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Celebrating Pride Month


Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is 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. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. 


The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.  June 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of annual LGBTQ+ Pride traditions. The first Pride march in New York City was held on June 28, 1970 on the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising.  The following videos are all available instantly on free Library streaming service Kanopy.  Most eBooks are available instantly on Hoopla and some are only available in OverDrive (which may have a waitlist).  
 

Fiction Films in Kanopy: 


Disobedience: Ronit (Rachel Weisz) returns to the Orthodox Jewish community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a childhood friend Esti (Rachel McAdams). Once reunited, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality.

God’s Own Country: Johnny Saxby (Josh O'Connor) works long hours in brutal isolation on his family's farm in the north of England. He numbs the daily frustration of his lonely existence with nightly binge-drinking at the local pub and casual sex. When a handsome Romanian migrant worker (Alec Secareanu) arrives Johnny is confronted with new emotions. An intense relationship forms between the two which could change Johnny's life forever.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post: 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.

Moonlight: Oscar-winner for Best Picture, 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.

 

LGBTQ Documentaries in Kanopy:


Growing Up Trans (PBS): Go on an intimate and eye-opening journey inside a new frontier. Told from the perspective of parents, doctors, and, most revealing of all, eight transgender kids themselves, ranging in ages from 9 to 19, FRONTLINE takes a powerful look at this new generation, exploring the medical possibilities, struggles, and choices transgender kids and their families face today.

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.  The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.

To be Takei: A Star’s Trek for Life, Library, and Love:  This award winning documentary features Star Trek legend, marriage equality advocate, and spokesperson for racial justice; superstar George Takei. Best known for his groundbreaking role of Hikaru Sulu on a certain epic starship and its multi-ethnic crew…Takei's true legacy may be his off-screen advocacy…George, and husband Brad, have also been unflappable spokespeople for LGBTQ rights.

We Were Here: The AIDS Years in San Francisco: An intimate, yet epic history of the AIDS years in San Francisco, as told through the stories of five longtime San Franciscans. The film documents the coming of what was called the "Gay Plague" in the early 1980s. It illuminates the profound personal and community issues raised by the AIDS epidemic as well as the broad political and social upheavals it unleashed. WE WERE HERE offers a cathartic validation for the generation that suffered through, and responded to, the onset of AIDS. It opens a window of understanding to those who have only the vaguest notions of what transpired in those years and provides insight into what society could, and should, offer its citizens in the way of medical care, social services, and community support.

 

Fiction Books:


The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff:

Loosely inspired by a true story, this tender portrait of marriage asks: What do you do when the person you love has to change? It starts with a question, a simple favor asked by a wife of her husband while both are painting in their studio, setting off a transformation neither can anticipate. Uniting fact and fiction into an original romantic vision, The Danish Girl eloquently portrays the unique intimacy that defines every marriage and the remarkable story of Lili Elbe, a pioneer in transgender history, and the woman torn between loyalty to her marriage and her own ambitions and desires. The Danish Girl's lush prose and generous emotional insight make it, after the last page is turned, a deeply moving first novel about one of the most passionate and unusual love stories of the 20th century. (OverDrive). 

I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver:

When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents' rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.  But Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life.  At turns heartbreaking and joyous, I Wish You All the Best is both a celebration of life, friendship, and love, and a shining example of hope in the face of adversity. (Hoopla).

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston:  

When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.  What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? (OverDrive).

Two Hearts Alone by Harper Bliss:

In the small town of Donovan Grove, Anna Gunn’s life is organized just the way she likes it: work from home, walks with her dog, Friday night drinks at the bar.  But Anna’s strict routine is challenged when the local bookstore is taken over by city slicker, Zoe Perez.  Will Anna let Zoe into her life, despite the major disruption she will have to tolerate?  And can Zoe look past Anna’s eccentricity and embrace her unconventional behavior? (Hoopla).

 

Non-Fiction Books:


Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin:  

A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens. Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference (OverDrive).  

It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living by Dan Savage:

Every story can change a life.  Many young people face daily tormenting and bullying, making them feel like they have nowhere to turn. This is especially true for LGBT kids and teens who often hide their sexuality for fear of being bullied. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can't imagine what their future may hold. In many instances, gay and lesbian adolescents are taunted—even tortured—simply for being themselves. After a number of tragic suicides by LGBT students who were bullied in school, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage uploaded a video to YouTube with his partner, Terry Miller, to inspire hope for LGBT youth facing harassment. Speaking openly about the bullying they suffered as teenagers and how they both went on to lead rewarding adult lives, they launched the It Gets Better Project YouTube channel and initiated a worldwide phenomenon. With over six thousand videos posted and over twenty million views in the first three months alone, the world has embraced the opportunity to provide personal, honest, and heartfelt support for LGBT youth everywhere. It Gets Better is a collection of expanded essays and new material from celebrities, everyday people, and teens who have posted videos of encouragement. (Hoopla and OverDrive). 

Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by Anne Choma and Sally Wainwright: 

In 1834, Anne Lister made history by celebrating and recording the first ever known marriage to another woman. This is her remarkable, true story…she forged her own path in a society that had no language to define her. She was a landowner, an industrialist and a prolific diarist, whose output has secured her legacy as one of the most fascinating figures of the 19th century. (OverDrive). 

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib: 

How do you find yourself when the world tells you that you don't exist?
Samra Habib has spent most of her life searching for the safety to be herself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, she faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From her parents, she internalized the lesson that revealing her identity could put her in grave danger.  When her family came to Canada as refugees, Samra encountered a whole new host of challenges: bullies, racism, the threat of poverty, and an arranged marriage. Backed into a corner, her need for a safe space—in which to grow and nurture her creative, feminist spirit—became dire.  So begins an exploration of faith, art, love, and queer sexuality, a journey that takes her to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within her all along. A triumphant memoir of forgiveness and family, both chosen and not, We Have Always Been Here is a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt out of place and a testament to the power of fearlessly inhabiting one's truest self. (OverDrive). 

When We Rise: My Life in the Movement by Cleve Jones: 

By turns tender and uproarious, When We Rise is Jones' account of his remarkable life. He chronicles the heartbreak of losing countless friends to AIDS, which very nearly killed him, too; his co-founding of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation during the terrifying early years of the epidemic; his conception of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the largest community art project in history; the bewitching story of 1970s San Francisco and the magnetic spell it cast for thousands of young gay people and other misfits; and the harrowing, sexy, and sometimes hilarious stories of Cleve's passionate relationships with friends and lovers during an era defined by both unprecedented freedom and and violence alike.  When We Rise is not only the story of a hero to the LQBTQ community, but the vibrantly voice memoir of a full and transformative American life. (OverDrive).

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