About
About
Image credit: "LGBTQIA+ Flag Raising" by CSUF Photos is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Join CT State Northwestern Library in celebrating LGBTQIA+ voice and stories by exploring this mini collection of books, audiobooks, films, and podcasts that center the lives, histories, diversity, impact, and resilience of LGBTQ+ communities. Learn more about the history and significance of the Stonewall uprising that gave birth to the modern gay rights movement, the history and evolution of the pride flag, and more by visiting the Google Arts & Culture Pride project.
In 2022, the American Library Association reported the highest number of attempted book bans since it began collecting data on the censorship of library books in 2001. The overwhelming majority of these books were written by or about LGBTQ+ folx and people of color. So, one way you can celebrate LGBTQIA+ lives is by reading, listening to, and holding space for these voices. Our collection includes books you can borrow from the Northwestern Library and from the libraries in the CSCU consortium (i.e., the 12 Community Colleges, 4 Connecticut State Universities, and the CT State Library).
You can also celebrate by learning about the range of identities and terms that are used within LGBTQ+ communities, understanding why pronouns matter, attending pride events in Connecticut, supporting LGBT-owned businesses and service providers in Connecticut, and volunteering or donating to national and local organizations fighting against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
This guide was adapted with permission from CT State Manchester's Pride Month Mini Collection.
Guide Curator:
Naomi Toftness -- Public Services Librarian
Northwestern Books, Audiobooks, & Movies
BIPOC LGBTQ+ Voices
Trans*, 2S, & Nonbinary Voices
History & Social Movements
LGBTQ+ Studies
Biographies & Memoirs
Poetry
Fiction
Audiobooks
Magazines
Films
CSCU Library Consortium Books
BIPOC LGBTQ+ Voices
Trans*, 2S, & Nonbinary Voices
History & Social Movements
LGBTQ+ Studies
Biographies & Memoirs
Poetry
Fiction
Young Adult
Graphic Novels
Podcasts
Getting Curious
Queer WOC
LGBTQ&A
Black Radical Queer
Making Gay History
Queer Serial
Nancy
History is Gay
Queer America
Bad Queers
TransLash
Queery
Queerology
Queer Movie Podcast
Queer as Fact
Bisexual Diaries
LGBTQ+ Organizations
CSCU Campus Resources
- MCC Pride (People Respecting Intimacy & Diversity Everywhere) Club The purpose of this organization is to support gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex and straight students on campus, organize and promote social activities and educate members and others on campus about GLBTQI issues. All personal issues discussed during meetings, including members’ names and sexual orientation, shall be strictly confidential. No member shall discuss personal information regarding any member, advisor or associate, with non-members or in the presence of non-members.
- CCSU LGBT Center The LGBTQ Center provides a welcoming, creatively inspiring and safe space for students, faculty and staff who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, queer, intersex or allies.
- ECSU Pride Center The Pride Center believes in the promotion of a more socially just world, fueled by radical self-love and community engagement. Our center actively works to create a campus culture that acknowledges and values diverse gender identities, gender expressions, and sexualities through educational outreach, community building, and providing access to resources. Here students can navigate the path of self-exploration, intersectionality, and agency in a supportive environment.
- SCSU Sexuality and Gender Equality (SAGE) Center The SAGE Center is committed to providing a positive academic, cultural, and social environment where the LGBTQ+ community at Southern can learn, grow, and thrive. We help to cultivate inclusion through social and educational programming, advocacy, and support. We collaborate with clubs on campus, especially the LGBT Prism Club, an undergraduate student run organization which works toward educational awareness, promotes acceptance and fairness in campus policies and student attitudes, and above all maintains a supportive network
- WCSU Pride Center We are doing our best to provide our full range of services in a slightly different way. In collaboration with our upcoming community partner, Apex Community Care of Danbury, these include, but are not limited to the following: Personal and academic advising and support by phone, email, online chat, video-conferencing, or another method that works well for you. Provision of case management and housing resources. Educational information and material. Social and cultural programs/opportunities for engagement through online discussions, live-streamed performances, and social media. (Virtual) consultation, training/education, and support for faculty and staff.
CT Organizations & Community Centers
- Equality Connecticut Equality Connecticut aspires to advance the rights, health, history, and culture of the LGBTQIA+ community in Connecticut. We come to this work as an unapologetically queer grass-roots organization rooted in social justice values. We carry out this work by advocating for progressive change, celebrating the LGBTQIA community in the state, and supporting the state’s LGBTQIA organizational community.
- GLSEN - CT Chapter GLSEN Connecticut is a chapter of GLSEN, a national organization fighting for every student’s right to a safe, supportive education. GLSEN Connecticut is a grassroots initiative, working locally in our community to ensure safe schools for all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
- New Haven Pride Center The New Haven Pride Center is a community focused organization co-creating a space to empower Greater New Haven LGBTQIA+ individuals to not just survive, but thrive and uplift each other and our voices. We do this by providing essential case management, support, educational and cultural programming that stands at the intersection of advocacy, arts, and community. We champion collective impact through collaboration with other statewide and regional organizations.
