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This collection that you’re scrolling through right now is part of this directory of LGBTQIA games, books, and more by creators on itchio. Visit it to learn more about its criteria, purpose, and how to contact the one volunteer who runs it.

Content: Rated G.

Accessibility: Text only. 

Medium: An interactive text created with Twine. It can run in your web browser. It has one ending and meaningful choices along the way.

Genre: Nonfiction. Memoir. Slice-of-life.

Length: About five minutes.

About: You are a nonbinary Filipinx-Canadian, and you're shaving your head for the first time to see how you feel about it. This is based on an experience of the author, Carmelacruz.

LGBTQIA themes: Transgender. Nonbinary. QTPOC.

Mood: Anxious, curious, self-conscious.

Content: Rated G. This is about discrimination against queer people.

Accessibility: Color-blind friendly.

Language: English.

Medium: A short picture book or comic book.

Genre: Nonfiction. Memoir.

Length: 17 pages, with covers. About a five minute read.

About: As described by the author, Binglin, "A 17-page autobiographical reflection on Asian queerness. Created for Pride, to be shared in collaboration with the Baturu Cultural Festival."

LGBTQIA themes: Gay men and men loving men. QTPOC.

Mood: Rejection and determination.

Content: Rated PG. This is about talking down a despairing friend.

Medium: A computer game, a visual novel created with Ren'py. It can run on Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, or your web browser. Full voice over for dialogue. There are meaningful choices and two endings.

Length: Under 3000 words. About 20 minutes. 

Genre: Fiction in a realistic modern setting.

About: As described by the creator, tofurocks,

"January 1, 2022. The morning after a small but rockin' NYE party, Saoirse checks in with Orlaith in what she hopes will be a nice talk over hot cocoa, but it's clear something is bothering her old friend. Waltzing around the real issue isn't going to help here."

LGBTQIA themes: Aromantic and asexual (aro-ace). Transgender women. Tagged by game creator as lesbian. QTPOC.

Mood: Tense. Loving. Bittersweet. Hurt/comfort

Content: Rated PG-13.

Medium: A comic book.

Length: 25 pages.

Genre: Fantasy.

About: As described by the author, Ashanti, this is

"... about love, mortality, and knitting. It was the winner of the 2021 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Comic, and was also nominated in the categories of Outstanding Artist and Outstanding Online Comic.

"Ananke has lived an inconceivably long life, spinning the life threads of mortals...including Mnimi's, before the two of them became entwined. As Mnimi's life approaches its end, Ananke's grief threatens to unravel the land around them, the sky above them, and her own understanding of life itself. "

LGBTQIA themes: Lesbians and women loving women.

Mood: Grief.

Content: Rated PG. There's a swear word or two.

Medium: A computer game. It can run on Windows or Mac.

Genre: Walking simulator. Art game. Fantasy.

Length: About half an hour. One ending, no choices.

About: You're a gay witch who has learned how to hear what stones say. They are uneasy. Walk along the shore, sit with them, and listen.

LGBTQIA themes: Gay men and men loving men. (Two characters wear cloaks that look just like the intersex pride flag, but I wonder if that's a coincidence, because the story doesn't refer to that.)

Mood: Peaceful, calming, cathartic.

Content: Rated R.

Medium: A full color comic book.

Genre: Fiction.

Length: 36 pages.

About: As described by the creator, Hien Pham, 

"Minh doesn’t fully understand what his grey-asexuality means, and he’s afraid it might doom his latest crush. With the help from his best friend, Henry, Minh explores his sexuality both in academic terms, and in steamy real-life scenarios. Despite the unknowable future, they find joy, comfort, and pleasure in each others’ company."

LGBTQIA themes: gray-asexual (grey-ace, gray-ace)

Content: Rated PG.

Medium: A computer game, a visual novel. It can run on Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Genre: Drama. Romance.

Length: One hour.

About: As described by the game creator, Strawberry Dagger Studio,

"Make It Last is a sweet visual novel that follows the lives of Harvey Chapman & Jordan Min; two men who met, fell in love, and spent their lives together. Harvey and Jordan's daughter, Candace, is coming over for dinner tonight. While the two prepare for it, they both explore some important memories from their pasts."

