LGBTQ+ History Month
Many think of Pride Month, which takes place in June, as the national commemorative month to reflect on LGBT History. The month of June was selected to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a pivotal turning point in gay history. Pride is a time to reflect on the the struggles the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) community has endured, as well as to celebrate the ongoing movement towards full equality. Pride celebrations -- such as parades and festivals -- are held for the LGBTQ community and allies to proudly represent and celebrate members of a demographic who historically were compelled to hide their true selves.
October, however, is actually National LGBTQ+ History Month, which recognizes, celebrates, and commemorates, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer history. In 1994, Rodney Wilson, a high school history teacher, conceptualized Lesbian and Gay History Month, creating an opportunity during the school year to teach (often omitted) gay and lesbian history(1). With the momentum from supporters, the General Assembly of the National Education Association passed a resolution to officially recognize October as Gay and Lesbian History Month in 1995. The month of October is significant as it also includes National Coming Out Day (October 11), as well as the anniversary of the 1979 “March on Washington” for LGBT rights (2). Over time, additional identity acronyms have been added, increasing inclusion to highlight exemplary role models and historical figures of the LGBTQ+ communities.
While New Jersey adopted a law in 2019 requiring public schools to include LGBTQ+ history in their curricula, LGBTQ+ History Month is an opportunity for everyone to broaden their historical knowledge. Mercer County Library System offers numerous resources to access information about important people and significant events in LGBTQ+ history. Take a look at some of the following materials to get started:
Queer: A Graphic History (2016) by Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele
Though not a graphic novel, this highly illustrated nonfiction book explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do. Barker and Scheele show how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology, and how these views have been disputed and challenged. Each page focuses on a specific aspect of the subject.
Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality (2016) by Debbie Cenziper and James Obergefell
“The fascinating and very moving story of the lovers, lawyers, judges and activists behind the groundbreaking Supreme Court case that led to one of the most important, national civil rights victories in decades--the legalization of same-sex marriage. In June 2015, the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law in all fifty states in a decision as groundbreaking as Roe v Wade and Brown v Board of Education. Through insider accounts and access to key players, this definitive account reveals the dramatic and previously unreported events behind Obergefell v Hodges and the lives at its center. This is a story of law and love--and a promise made to a dying man who wanted to know how he would be remembered. Twenty years ago, Jim Obergefell and John Arthur fell in love in Cincinnati, Ohio, a place where gays were routinely picked up by police and fired from their jobs. In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government had to provide married gay couples all the benefits offered to straight couples. Jim and John--who was dying from ALS--flew to Maryland, where same-sex marriage was legal. But back home, Ohio refused to recognize their union, or even list Jim's name on John's death certificate. Then they met Al Gerhardstein, a courageous attorney who had spent nearly three decades advocating for civil rights and who now saw an opening for the cause that few others had before him. This forceful and deeply affecting narrative--Part Erin Brockovich, part Milk, part Still Alice--chronicles how this grieving man and his lawyer, against overwhelming odds, introduced the most important gay rights case in U.S. history. It is an urgent and unforgettable account that will inspire readers for many years to come." -- Provided by publisher
Pioneers of LGBTQ+ Rights (2019) by Ellen McGrody
The visibility of the U.S. LGBTQ+ movement and the strength of its voices stems from the heroes who fought for equality and self-expression. This book discusses the lives and impact of these heroes by exploring their march toward progress, from the early sparks of the movement before Stonewall to the prolific activists of today. Readers will gain an understanding of the creative efforts activists and professionals put into advocating for their legal, professional, and personal needs, and they will come away with an understanding of why that representation matters.
This text discusses the persecution of homosexuals under the Third Reich. The Pink Triangle sheds light on a corner of contemporary history that has long remained in the shadows: the persecution of homosexuals under the Third Reich. The author, himself a refugee from Nazi Germany, begins at the turn of the 20th century when widespread anti-gay prejudice was increasingly challenged in Germany by the rise of a vigorous homosexual emancipation movement. The various popular and scientific beliefs that often defamed and sometimes romanticized the gays are analyzed in depth. The Nazi movement, as it emerged in the 1920s, drew upon a rich tradition of sexual prejudice while adding its own brand of gutter fanaticism. The author records the origins and growth of the virulent homophobia that underlay the Nazi desire to annihilate Germany's homosexuals in order to ensure the "purity" of the Master Race. Street brutalities, as well as legal formalities, are described in detail. Painstaking study is given to the evolution of official Nazi policy toward the homosexuals, including the recurring strategies for their degradation, imprisonment, enslavement, and, finally, extermination. Directed by Himmler and his SS, the war against gays resulted in tens of thousands of arrests and thousands of deaths. How this campaign was conducted--the crackpot fantasies that fueled it, the men who made it possible, and the men who were its victims--is the subject of this book. The Nazi crusade against the gays saw friends, acquaintances--some no more than a name in someone's address book--arrested and shipped to concentration camps. There, forced to wear pink triangles, the accused constituted the lowest rung in the camp hierarchy. The horror of what camp life was like for them is revealed through diaries, documents never before translated from the German, and interviews with and letters from survivors. The Nazi rage against the homosexuals was more than an outburst by the gangsters of Europe; it was the attempted elimination of the polluting stranger, the defiling other.--Adapted from book jacket.
Queer, There, and Everywhere: 23 People Who Changed the World (2017) by Sarah Prager
A LGBTQ chronicle for teens shares hip, engaging facts about 23 influential gender-ambiguous notables from the era of the Roman Empire to the present, exploring how they defied convention to promote civil rights, pursue relationships on their own terms and shape culture.
We Make It Better: The LGBTQ Community and Their Positive Contributions to Society (2019) by Eric Rosswood and Kathleen Archambeau
LGBT history is as old as history itself. In that time, LGBT people have positively impacted their communities, made advancements for society, and changed the world! We Make It Better profiles all the people, places, and events that show just how awesome and inspiring the LGBT community is.
"A timely second edition of the classic text on transgender history, with a new introduction and updated material throughout. Covering American transgender history from the mid-twentieth century to today, Transgender History takes a chronological approach to the subject of transgender history, with each chapter covering major movements, writings, and events. Chapters cover the transsexual and transvestite communities in the years following World War II; trans radicalism and social change, which spanned from 1966 with the publication of The Transsexual Phenomenon, and lasted through the early 1970s; the mid-'70s to 1990-the era of identity politics and the changes witnessed in trans circles through these years; and the gender issues witnessed through the '90s and '00s. Transgender History includes informative sidebars highlighting quotes from major texts and speeches in transgender history and brief biographies of key players, plus excerpts from transgender memoirs and discussion of treatments of transgenderism in popular culture."-- Provided by publisher.
The Stonewall Reader (2019) Forward by Edmund White; Edited by The New York Public Library
"For the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and the activists who spearheaded it, with a foreword by Edmund White"-- Provided by publisher.
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(1) Equality Forum. (2021). About LGBT History Month. https://lgbthistorymonth.com/background
(2) Library of Congress. (2021). About Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month. https://www.loc.gov/lgbt-pride-month/about/
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