LGBTQ

The Free Library of Philadelphia celebrates LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June with book and film recommendations, events for all ages, and resources in Philadelphia. Through this Explore Topic, you can also find lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer resources and support, emphasizing the diversity of sexual and gender identity-based cultures. Other resources include information on bullying, safety, and coming out; books and resources for parents and siblings; biographies of important LGBTQ figures in the community; and award-winning LGBTQ fiction.

LGBTQ

Links

  • AIDS Education Month

    June 2018 is the 24th year that Philadelphia FIGHT hosted AIDS Education Month (AEM), a series of events throughout Philadelphia to increase AIDS awareness and to bring people together to find strategies to combat the virus. Over 10,000 individuals are directly reached by AEM every June.
  • BiUnity of Philadelphia

    The Philadelphia-area support network for bisexual people, their families, and friends.
  • Equality Advocates Pennsylvania

    Equality Advocates' mission is to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals in Pennsylvania through direct legal services, education, and policy reform.
  • Equality Forum

    Equality Forum undertakes high-impact initiatives, produces documentary films, highlights LGBT history, and presents the largest annual national and international LGBT civil rights forum.
  • Giovanni's Room

    Giovanni's Room, one of the oldest and more highly regarded gay and lesbian bookstores in the country, hosts many author events and is a great meeting place.
  • Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Welcoming Schools Initiative

    HRC Foundation's Welcoming Schools Initiative is the nation's premier professional development program providing training and resources to elementary school educators to embrace all families, create LGBTQ and gender-inclusive schools, prevent bias-based bullying, and support transgender and non-binary students.
  • LGBTQ Video Game Archive

    A curated/researched collection of information of LGBTQ content in digital games from 1980s-present
  • Office of LGBT Affairs, City of Philadelphia

    The Office of LGBT Affairs works to foster equal working and living conditions for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people and to advocate for LGBTQ issues in all areas of City government.
  • PFLAG Philadelphia

    An organization for the parents, families, and friends of lesbians and gays.
  • Philadelphia AIDS Law Project

    The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit public-interest law firm providing free legal assistance to people living with HIV and AIDS and those affected by the epidemic.
  • Philadelphia Family Pride

    A nonprofit membership organization for LGBTQ+ led families in the greater Philadelphia region.
  • Philadelphia FIGHT

    Philadelphia FIGHT Community Health Centers provide culturally competent comprehensive primary care, and state of the art HIV primary care to low income members of the community, along with research, consumer education, advocacy, social services and outreach to people living with HIV and those who are at high risk, including family members, communities with high rates of HIV, formerly incarcerated persons, and young people at risk; and access to the most advanced clinical research in HIV treatment and prevention.
  • Philadelphia Gay News

    The online version of Philadelphia's only gay newspaper. The print version comes out every Friday and is free of charge.
  • Philly Gay Calendar

    Find out what's happening in Philadelphia's gay community along with a listing of local venues (bars, businesses, organizations, etc.)
  • Philly Pride Presents

    This volunteer organization brings us three "must see" events: Pride Day in June, Outfest in October, and Winter Pride in late winter.
  • Philly schools pass sweeping policy protecting transgender students

    "Without debate or comments from the public, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission adopted a policy on Thursday, June 16 that immediately allows transgender students to, among other things, be referred to by their pronoun of choice; use their bathroom of choice; and go out for the athletic team of their gender choice, either boys' or girls'."
  • Serving All Library Families in a Queer and Genderqueer Way

    There are excellent resources for librarians who want to improve their services to LGBTQ patrons, and the American Library Association’s (ALA) Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) collects, creates, and promotes professional resources, and, importantly, administers the Stonewall Book Awards and yearly booklists that share the most current materials.
  • The Attic Youth Center

    The Attic Youth Center creates opportunities for LGBTQ youth to develop into healthy, independent, civic-minded adults within a safe and supportive community, and promotes the acceptance of LGBTQ youth in society.
  • The Colours Organization, Inc.

    The COLOURS Organization offers a safe and comfortable meeting place for sexual minorities of color in the heart of Center City Philadelphia.
  • William Way Center

    From social groups, networking events, and counseling and support services to art exhibitions and cultural experiences, the Center consistently strives to provide new and innovative programs for the LGBT communities of Philadelphia.

Alice Dunbar-Nelson by explore

Free Library resources in support of the Rosenbach's Digital Exhibition: "I Am an American!" The Authorship and Activism of Alice Dunbar-Nelson

View the full list

LGBTQ - Romance by explore

Fun and fabulous recent romances that feature LGBTQ+ heroes and heroines! There's everything here to make you smile (and maybe cry) complete with a guaranteed happy ending. Just a note: a significant majority of romances with gay male protagonists are actually written by women for a straight female audience.

View the full list

LGBTQ - Fiction (74 items)

A selection of genre fiction featuring LGBTQ+ characters, including fantasy, historical, horror, paranormal, mystery, thrillers, science fiction, and more!

LGBTQ Middle Grade Books (34 items)

Books featuring LGBTQ characters and voices within children's fiction.

LGBTQ Picture Books (97 items)

Books for children of LGBTQ parents, or for little brothers and sisters of LGBTQ teens.

LGBTQ Teens - Resources for Parents and Families (26 items)

Resources for Parents and Families of LGBTQ Teens.

LGBTQ Teens - Nonfiction (28 items)

Information on bullying, safety, coming out, and other important topics relevant to LGBTQ teens.