- PFLAG - CT Chapters Founded in 1973, PFLAG is the first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and their families.
- Triangle Community Center Triangle Community Center (TCC) is Fairfield County’s leading provider of programming and resources to nurture growth and connection within the LGBTQ community.
- Queer University Empowerment Support Team (QUEST) The Queer Unity Empowerment Support Team (QUEST), established in 2015, is a community-based collaborative formed to create healthy, inclusive and safe spaces for members of the LGBT+ community, and their allies, in the Greater Waterbury area, fostering meaningful relationships, learning and joy.
- Q+ Q Plus started as a grassroots, community based, youth led, volunteer run organization with the goal of filling gaps we saw in queer youth programming across Connecticut. We started running events with a queer youth open mic in May 2019. In March of 2022, we officially received our 501(c)3 status from the IRS. We've continued to expand our programming to include weekly youth groups in towns across the state, along with hosting Open Mics, Summer Camps, and providing school support and GSA services.
National Organizations
- Asexual Visibility & Education Network (AVEN) Welcome to the Asexual Visibility and Education Network. AVEN hosts the world's largest online asexual community as well as a large archive of resources on asexuality. AVEN strives to create open, honest discussion about asexuality among sexual and asexual people alike.
- Bisexual Resource Center Since its inception, the Bisexual Resource Center has been creating resources, providing support, and helping to create a stronger sense of community for bi/pan/fluid people across the U.S. and beyond.
- Black Trans Advocacy Coalition Established in 2011, The National Black Trans Advocacy Coalition is the only social justice organization led by black trans people to collectively address the inequities faced in the black transgender human experience. Through our national advocacy center and affiliate state chapters we work daily, advocating to end poverty, discrimination in all forms and its human inequities faced in health, employment, housing and education that are rooted in systemic racism, to improve the lived experience of transgender people.
- Campus Pride Campus Pride represents the leading national nonprofit organization for student leaders and campus groups working to create a safer college environment for LGBTQ students. The organization is a volunteer-driven network “for” and “by” student leaders. The primary objective of Campus Pride is to develop necessary resources, programs and services to support LGBTQ and ally students on college campuses across the United States.
- Collage Founded in 1990 under the name “Just For Us,” COLAGE (originally Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) began with a group of six young people with lesbian and gay parents. Today, COLAGE stands as the only national organization dedicated to the empowerment of youth in LGBTQ+ families, and celebrates thirty years of this work.
- GLAAD As a dynamic media force, GLAAD ensures fair, accurate, and inclusive representation that rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and envisions a world with 100% LGBTQ acceptance.
- GLSEN GLSEn is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and to prompt LGBT cultural inclusion and awareness in K-12 schools.
- Human Rights Campaign (HRC) By inspiring and engaging individuals and communities, the Human Rights Campaign strives to end discrimination against LGBTQ+ people and realize a world that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all. HRC envisions a world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people plus community members who use different language to describe identity are ensured equality and embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.
- Immigration Equity For over 25 years, we have worked to secure safe haven, freedom, and equality for the LGBTQ and HIV-positive communities. Through direct legal services, policy advocacy, and impact litigation, we support immigrants who face discrimination based on who they are and whom they love.
- InterACT interACT uses innovative legal and other strategies, to advocate for the human rights of children born with intersex traits.
- Lambda Legal Lambda Legal, is an American civil rights organization that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities as well as people living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs) through impact litigation, societal education, and public policy work.
- National Black Justice Coalition Mission_ NBJC’s mission is to end racism, homophobia, and LGBTQ/SGL bias and stigma.
- National Center for Transgender Equality The National Center for Transgender Equality advocates to change policies and society to increase understanding and acceptance of transgender people. In the nation’s capital and throughout the country, NCTE works to replace disrespect, discrimination, and violence with empathy, opportunity, and justice.
- PFLAG PFLAG is the nation's largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them.
- Trans Latin@ Coalition The TransLatin@ Coalition (TLC) was founded in 2009 by a group of Transgender and Gender nonconforming and Intersex (TGI) immigrant women in Los Angeles, California, as a grassroots response to address the specific needs of TGI Latin@ immigrants who live in the United States.
- Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC) To uplift the narratives, lived experiences and leadership of trans and gender non-conforming people of color, our families and comrades as we build towards collective liberation for all oppressed people.
- The Trevor Project The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998. Focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, they offer a toll-free telephone number where confidential assistance is provided by trained counselors. The stated goals of the project are to provide crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for youth (defined by the organization as people under 25), as well as to offer guidance and resources to parents and educators in order to foster safe, accepting, and inclusive environments for all youth, at home, schools and colleges
- Two-Spirit (Indian Health Service) LGBTQ2 Well-Being Education Series on two-spirit people
