The library has many types of resources available to facilitate learning about LGBTQIA+ Pride. A complex keyword search of the library’s catalog, combining each of the terms indicated by the acronym LGBTQIA+, brings up almost 3,000 items from our collection. Access Video on Demand and Kanopy offer streaming video, audio and film on a broad variety of topics and themes, including areas such as LGBTQIA+ history and gender studies. An area within the library’s History neighborhood focuses on cultural studies and gathers a number of titles on LGBTQIA+ identity and experiences, but it represents only one dimension of the library’s holdings and the potential for discovery which emerges from encounters across the library’s collections and spaces.
This guide brings together a curated collection of books, websites, films, and past programs in one convenient resource. This more focused collection of resources aims to facilitate serendipitous discoveries of the same kind which may result from exploration of the library’s physical space. It also provides a brief discussion of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month as a time when the library places a special emphasis on LGBTQIA+ history and the celebration of the achievements of LGBTQIA+ people.
A note about terminology: LGBTQIA+ is just one possible acronym affirming a number of diverse gender and sexual identities. The Gender + Sexuality Resource Center at Princeton University hosts a webpage devoted to the terminology implied by the acronym LGBTQIA+ and alternative formulations including LGBT, LGBTQ and LGBTQ2, among others.
Navigate this guide by using the links included in the list below:
#learn
Learn about LGBTQIA+ Pride
See below for lists of nonfiction and fiction and essays geared toward adult readers and centered around LGBTQ+ experiences and perspectives.
For teens and kids, below are lists of books that highlight varied narratives and perspectives of those in the LGBTQIA+ community.
Online resources include:
- American History Online has content tagged as relevant to LGBT history.
- Access Video on Demand has content tagged as LGBTQ in their video collections.
- Feature films hosted on Kanopy and tagged as LGBTQ+
- Resources pertaining to LGBTQ Pride Month from the Library of Congress.
- Resources pertaining to LGBTQI+ Pride Month from the National Archives.
- Educator resources from the Anti-Defamation League.
- Educator resources from GLSEN
#programs
Past Programs at the Library
Past programs held at the library relevant to LGBTQIA+ Pride are available on our YouTube channel. Featured below are several recent programs.
Staff from HiTOPS discussed what the outcome of the election would mean for LGBTQ+ folks and allies in New Jersey. In this 90-minute informational session, the “lay of the land” for LGBTQ+ residents in New Jersey was reviewed through an overview of existing policies and discussion of what to expect given the outcome of the election. The talk included a look at current policy work and activism around the state. The speakers identified helpful resources, healthy coping mechanisms and effective strategies for self-care and collective care.
To learn more about the Stonewall Uprising, watch a recording of a 2020 virtual library program with Jason Baumann, New York Public Library’s coordinator of humanities and LGBTQ collections. Baumann discusses the anthology of first-person accounts of the Stonewall uprising he curated from the library’s archives. Published in 2019, the 50th anniversary of the uprising that started the fight for American LGBTQ+ rights, “The Stonewall Reader” chronicles some of the gay liberation movement’s most iconic moments and figures in the years before and after those tumultuous events.
#month
LGBTQIA+ Pride Month
June is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer (or Questioning) Pride Month. This month offers an opportunity to explore the stories and perspectives of those who identify as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The library recognizes the importance of this area and related topics through programming and resource development all year long, but this month serves as a chance to focus our efforts.
What we now know as LGBTQIA+ Pride Month began as a grassroots effort to commemorate the June 1969 Stonewall Uprising, when LGBTQIA+ patrons of a New York City gay bar and their supporters fought back against police officers raiding the establishment. In the years after Stonewall, many celebrated what they called Gay Pride Day on the last Sunday in June. Celebrations varied from place to place and went on to include monthlong activities and events across June. In the mid-1990s, education organizations joined forces to formalize June as LGBT History Month. President Bill Clinton was the first U.S. president to issue a proclamation acknowledging Pride Month, with Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden following suit.
The main event celebrating LGBTQIA+ Pride Month at the library this year is the Pride on the Plaza celebration. See the brochure for this event for details.
Content made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this programming do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.