LGBTQIA themes: Gay men. QTPOC (one of the main couple is African-American, the other is Korean American, and their daughter is mixed).

Content: Rated PG-13. This is about discrimination.

Medium: A computer game, a visual novel. It can run in your web browser.

Genre: Fiction in a realistic modern setting, plus some science fiction and romance.

Length: About ten minutes long. There are some choices to explore in another play through.

About: As described by the game creators,

"Play as a martian messing around in an Earth queer dating app, and inadvertently learning more about humans in the process! Use different human profiles to interact with your potential matches and experience a couple of ways that online dating platforms work differently for BIPOC queer people.  This game was made by the staff of Games for Justice 2021: Zarya Ajasin, Ishika Jha, Sandra Latt, Kiara Vincent, Husain Rizvi. Games for Justice is a summer program for Boston youth of color who want to engage in an economically democratic, collectively-lead, and transformative justice-centered game studio."

LGBTQIA themes: Transgender women. Nonbinary people. Gay men and men loving men. Lesbians and women loving women. QTPOC.

Content: Rated G.

Medium: A short visual novel created with Ren'py. It can run in Windows, Mac, Linux, or your web browser. 

Genre: Fiction in a realistic modern setting. 

Length: About ten minutes for a play through. There are several meaningful choices and more than one possible ending to explore when you play again.

About not coming out.

LGBTQIA themes: Bisexual protagonist. LGBTQIA BIPOC.

Mood: Uneasy, anxious, afraid.

Content: Rated R. See the beginning screens of the game for specific content warnings.

Medium: A computer game. It can run in your web browser.

Genre: Fiction in a realistic modern-day setting.

Length: About an hour.

About: As described by the game creator, KB,

"(val)iant: or, val's guide to having a broken vag is a single-player narrative game about "vagina problems". Play as Val, a nonbinary college student struggling with their relationship to their body, as well as their relationship with sex. This game is fundamentally about how we as a society learn (or don't learn) about sex."

Mood: Anxious, uneasy.

Content: Rated G.

Medium: An interactive story. It can run in your web browser. There is one choice which can reveal three endings.

Length: Each play through is under five minutes. 776 words long.

Genre: Nonfiction, memoir.

About: A memory from the author's life. After you play, read the dev log.

LGBTQIA themes: Transgender, nonbinary.

Mood: Sad, wistful.

Content: Rated PG-13.

Medium: A full color book, a zine in the form of a downloadable PDF. There is a version for reading on screen and a version for printing.

Genre: Nonfiction.

Length: 28 pages.

About: This book shows biographies of nine queer people from history, each one with a mixed-media portrait created by Logan Basil. Each one is made of different materials that symbolize that person. For example, the portrait of Sister Rosetta Tharpe is engraved on an Elvis record because she is the godmother of rock and roll and influenced later musicians such as him. Each of these is clever and meaningful. Other figures in Basil's book are Sappho, Sally Ride, We'wha, Magnus Hirschfeld, Randy Shilts, Josephine Baker, Marsha P. Johnson, and Oscar Wilde.

LGBTQIA themes: Lesbians and women loving women. Gay men and men loving men. Transgender women and trans feminine people. LGBTQIA BIPOC. Two-Spirit. HIV and AIDS.

Content: Rated G.

Medium: Comic book.

Length: 8 pages. About a ten minute read.

Genre: Lighthearted horror.

About: As described by the author, Mousbones,

"A junior cryptid researcher goes on their first mission in this kid-friendly, 8 page monster hunting comic! Originally published as part of the Monster Journey transmasc comic anthology by Pocket Bear Press."

LGBTQIA themes: Transgender. Trans masculine. Nonbinary.

Mood: Joy, wonder.

Content: Rated R.

Medium: A book, an anthology zine. 

Genre: Nonfiction, romance, poetry, illustration, crafts, other artistic media.

Length: 31 pages. About a fifteen minute read.

About: As described by the editor, TransRebelCowboy,

"Tralentines is a zine celebrating and highlighting different forms of trans love this Valentines Day. Exploring love ranging from romantic, platonic, familial and self love, looking at the complex relationship of love and trans identities. Please consider supporting the artists by following them on their various social medias and sharing this zine as much as you can!"

