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham, founders of the popular stationery company Ash + Chess, The Gay Agenda is an inviting and entertaining guide that pays tribute to the LGBTQ+ community. Filled with engaging descriptions, interesting facts, helpful features—such as historical queer icons and events and LGBTQ+ acronym definitions—this fabulous compendium illuminates the transformation of the community, highlighting its struggles, achievements, landmarks, and contributions. It also salutes iconic members of the LGBTQ+ community—the celebrities, politicians, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens who have made a notable impact on gay life and society itself.

The Gay Agenda is a nostalgic look back for older generations, an archive for younger people, and a helpful introduction for those interested in learning more about the community and its contributions. From James Baldwin and Emma Goldman to Marsha P. Johnson and Jodie Foster; the Pink Triangle and the Rainbow Flag to Stonewall and the AIDS crisis; Matthew Shepard and Pulse Nightclub to Sodomy Laws and Obergefell; Drag and Transitioning to The L Word and The Kinsey Scale, Freddie Mercury and Ellen Degeneres to Laverne Cox and David Bowie, this magnificent digest is a keepsake honoring all LGBTQ+, and the ongoing fight to gain—and maintain—equality for all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Apr 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063010208

Ashley Molesso

Ash + Chess is a stationery company run by queer power couple Ashley Molesso and Chess Needham. They create greeting cards and art prints that are bold with retro color palettes, often using their artwork to make a political statement. Their company made its debut at the National Stationery Show in May 2017, and their products and art are now sold in hundreds of retailers throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. They have also done illustration work for Belletrist, a book club run by actress Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss; HarperCollins; Workman Publishing; Plaza Style, a Japanese retail brand; and Brooklyn Roasting Company. Together Ash + Chess are parents to Pepper the dog and Mafia the cat.

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