LGBTQ - Film and Television (71 items)

LGBTQ Documentaries, Film, and Television

LGBTQ - Stonewall Book Awards (54 items)

The Stonewall Book Awards are given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience and include the Stonewall Book Awards – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award, the Stonewall Book Awards – Barbara Gittings Literature award and the Stonewall Book Awards – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award.

LGBTQ - Nonfiction (53 items)

A selection of informational nonfiction titles.

LGBTQ - Biographies and Autobiographies (22 items)

Biographies and Autobiographies of important and influential members of LGBTQ community.

Upcoming Events


Blog Posts

Dena's Favorite Books of 2022

Welcome to Year 11 of my annual list of favorite books and the third year of pandemic reading! I've started getting my reading mojo back and have been spending a bit more time reading than watching tv this year—268 books read…

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Empathy Versus Misinformation Wrap-Up

Thank you to everyone who came out to our Empathy Versus Misinformation: Transgender Youth series of panels. There has been a lot of interest in transgender youth in the media, and yet so few easy ways to access reliable answers to…

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Empathy Versus Misinformation: Transgender Youth Panel Series

Lately, transgender and gender non-conforming youth have been a hot topic across the nation. Many people feel confused, even panicked, and it can be hard to tell what claims being made are even true. We've assembled a panel of…

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The History of the Pride Flag

The Pride Flag as we know it today has gone through several iterations since its birth in 1978. It has a long and rich history that started in San Francisco with artist Gilbert Baker, who met a local activist who urged him to…

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Picture Book Highlights | Celebrate Pride Month

Celebrate Pride month with these new picture books, where you will find stories of love, family and joy, told with humor and tenderness. And there's more — be sure to check our booklist for additional titles available at your…

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Page After Page of Pride: 6 Middle Grade Titles for Pride Month

Discovery is an essential component of growth. Discovering aspects of the self and the world all around enables learning, understanding…growth. June is Pride Month and the Pride Movement has had its moments of discovery, too, as…

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Celebrate Pride Month with the Free Library!

Each June, the Free Library of Philadelphia commemorates LGBTQ+ Pride Month with programs and resources that amplify LGBTQ+ voices and stories, and 2022 is no different! Begin your summer with the Free Library…

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Dena's Favorite Books of 2021

It's that time of year again for my annual list of favorite books from the Philbrick Hall Fiction Department at Parkway Central Library ! Welcome to the tenth anniversary of this yearly list and the second year of pandemic reading!…

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The Rainbow Connection Fall Booklist

The Rainbow Connection is an LGBTQ+ group of library staff across all job classes that serve to support each other and the Queer communities in Philadelphia. Below are the books that we loved reading so far this fall and would love to…

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Transgender Awareness Week 2021

Transgender Awareness Week , held annually from November 15 – 19, helps to raise the visibility of transgender people and address issues members of the community face. The week is capped off on November 20 with Transgender Day of…

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More Than Stonewall: LGBTQ Historical Nonfiction

All October we'll be talking about LGBTQ History on the Free Library's blog! So far we've discussed LGBTQ Historical Young Adult Fiction and  LGBTQ History Told Through Comics and Graphic Novels . This week, we turn our…

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LGBTQ History Told Through Comics and Graphic Novels

A panel from Hazel Newlevant's exposé of queer uprisings found within Be Gay, Do Comics!. All October we'll be talking about LGBTQ History on the Free Library's blog! Last week we discussed LGBTQ Historical Young…

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We Were Always Here: LGBTQ Historical Young Adult Fiction

October is LGBTQ History Month ! A lot of straight and/or cisgender people like to treat gay people like we didn't exist until  Ellen Degeneres came out as a lesbian in 1997 ; and as if transgender people didn't exist until…

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Nourishing Literacy | The Rainbow Pantry... from Scratch!

Inspired by June’s Pride month and our LGBTQIA+ community members, we are celebrating the Rainbow Pantry again! Check out previous blog posts for more ideas on keeping and using colorful kitchen staples. This round, we are…

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Author Events Celebrates Pride Month

June is Pride Month and the Free Library’s Author Events series has an extensive archive of podcasts and videos to help you celebrate a diverse range of writers working in politics, fiction, health and fitness, literary fiction,…

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LGBTQ+ Middle Grade and YA ebooks and Audiobooks

Here are five ebook and audiobook titles about identity, acceptance, love, and loss to consider this month as we celebrate those journeys with our friends, families, and ourselves.   King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callander…

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Spotlight on Drag Queen Storytime

For Pride Month this year, we’re highlighting one of the most entertaining programs that we offer— Drag Queen Storytime ! I interviewed Ian Morrison (a.k.a. Brittany Lynn) and Amy Ignatow, a local author and parent.…

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Coming Out at Work

Many of us queer people never stop coming out. When we list our emergency contact, when we rent a car, when we take our kids to the playground—we remain surrounded by hetero- and cisnormative people, places, and things. While…

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Re-Creating Our World: Join Us for the One Book, One Philadelphia Finale

Eight weeks of programs diving into The Tradition , Jericho Brown’s collection of poetry and the One Book, One Philadelphia 2021 title , have gone by in the blink of an eye. We read, we wrote, we danced, we made music and art, and…

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Picture Book Highlights | Celebrate Pride Month!

Looking for books to celebrate Pride month? Look no further than these titles bursting with love and pride! These picture books have it all, with families finding homes, love, and adventures along the way, and are sure to find a place…

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