LGBTQIA themes: Transgender women and trans feminine people. Transgender men and trans masculine people. Nonbinary. Transgender for transgender (t4t). Lesbians and women loving women. Gay men and men loving men. Asexuality. LGBTQIA BIPOC.

Mood: Loving.

Content: Rated PG.

Medium: Book, zine. An anthology of short nonfiction essays.

Length: 17 pages, with covers.

Genre: Nonfiction. History. Social commentary.

About: As described by the author, Ace (KilljoyConstruct), "This zine collects the main takeaways for six different readings I read throughout my Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies class [...] And citations for all of them". Some topics in this zine: how gender is a Western social construct and what traditional Yoruba society looked like before that was introduced by colonialism; Anglo-Saxon burials of people with grave goods suggesting gender roles that differed from what the archaeologists assumed were their sexes; historic queer riots at Stonewall and Compton's Cafeteria; asexuality; intersexuality; and modern capitalistic attitudes about both transgender and disabled people.

Mood: Scholarly and punk.

Content: PG.

Medium: Book, zine.

Genre: Anthology. Art, nonfiction, and science fiction.

Length: 52 pages, with covers.

About: This anthology has nonfiction articles, a science fiction story, personal anecdotes, history, and original illustrations by several Black asexual people: Jen, Erika, (_ayalasi), leikeliscomet, AnnieManga, Debra Renée Byrd, KD, and an anonymous contributor. As described in the foreword, 

"The purpose of this zine is to highlight the creative work of Black

asexual people, our stories, our perspectives and our voices, which are often overlooked, erased and discarded within white asexual spaces. Additionally, this zine highlights the intersection of asexuality with Blackness and addresses asexual experiences that aren’t always acknowledged within Black communities. There is also a special dedication to African American asexuals specifically titled ‘SoulAce Section’ as this zine has been released on SoulAce Day, the first and currently only day made to celebrate African American asexuality."

LGBTQIA themes: LGBTQIA POC. Asexual. Asexual lesbian. Biromantic. Demisexual. Gray asexual. Nonbinary.

Mood: Celebratory.

Content: Rated G.

Medium: Comic book.

About: As described by the authors, 

"SHUVAH is an 11-page comic created for Heartwood: Non-Binary Tales of Sylvan Fantasy (2019, Power & Magic Press) about Ofra, a middle-aged trans Jew who returns to the forest where they had a mysterious experience 40 years earlier. A collaboration with Ezra's partner Jey Barnes, the story was co-developed, with the script then written by Ezra and illustrated by Jey. It features uniquely Jewish forest spirits, a lovable scruffy dog companion, and themes of self-acceptance, growth and change."

Queer themes: Transgender. Trans feminine nonbinary people.

Vibe: Mysterious.

Content: Rated G.

Medium: An instruction book for a physical game, a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG). You play with pencil, paper, a dreidel, and chocolate coins.

Number of players: Multiplayer. Three to six players and no game master, "so you must be prepared to act together as comrades," as the instruction book says.

Length: The instruction book is thirteen pages, with cover. As for play time, "The entire game requires approximately 2 hours, divided into four 30-minute rounds ('missions')."

Genre: Historical fiction. Action and adventure. Intrigue.

About: You play as members of a secret group of Jewish working-class people resisting an oppressive empire in the year 19xx. The instructions say,

"This game is based on the actual history of the radical Jewish left in Eastern Europe, but it isn’t history. It’s not necessary nor desirable to adhere to 'what actually happened'. The same holds true regarding gender and sexuality: If you want to roleplay as an openly queer revolutionary, don’t let 'historical accuracy' stop you."

Queer themes: LGBTQIA BIPOC. LGBTQIA spirituality and religion. The instruction book recommends a book on queer Jewish history.

(I haven't reviewed this issue yet, but the rest of the series has been good!)

Content: Rated G. Mortality. Background music without lyrics.

Medium: An interactive multimedia essay or computer game created with Bitsy. It can run in your web browser. This is a kinetic story with one ending and no choices.

Length: About five minutes.

Genre: Nonfiction.

About: The creator made this as a final project for a class on Africana philosophy. This tells about how a person's sense of self develops throughout the course of their life, the influence upon that from community, and the significance of the formation of a queer identity.

