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LGBTQ+ Resources

LGBTQ+ Resources

October 10, 2020

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.

The library has books, movies and other resources for looking to learn more about Pride Month and the LGBTQ+ community.

Movies available for streaming via Kanopy

Pride Collection via Kanopy

LGBTQ Stories Collection via Kanopy

LGBTQ Collection via Kanopy

Moonlight

A24

Oscar-winner for Best Picture, MOONLIGHT is a moving and transcendent look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to adulthood, as a shy outsider dealing with difficult circumstances, is guided by support, empathy and love from the most unexpected places.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post 

FilmRise

Based on the celebrated novel by Emily M. Danforth, The Miseducation of Cameron Post follows the titular character (Chloe Grace Moretz) as she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center after getting caught with another girl in the back seat of a car on prom night.

Stonewall Uprising 

PBS

In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. Such raids were not unusual in the late 1960s, an era when homosexual sex was illegal in every state but Illinois. That night, however, the street erupted into violent protests and demonstrations that lasted for the next six days.

United in Anger: A History of ACT UP : The Grassroots Movement to End the AIDS Crisis

ACT UP Oral History Project

An inspiring documentary about the birth and life of the AIDS activist movement from the perspective of the people in the trenches fighting the epidemic. Utilizing oral histories of members of ACT UP, as well as rare archival footage, the film depicts the efforts of ACT UP as it battles corporate greed, social indifference, and government neglect.

Books Available our Print Catalog

Kids and Teen Titles in our Print Catalog

Pride : the LGBTQ+ rights movement : a photographic journey by Christopher Measom

The story starts in the bohemian subculture of post-World War I American cities – where boundaries were being pushed – and in the heartland as well, where the first gay society was founded in 1924. Author Christopher Measom next covers the influence of World War II, which relocated millions of men and women to single-sex barracks and factories, encouraging a freedom and anonymity that helped spark the formation of gay communities after the war. The repressive fifties era saw the launch of two important rights organizations, the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, that led to the rebellions of the 1960s – culminating in the game-changing Stonewall Uprising of June 1969. The book then explores the devastation of the AIDS crisis, it’s impact on gay culture, and the fight to bring awareness to the disease. The narrative is brought up to the present day with coverage of the struggles for equality in marriage, the military, and beyond – and the push for gender rights. With more than 120 photos, posters, artworks, ads, and other rarely seen memorabilia; profiles of icons in the movement such as Christine Jorgensen, Marsha P. Johnson, Harry Hay, and Storme DeLarverie; excerpts from key news reports; speeches by leading activists and political figures including Harvey Milk, Urvashi Vaid, and Barack Obama; and passages from important, dramatic, musical, and literary works such as Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, this book is a groundbreaking tribute to a historic movement and its milestone achievements and hurdles.

Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia

“From the moment a doctor in Raleigh, North Carolina, put ‘male’ on Jacob Tobia’s birth certificate, everything went wrong. Alongside ‘male’ came many other, far less neutral words: words that carried expectations about who Jacob was and who Jacob should be, words like ‘masculine’ and ‘aggressive’ and ‘cargo shorts’ and ‘SPORTS!’ Naturally sensitive, playful, creative, and glitter-obsessed, as a child Jacob was given the label ‘sissy.’ In the two decades that followed, ‘sissy’ joined forces with ‘gay,’ ‘trans,’ ‘nonbinary,’ and ‘too-queer-to-function’ to become a source of pride and, today, a rallying cry for a much-needed gender revolution. Through revisiting their childhood and calling out the stereotypes that each of us have faced, Jacob invites us to rethink what we know about gender and offers a bold blueprint for a healed world–one free from gender-based trauma and bursting with trans-inclusive feminism. From Jacob’s Methodist upbringing and the hallowed halls of Duke University to the portrait-laden parlors of the White House, Sissy takes you on a gender odyssey you won’t soon forget. Writing with the fierce honesty, wildly irreverent humor, and wrenching vulnerability that have made them a media sensation, Jacob shatters the long-held notion that people are easily sortable into ‘men’ and ‘women.’ Sissy guarantees that you’ll never think about gender–both other people’s and your own–the same way again.”

Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

“At once a searing indictment of a racist, patriarchal society and a manual for claiming an intersectional identity, Sister Outsider is a comprehensive collection of the lauded poet and writer Audre Lorde’s most famous and influential works of nonfiction prose. Sister Outsider depicts the idea of “difference”–Whether through race, gender, or sexuality–as a powerful tool for empowerment that can be used as a catalyst for change. Throughout the fifteen essays and speeches that comprise the volume, Lorde asserts that because she is a black, queer woman, she is considered an outsider, but that it is precisely her outsider perspective that allows her to see the various layers of identity-based oppression. A pioneer of intersectional feminism, Sister Outsider encourages the reader to embrace their difference and weaponize it for change, a once-radical 20th-century idea that has become a full-blown movement today.”

A brief history of seven killings : a novel by Marlon James

On December 3, 1976, just before the Jamaican general election and two days before Bob Marley was to play the Smile Jamaica Concert, gunmen stormed his house, machine guns blazing. The attack nearly killed the Reggae superstar, his wife, and his manager, and injured several others. Marley would go on to perform at the free concert on December 5, but he left the country the next day, not to return for two years. Spanning decades and continents and peopled with a wide range of characters — assassins, journalists, drug dealers, and even ghosts — A Brief History of Seven Killings is the fictional exploration of that dangerous and unstable time and its bloody aftermath, from the streets and slums of Kingston in the 70s, to the crack wars in 80s New York, to a radically altered Jamaica in the 90s.

Online Resources:

Campus Pride Index: The index is owned and operated by Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit organization for student leaders and campus groups working to create safer, more LGBTQ-friendly learning environments at colleges and universities. The index is supported under the Campus Pride Q Research Institute for Higher Education as well as benefits from strategic partnerships with professional organizations in higher education and related LGBTQ nonprofit organizations.

 Family Equality: Family Equality’s mission is to advance legal and lived equality for LGBTQ families, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change.

Funders for LGBTQ Issues Funders for LGBTQ Issues is a network of more than 75 foundations, corporations, and funding institutions that collectively award more than $1 billion annually, including approximately $100 million specifically devoted to LGBTQ issues.

GLAAD  is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization founded by LGBT people in the media

Human Rights Campaign As the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization, HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are ensured of their basic equal rights, and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.

It Gets Better Project  is a nonprofit organization with a mission to uplift, empower, and connect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth around the globe.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month– The Law Library of Congress has compiled guides to commemorative observations, including a comprehensive inventory of the Public Laws, Presidential Proclamations and congressional resolutions related to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender and Queer Pride Month.

PLAG is the first and largest organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, their parents and families, and allies.

Sage:  A National advocacy and services organization that’s been looking out for LGBT elders since 1978. We build welcoming communities and keep our issues in the national conversation to ensure a fulfilling future for all LGBT people.

Stopbullying.gov  StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on what bullying iswhat cyberbullying iswho is at risk, and how you can prevent and respond to bullying.

The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25.

Library Resources:

Critical Insights: LGBTQ Literature

Local:

NEPA Rainbow Alliance: https://neparainbowalliance.org/

Pennsylvania Youth Congress The Pennsylvania Youth Congress advances freedom and justice for young LGBTQ Pennsylvanians through advocating for responsible public policy. As a youth-led organization, PYC represents citizens working toward safer schools and thriving communities across the commonwealth.

Queer NEPA: https://queernepa.org/