In 2000, former President Bill Clinton declared June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, a month meant to recognize the impact gay, lesbian and transgender individuals have had on the world. The month was chosen to remember a riot June 28, 1969 at Stonewall Inn in New York when police raided the club. Stonewall is now recognized as the start of the gay and lesbian pride movement in the United States.
The library has many up-to-date resources on gay and lesbian issues, including college life, legal and medical rights, and parenting, as well as collections of stories and gay and lesbian recreational fiction. Here are a few:
Ask & Tell: Gay and Lesbian Veterans Speak Out by Steve Estes
Brave Journeys: Profiles in Gay and Lesbian Courage by David Mixner and Dennis Bailey
Come Out and Win: Organizing Yourself, Your Community, and Your World by Sue Hyde
2008 Stonewall Book Award winners are Ellis Avery, author of The Teahouse Fire and Mark Doty, author of Dog Years: A Memoir. Set against the background during the opening of Japan to the West, The Teahouse Fire draws the reader into the world of Aurelia Bernard, an American orphan who finds refuge in the household of a Japanese tea master. Avery's complex historical novel weaves the transformation of Japanese culture and tradition with Aurelia's coming of age and emerging sexuality.
Dog Years: A Memoir is, on its surface, the story of the day-to-day life of Doty, his partner and their two dogs. In spare and unsentimental prose, Doty reflects on love and loss and takes the reader through his process of grieving for his human and canine companions.
For more information, see the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Roundtable, Office of Literacy and Outreach Services, American Library Association. Other good web resources are:
Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
National Youth Advocacy Coalition
Gay Pride Events
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