Pride and Joy: LGBTQ Artists, Icons and Everyday Heroes

By Kathleen Archambeau

A collection sharing stories of success, happiness, and inspiration from the LGBTQ+ community.

In Pride and Joy, award-winning writer and longtime LGBTQ+ activist Kathleen Archambeau tells the untold stories from diverse queer voices around the world. Not like the depressing, sinister, shadowy stories of the past, this book highlights queer people living open, happy, fulfilling, and successful lives.

Inside, learn why Tony Kushner quit cello and how Colm Toibin found his voice, why Emma Donoghue calls her experience a fluke and the best advice Bill T. Jones got was from his mother, and also how being an inaugural poet changed Richard Blanco’s life and how Ugandan activist “LongJones” escaped death threats and gained asylum.

But you will also see other stories, like the bravery of a Uruguayan author who was rejected by her immediate family even as she began a family of her own. Be inspired by the audacity to fight for justice that motivates National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell, a Mormon who grew up in Utah. Learn how two couples transcend time and distance to finally be together and how one NBA sports executive summoned the courage to come out. Discover the message of love from the first openly lesbian United Methodist Church Bishop. Learn the secrets of a successful, out IBM executive based in London and the rewards of Ballroom Basix founder in Harlem. See how the Maori philosophy of whanau guided the MP who won marriage rights in New Zealand and how high expectations overcame disability and bullying for an acclaimed mezzo-soprano. Meet the professional violinist and composer impacted by family tensions and the Armenian Genocide. Read about the ballroom dancers and Hungarian activists on neo-Nazi “hit lists.”

Pride & Joy shows why there is hope it gets better for everyone in the queer community, including:

• The transgender choreographer and dancer who continues to break rules and enlighten audiences
• The Dutch singer, songwriter and independent theater producer who breaks down stereotypes
• The founder of an award-winning smoking cessation program
• The California political director of the Obama re-election campaign
• The Russian émigré award-winning computer scientist and the Chinese folk dancer

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9781633535510

Kathleen Archambeau

Award-winning writer and journalist, Kathleen Archambeau has been advocating for LGBTQ rights since 1992. Her work in the LGBTQ community was instrumental in Dance of America Foundation's acquiring 501c3 status. As a founding member of the James Hormel LGBT wing of the San Francisco Public Library, she has supported access to LGBT history and literature for all. Awarded for her work as VP of the Board and Co-Chair of the Fundraising Committee for one of the largest mental health agencies dedicated to serving the queer community, she, along with the Board, raised more money than the prior 10 years for mental health services for underserved LGBT clients grappling with AIDS, breast cancer, coming out, gender identity, self-esteem, employment, custody and housing discrimination issues. A same-gender ballroom dancer, Kathleen and her wife participated in the Gay Games in Cologne and won two medals. They encouraged LGBTQ teens to find like-minded friends through a film by Robert Cortlandt for The Trevor Project, the "It Gets Better" video project series aimed at reducing LGBTQ teen suicide, 4X more likely than straight teen suicide rates and 8X more likely for LGBTQ teens in religiously condemning households. Archambeau wrote a regular column of inspiring profiles for one of the largest LGBTQ newspapers in the US and the first in California, the SAN FRANCISCO BAY TIMES.