June is pride month, which means we get to celebrate LGBTQIA+ people past and present! This pride month, we’ve curated a bunch of our favorite resources for you to explore. They are sorted into websites, movies, TV shows, and books. This is by no means an exhaustive list but it serves as an excellent jumping off point for both LGBTQIA+ people and allies.
Digital Resources
“O.school is your non-judgmental resource for sexuality and dating. We help people build sexual confidence through medically-accurate videos, articles and live streams. We’re here for everyone - whether you’re having lots of sex or no sex, there’s so much to know about your body”
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest sex education resource. They offer a holistic view of sex ed, covering topics from safer sex to sexual assault to LGBTQ+ specific information.
The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
“GLSEN works to ensure that LGBTQ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment”
“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.”
“The Bisexual Resource Center works to connect the bi+ community and help its members thrive through resources, support, and celebration. Through this work, we envision an empowered, visible, and inclusive global community for bi+ people.”
“PFLAG is the first and largest organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, their parents and families, and allies.”
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
“GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change.”
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR)
“NCLR is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, legislation, policy, and public education.”
ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives
“ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries is the largest repository of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) materials in the world.”
LGBTQ+ Studies: A Resource Guide
“This guide offers an introduction to the impressive LGBTQ+ collections of the Library of Congress. The Library collects at the research level in the area of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ+) studies. Library holdings are particularly strong in LGBTQ+ politics, history, literature and the performing arts”
“HRC works to improve the lives of LGBTQ people worldwide by advocating for equal rights and benefits in the workplace, ensuring families are treated equally under the law, and increasing public support around the globe.”
Documentaries + Movies
Blurbs are from imdb.com.
Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins
“A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.”
Milk directed by Gus Van Sant
“The story of Harvey Milk and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.”
Paris is Burning directed by Jennie Livingston
“A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.”
Angels in America written by Tony Kushner
“Playwright Tony Kushner adapted his political epic about the A.I.D.S. crisis during the mid 1980s and centers the story around a group of separate but connected individuals.”
The Normal Heart directed by Ryan Murphy
“A gay activist attempts to raise H.I.V. and A.I.D.S. awareness during the early 1980s.”
TV Shows
Blurbs are from imdb.com.
Orange is the New Black created by Jenji Kohan
“Convicted of a decade old crime of transporting drug money to an ex-girlfriend, normally law-abiding Piper Chapman is sentenced to a year and a half behind bars to face the reality of how life-changing prison can really be.”
The L Word created by Michele Abbott, Ilene Chaiken, and Kathy Greenberg
“Follows the lives and loves of a small, close-knit group of gay women living in Los Angeles as well as the friends and family members that either support or loathe them.”
Gentleman Jack created by Sally Wainwright
“A dramatization of the life of LGBTQ+ trailblazer, voracious learner and cryptic diarist Anne Lister, who returns to Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1832, determined to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home Shibden Hall.”
Queer Eye created by David Collins
“A new Fab Five set out to Atlanta to help some of the city's people refine their wardrobes, grooming, diet, cultural pursuits, and home décor.”
POSE created by Steven Canals, Brad Falchuk, and Ryan Murphy
“Pose is set in the world of 1987 and looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury universe, the downtown social and literary scene and the ball culture world."
Sex Education created by Laurie Nunn
“A teenage boy with a sex therapist mother teams up with a high school classmate to set up an underground sex therapy clinic at school.”
Books
We Are Everywhere by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown
“A rich and sweeping photographic history of the Queer Liberation Movement, from the creators and curators of the massively popular Instagram account @lgbt_history, released in time for the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.”
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
“The essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde. In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change.”
Ask a Queer Chick by Lindsay King-Miller
“This guide to sex, love and life for girls who like girls is useful whether you’re a lady-dating veteran or still trying to come out to yourself.”
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
“Distant and exacting, Bruce Bechdel was an English teacher and director of the town funeral home, which Alison and her family referred to as the Fun Home. It was not until college that Alison, who had recently come out as a lesbian, discovered that her father was also gay. A few weeks after this revelation, he was dead, leaving a legacy of mystery for his daughter to resolve.”
Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution by Shiri Eisner
“Bi takes a long overdue, comprehensive look at bisexual politics—from the issues surrounding biphobia/monosexism, feminism, and transgenderism to the practice of labeling those who identify as bi as either "too bisexual” (promiscuous and incapable of fidelity) or "not bisexual enough” (not actively engaging romantically or sexually with people of at least two different genders). In this forward-thinking and eye-opening book, feminist bisexual and genderqueer activist Shiri Eisner takes readers on a journey through the many aspects of the meanings and politics of bisexuality, specifically highlighting how bisexuality can open up new and exciting ways of challenging social convention.”
This Book is Gay by Juno & James Dawson
“There's a long-running joke that, after "coming out," a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. THIS IS THAT INSTRUCTION MANUAL. You're welcome. Inside you'll find the answers to all the questions you ever wanted to ask: from sex to politics, hooking up to stereotypes, coming out and more. This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it's like to grow up LGBT also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums, not to mention hilarious illustrations.”
Under The Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
“Ijeoma comes of age as her nation does; born before independence, she is eleven when civil war breaks out in the young republic of Nigeria. Sent away to safety, she meets another displaced child and they, star-crossed, fall in love. They are from different ethnic communities. They are also both girls. When their love is discovered, Ijeoma learns that she will have to hide this part of herself. But there is a cost to living inside a lie.”
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
“Woman or man? This internationally acclaimed novel looks at the world through the eyes of Jess Goldberg, a masculine girl growing up in the McCarthy era and coming out as a young butch lesbian in the pre-Stonewall gay drag bars of a blue-collar town. This once-underground classic takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride of gender transformation and exploration and ultimately speaks to the heart of anyone who has ever suffered or gloried in being different.”
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
“‘The longest and most charming love letter in literature’, playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf’s close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth’s England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Constantinople, awakes to find that he is a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women.”
Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia On National Themes by Tony Kushner
“Prior is a man living with AIDS whose lover Louis has left him and become involved with Joe, an ex-Mormon and political conservative whose wife, Harper, is slowly having a nervous breakdown. These stories are contrasted with that of Roy Cohn (a fictional re-creation of the infamous American conservative ideologue who died of AIDS in 1986) and his attempts to remain in the closet while trying to find some sort of personal salvation in his beliefs.”
The LGBTQIA+ community has so much rich history and culture to explore. We hope you take advantage of these resources in your Pride Month education and onward.
