We Make It Better: The LGBTQ Community and Their Positive Contributions to Society

by Eric Rosswood, Kathleen Archambeau

LGBT history is as old as history itself. We Make It Better profiles people, places, and events that show just how awesome and inspiring the LGBT community is. They have served their country, served in office, pushed for the protection of human rights, and impacted all fields of study, sport, art and industry. We Make It Better offers biographies of some of the most famous thinkers and changers in history from Bayard Rustin, Alan Turing, Dr. Sally Ride, and Oscar Wilde to present-day innovators and world-changers such as Billie Jean King, Jason Collins, Ellen DeGeneres, Tim Cook, the Wachowski sisters, Sir Ian McKellen and more.

But more than a "who's who" of LGBT history, We Make It Better is also a vibrant chronicle of the events in history in which the LGBT community came together to fight for equality and to save lives. Learn how they united during the HIV/AIDs crisis, fought for marriage equality, protested discrimination, and pushed for progressive change throughout the years. Places and cultures important to the LGBT community are also proudly profiled in this enlightening mix of biographies, history, and memorable quotes.

Includes photos

Genres: Nonfiction, LGBT

152 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 15, 2018

About the author

Eric Rosswood is a commentator on LGBTQ+ issues including civil rights, parenting, marriage, and politics. He has led panels on LGBTQ+ parenting for organizations such as Family Equality and the Modern Family Alliance. His bestselling book, Journey to Same-Sex Parenthood, won numerous awards including the best Parenting/Family/Relationships book in the IAN Book of the Year Awards, the best Parenting book in the Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, and the best LGBTQ Non-Fiction book in the International Best Book Awards. His picture book, STRONG, co-written with Rob Kearney with illustrations by Nidhi Chanani, received the Stonewall Honor from the American Library Association.

Reviews

[Cass (all too tired)]

This book reads like a wikipedia article or a middle school paper on LGBTQ+ people. I could learn more by googling them. Maybe that's a little harsh, but I wanted to learn about their life story and their internal struggles and the external struggles that they faced, not a glossed over 5 paragraphs of their life. At the very least structure the paragraphs so I know, this is their early life, this is their career, these are their accomplishments, this is their lgbtq identity.

If the celebrity just comes out with the label queer or they don't specify what they exactly identify as that is completely valid, but tell me that. Half the time, I don't even know what they identify as, which is putting them into boxes and if they don't want that that is valid too but tell me that.

There's also the issue of there was one non-binary person in the book. The rest were just trans, bi, gay, or lesbian, supposedly. If I misinterpreted something, I'm sorry, but that's what it seemed like and there are so many more labels and people out there other than just the L-G-B and T.

Important question that has got me angry, why wasn't Neil Patrick Harris included? He's been out for a while now and he's been married to David Burtka for years. For a book published in 2019, I would expect better. A lot of celebrities have been coming out over the past five years and their stories deserve to be documented because they are helping lgbt youth figure out their identities and what they feel comfortable with. I know if a book is published in 2019, it was probably written in 2016-2017 but still. Celebrities were out during that time and they weren't included. I don't have a list off the top of my head, but there are people who have changed the world in big ways or small that should be included.

The concept of this book was good [educating people about the good lgbtq+ people have done], but the execution was meh and I didn't learn as much as I thought I would. If you are looking into buying this book, don't. Just get it from a local library or a friend or just google the people.

People mentioned in this book
Bayard Rustin
X González (put as Emma González)
Nyle DiMarco
Cecelia Maria Zarbo Wambach
Beth Ford
Rick Welts
Suze Orman
Tim Cook
Bill T. Jones
Jin Xing
Daniela Vega Ellen DeGeneres
Robin Roberts
Chris Nee
Sir Ian McKellen
Margaret Cho
The Wachowskis
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir
Leo Varadkar
Eric Fanning
Technical Sergeant Leonard P. Matlovich
Sir Elton John
k.d. lang
Leonard Bernstein
Michael Tilson thomas
Ricky Martin
Rob Halford
Archbishop Carl Bean
Bishop Gene Robinson
Alan Turing
Dr. Marci Bowers
Sally Ride
Abby Wambach
Billie Jean King
Esera Tuaolo
Stephen Slexander
Mary Oliver
Oscar Wilde
Tony Kushner

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little collection of short essays describing those in the LGBTQ community and the impact they have made in and to society. It would've been nice to get a little more content on each person but I can always search more information on them.

[Julie Corbett · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is very "bleh."
While it was great to read about the influences and accomplishments of people in the LGBTQ community, it was sparse.
It read like an outline format. In an attempt to highlight each person's contributions, it missed a lot of content and details.
I agree with someone else's review who said you could get more information about each person using Wikipedia.
My advice: don't buy it. Go borrow it from your public library or someone you know.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book written by authors who were clearly enthusiastic about the topic! This is one of the few books where I could actually feel how happy and excited the authors were and I've read a lot of books celebrating the community. There were many LGBTQIA+ favourites and some new ones I'd never heard of which was nice. My only critique is I would've liked to see other minorities represented a little more e.g. more people of colour, people of non-christian religions, disabled LGBTQIA+ people etc but overall a very good job.

[Rachel Salter · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was written by award winning writers? It gets one star for it's good intention, but I'm sorry - anyone could have written this! It's like skimming over wikipedia. I wanted more substance; this is just a reference book. Prospective buyers: look at the contents and Google the people for yourself! Disappointing.

[Michelle Best · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn’t a bad book but think the descriptions could’ve been written in a more engaging manner.
They read like a list of facts about each person that could be found on wikipedia etc.
It would be useful as an introduction / starting point for further reading.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the concept and it's super interesting to read - I'm glad these sorts of books are out there so people can be taught about the community. However, it's very badly written so it's not particularly enjoyable to read

[Caz Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book feels like a missed opportunity. The intention is good but it's not that well written and you could get all this info from Wikipedia.

[-Anne-]

good intentions! But this honestly reads like a wikipedia article :/

[Dan Laubach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple. Quick read. But cool to see some amazing Queer representation across a wide range of fields.

[Erin Curran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some more detail would have been nice but still a quick and easy read nonetheless. This book helped me learn about many people in my community who I didn't know about before.

[David Cowpar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Super basic profiles of some prolific LGBT individuals with so little information you’d get more from reading their Wikipedia pages.