Queer themes: Transgender and gender non-conforming people. Choosing a name. LGBTQIA BIPOC.

Vibe: Beautiful and profound.

Content: Rated G.

Medium: A computer game, a visual novel or kinetic novel. There is only one ending and no choices that change the story, although the player can customize their character's appearance and has the option to explore some extra dialog.

Length: About 30 minutes.

Genre: Slice of life. Real world setting.

About: You are a parent in present-day Texas on the day that Governor Abbott declared that allowing children access to transgender-affirming healthcare is grounds for abuse investigations. You reflect on your transgender daughter's past as you gather documents for a "safe folder" so that you will be prepared to prove that you and your spouse are loving and caring parents to her.

Vibe: Parental anxiety and love.

Content: Rated PG.

Medium: Book. Zine. There is a version for reading on screen and a version for printing.

Genre: Nonfiction. 

About: As described by the author,

"(originally created as a final project for the course 'History of Madness')

"the diagnosis dilemma delves into the social history of gender dysphoria, exploring its evolution and impact. my primary focus was investigating the historical progression of the gender dysphoria diagnosis, particularly how it influences societal perceptions and healthcare practices concerning transgender individuals."

Queer themes: Transgender people. This mentions barriers to accessing gender affirming care for BIPOC.

Vibe: Punk academia.

Content: Rated PG-13. Violence, nudity, and sexual themes.

Medium: A comic book in full color.

Genre: Historical fiction. Romance.

Length: 50 pages.

About: As described by the artist:

"Shattered Spear is a story set in the Neolithic Jordan Valley thousands of year ago, where two lone travelers meet by chance, and realize they have something fateful in common."

The last page explains about the science of what archaeologists today understand about women who lived in that time and place, and how that inspired the two characters in this story.

LGBTQIA themes: Women loving women.

Content: Rated PG. Warning for discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Medium: Book. Zine. Full color. Designed for reading on screen.

Genre: Nonfiction.

About the authors' experiences of having felt as though they weren't allowed to be queer because they were Jewish, and finding out how they can be both.

Queer themes: Lesbians. Lesbians who have complicated feelings about identifying as women. Asexual lesbians. LGBTQIA BIPOC. Questioning.

Vibe: Punk.

Content: Rated PG for artistic nudity.

Medium: Book. Mini zine. It's designed to be printed and folded on a single sheet of paper.

About: The life story of a Jewish lesbian author and how the events of her life a century ago have similarities to what we face today.

Content: Rated PG-13. Warning for homophobia, transphobia, and suicide.

Medium: A visual novel. It runs in your web browser.

Genre and subject: Fictionalized history.

About: A day in the life of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld of the Institute of Sexual Research in Germany in 1922, supporting LGBT people.

Queer themes: Although they used somewhat different words for it in this time period, this is definitely about gay men and transgender women, and also about cross-dressers who might have considered themselves nonbinary if they had had that word.

BIPOC themes: This mentions that Hirscheld was Jewish.

Vibe: Fear and hope.

Content: Rated G.

Medium: Book.

Genre and subject: Poetry. Religion.

About: As described by the author,

"A chapbook of 10(ish) poems, illustrated with public domain images & collages. Content includes queer/trans experiences of Judaism & living with trauma."

Content: Unrated.

Medium: A computer game. It runs in your web browser.

Length: About half an hour.

About: A ritual computer game for preserving and visiting with the spirits of black trans ancestors and nourishing the spirit of the black trans person who plays the game. The player's experience is different depending on whether you are black and trans, trans, or cis.

Content: Rated PG. Mentions of trauma and abuse.

Medium: Book. Zine. There is a version for reading on screen, and a version for printing and folding.

Genre and subject: Nonfiction.

Length: 48 pages.

About: As described by the creator, 

"I personally have a weird story about how I got to my name and I love hearing other trans people's stories about their names so I want to make a work honoring those unique experiences! This 48 page zine collects the short stories, personal essays, and poetry written by transgender and nonbinary people about their relationship with their chosen name."

Queer themes: transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary people. LGBTQIA BIPOC. Spirituality, religion, and irreligion among LGBTQIA people.

Vibe: Hope and joy. Gender euphoria.