Welcome to our “eye” party!
Over 85 new Deaf and hearing friends of yours from all over the world will be there. Come join us!
What does it mean to be a Deaf gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) person in the United States and elsewhere in the world today? Come “listen” to us!
Our unforgettable stories and interviews include “Black Deaf Lesbian Pagan Tomfemme,” “Why I Wear Leather,” “Evergreen in Ethiopia,” “A Minority of One,” “Hauntings,” “Growing Up Deaf and Gay in 1960s Britain,” “If I Met a Deaf Asexual,” “A Leather Rose,” “Couple #189,” “My First Deaf Guy,” “Darkness: Coming of Age in India,” “You Sign Like a Girl,” “I am a Deaf Hindu Lesbian,” and “A Journey in Iran.” Our hearing and straight allies also share their experiences. (A copy of the book’s contents is also available.) Whether you are GLBT or not, you are sure to enjoy this book.
| Book Marks (Q Syndicate), December 2, 2007 By Richard Labonte This collection of more than 80 personal essays from deaf queers (and a scattering of hearing friends) is a marvelously proud–and loud–book. Luczak, who edited the first Eyes of Desire in 1993, nimbly divides contributions–all but a handful of them original–into the categories of coming out, family and friends, self-identity, love and desire, and community. Literary quality varies widely, but that’s not important when it comes to the impact, or the import, of the writing. In this often viscerally emotional anthology about personal experience, each piece contributes in its own way to a colorful, instructive mosaic–by turns joyous, tearful, raunchy, or defiant–of deaf GLBT life. Standouts include poetry by Steven Reigns, Shane Gilchrist, and Luczak; a travel memoir about being gay in Iran, by Thierry H.; and Jane van Ingen’s account of a woman’s experience receiving a cochlear ear implant–something of a controversy in the deaf community, an issue often addressed in this ambitious, accomplished, and handsomely designed, anthology. |
| From Minnesota Literature (December 2007, Vol. 33, No. 4) By Elizabeth Bance In his poem “Instructions to Hearing Persons Desiring a Deaf Man,” Luczak writers, “A deaf man is always a foreign country. / He remains forever a language to learn.” In his sequel to Eyes of Desire: A Deaf Gay & Lesbian Reader, he navigates us through this “foreign country” with this compilation of thick, rich stories from members of the deaf GLBT community. The result is an eye-popping experience for readers of all kinds. Through funny, awkward and painful experiences, more than 85 individuals spanning five different continents share their struggle to find a community both as GLBT and as deaf individuals. Although each writer categorizes themselves with a variety of unique characteristics (“Black Deaf Pagan Lesbian Tomfemme,” “Late-Deafened Cochlear-Implanted Transman,” “A Lesbian Who Wanted to Lose her Hearing”), many hope to find love and understanding. As Alex C. Leffers, a female-to-male transsexual and former sorority girl, writes, “Our two dogs would care less what’s in between my legs–they just want their treats, a warm bed, and lots of hugs and kisses.” Each story is unique, but the quest is universal.” |