Pride Picks: LGBTQ+ Voices and Stories

The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World by Mason Funk

Paying tribute to more than 50 extraordinary and influential leaders who sparked the worldwide LGBTQ-rights movement, this important volume tells stories of dedication and triumph through never-before-published original interviews.

Boy Erased by Garrard Conley (eBook on Overdrive)

Adapted into a GLAAD Media Award-winning film, Garrard Conley’s memoir about his experience as the son of a Baptist pastor and deeply embedded in church life in small-town Arkansas. By confronting his buried past and the burden of a life lived in shadow, Garrard traces the complex relationships among family, faith, and community. At times heart-breaking, at times triumphant, this memoir is a testament to love that survives despite all odds. Find the DVD , the book, and the eBook at the library.

Born to Be directed by Tania Cypriano (documentary on Kanopy)

This documentary follows the work of Dr. Jess Ting (he/him) at the groundbreaking Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery. There, for the first time ever in New York City, transgender and gender non-binary people have access to quality gender-affirming care. With extraordinary access, this documentary offers an intimate look at how one doctor’s work impacts the lives of his patients as well as how his journey from renowned plastic surgeon to pioneering gender-affirming specialist has led to his own transformation.

Disobedience directed by Sebastián Lelio (film on Kanopy)

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.

Drag Teen by Jeffery Self (aAudiobook on hoopla)

A fantastic, fabulous, funny YA debut from Jeffery Self, one of the gay icons of the YouTube generation, that follows one high school student on a drag race to his future. Debut author Jeffery Self takes us on a road trip with an insecure high school senior who was one goal: to be the first in his family to leave Clearwater, Florida, and go to college. The problem is, he has zero means of paying for school – until his friends convince him to compete in a drag teen competition for a college scholarship.

Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson (eAudiobook on hoopla)

Jeanette Winterson has achieved worldwide critical and commercial success as one of the most daring and inventive writers of our time. Her new novel, Frankissstein, is an audacious love story that weaves together disparate lives into an exploration of transhumanism, artificial intelligence, and queer love.

LGBQT+ Movie collection: binge watch set          

This librarian-curated collection of DVDs is totally bingeworthy! It includes 9 movies with LGBTQ+ characters and narratives: Boy Erased, Call Me By Your Name, The Danish Girl, Disobedience, Don’t Call Me Son, Fairhaven, Hedwig and the Angry Itch, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, Pariah.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (eBook on Overdrive)

This award-winning novel follows four college classmates—broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition—as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma. A hymn to brotherly bonds and a masterful depiction of love in the twenty-first century, Hanya Yanagihara’s stunning novel is about the families we are born into, and those that we make for ourselves.

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde (eAudiobook on hoopla)

Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature. 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. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. 

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski

A look at how American culture has shaped the LGBT, or queer, experience, while simultaneously arguing that LGBT people not only shaped but were pivotal in creating our country. Using numerous primary documents and literature, as well as social histories, Bronski’s book takes the reader through the centuries–from Columbus’ arrival and the brutal treatment the Native peoples received, through the American Revolution’s radical challenging of sex and gender roles–to the violent, and liberating, 19th century–and the transformative social justice movements of the 20th.

The Boy and the Bindi written by Vivek Shraya, illustrated by Rajni Perera

In this beautiful children’s picture book by Vivek Shraya, author of the acclaimed God Loves Hair, a five-year-old South Asian boy becomes fascinated with his mother’s bindi, the red dot commonly worn by Hindu women to indicate the point at which creation begins, and wishes to have one of his own. Rather than chastise her son, she agrees to it, and teaches him about its cultural significance, allowing the boy to discover the magic of the bindi, which in turn gives him permission to be more fully himself.

Love written by Matt de la Pena, illustrated by Loren Long

In this heartfelt celebration of love, Newbery Medal-winning author Matt de la Peña and bestselling illustrator Loren Long depict the many ways we experience this universal bond, which carries us from the day we are born throughout the years of our childhood and beyond. With a lyrical text that’s soothing and inspiring, this tender tale is a needed comfort and a new classic that will resonate with readers of every age.

A More Graceful Shaboom written by Jacinta Bunnell, illustrated by Crystal Vielula

A gender non-binary protagonist named Harmon Jitney finds their joy and purpose in a magical satchel, which leads to an extraordinary, previously undiscovered universe. This book features LGBTQAI+ characters seamlessly woven into a delightful, imagination-sparking story, without overtly being a lesson book about gender and sexual orientation.

Who Will You Be? by Andrea Pippins

A picture book about how family and community help shape the wonderful people our children become.