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LGBTQ+ Pride

people holding a rainbow flagCelebrating LBGTQ+ Pride!

Check out the resources and materials we’ve put together to inform and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles County and beyond. This page will be updated regularly, so feel free to check back for more new and exciting videos, booklists, activities, learning pathways, and more. There’s also info on accessing relevant archives on LGBTQ+ history that researchers will find valuable

Rainbow Parenting and Family ProgramsRainbow Parenting & Family Programs

LA County Library’s Rainbow Parenting and Family Programs strive to build community and create a safe space for LGBTQ+ families in the library. Meet other local families, share experiences, inspire and encourage each other! Programs are specially designed for families of younger kids, ages birth – 5 years, and their families.

Learn more about these programs and where they are available.

Featured LGBTQ+ Trailblazers

Learn the stories of advocates that helped advance LGBTQ+ rights in the United States.  Click the plus sign (+) for the full bios and links to items available to borrow with your LA County Library card.

Sylvia Rivera - Roseleechs via Wikimedia Commons

Sylvia Rivera

Sylvia Rivera (1951-2002) was a transgender activist and a prominent figure in the LGBTQ+ rights movement in the United States. She is best known for her activism during and after the Stonewall riots, a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBTQ+ community in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969. The Stonewall riots are often considered a pivotal moment in the history of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.

Sylvia Rivera was born Ray Rivera to a Venezuelan mother and a Puerto Rican father in the Bronx, New York. She faced significant discrimination and hardship throughout her life. Orphaned as a young child and raised by an abusive grandmother, she nevertheless overcame these obstacles to become an important trans activist. She was a co-founder, along with Marsha P. Johnson, of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). STAR was an organization dedicated to providing support and shelter to transgender and homeless people in New York City.

In 2002, Sylvia passed away of complications from liver cancer, but she remained active until the end, and her legacy lives on in the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and social justice. Her contributions to the movement have been widely recognized, and she remains an inspiration to activists working to advance the rights and well-being of transgender and queer individuals.  She was a tireless advocate for the most marginalized within the LGBTQ+ community, particularly transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals of color.

Children’s Books
Sylvia Rivera by Kaitlyn Duling
Sylvia Rivera by Clauda Romo Edelman
Sylvia and Marsha start a revolution! : the story of the trans women of color who made LGBTQ+ history by Joy Michael Ellison

Online Resources
Hell Hath No Fury like a Drag Queen Scorned: Sylvia Rivera’s Activism, Resistance, and Resilience” (outhistory.org)
The Unsung Heroines of Stonewall” (National Parks Conservation Association)
INTERVIEW: Sylvia Riviera by Leslie Feinberg (queer bible)

Ocean Vuong - source - Wikimedia Commons

Ocean Vuong

The most beautiful part of your body,
is where it’s headed. & remember,
loneliness is still time spent
with the world.
- Ocean Vuong from “Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong”

Ocean Vuong is a literary sensation whose works have not only redefined contemporary poetry but have also brought to the forefront the complexities of identity, specifically as a member of the Asian American and LGBTQ+ communities. Born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1988, and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, Vuong’s experiences as a queer Vietnamese-American have profoundly influenced his writing and advocacy, making him a prominent figure at the intersection of these two communities.

Vuong’s poetry and prose delve into the intricacies of identity, migration, and belonging. His unique perspective, having emigrated from Vietnam as a child, provides a rich tapestry for his literary exploration. In his debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Vuong examines the immigrant experience and the challenges faced by Asian Americans trying to find their place in a predominantly white society. Through his words, he captures the nuances of cultural assimilation and the enduring ties to one’s homeland.

Simultaneously, Ocean Vuong’s identity as gay man has added another layer of depth to his literary and advocacy work. He has been an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and visibility. In his poetry, he courageously explores themes of love, desire, and the struggles faced by queer individuals in a heteronormative world. His openness about his own experiences as a gay Vietnamese American has resonated with many in the LGBTQ+ community, providing a voice for those who often go unheard.

Vuong’s writings have been instrumental in challenging stereotypes and breaking down barriers that exist within and between communities. His lyrical prose and poignant poems have created a space for dialogue about the intersections of identity. His storytelling encourages empathy and understanding, bridging the gaps that sometimes separate the Asian American and LGBTQ+ communities.

Adult Books:
Night Sky With Exit Wounds By Ocean Vuong
Time is a Mother By Ocean Vuong
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous By Ocean Vuong

Online Resources:
Ocean Vuong’s Official Website
Ocean Vuong” (Poetry Foundation)
Ocean Vuong Is Still Learning” (The New Yorker)
Ocean Vuong: A Life Worthy of Our Breath” (On Being with Krista Tippett) (audio)
Ocean Vuong: ‘When I write, I feel larger than the limits of my body’” (Louisiana Channel) (video)

Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey

Alvin Ailey (1931 – 1989) was a pioneer in the world of dance as a dancer, choreographer, and visionary. His programs promoted arts in education, especially in underserved communities. Ailey believed art was a tool to instigate change and through dance people could expand their awareness of the diversity of Black American life.

Mr. Ailey was born January 5, 1931, in Rogers, Texas. He was the only child of his parents and moved to Los Angeles in 1941. While in high school he was able to explore the arts and was exposed to a variety of African American performers at the Lincoln and Orpheum Theaters, which he frequently attended. Also, while in high school he discovered his homosexuality. He turned to dance to combat the racism and segregation that surrounded him. In 1949, Ailey began exploring modern dance at the dance studio of Lester Horton. While taking dance classes, Alvin Ailey studied romance languages and writing at UCLA, Los Angeles City College, and San Francisco State. In 1953, after Lester Horton’s sudden death, Alvin Ailey took over as artistic director and choreographer of Horton’s dance company. Under his tutelage, the company had many commercial engagements and successes.

In 1958, Ailey founded his own dance company, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. His choreography was different from other modern dance choreographers at this time – by keeping a focus on narrative, Ailey was able to draw audiences from New York and the Avant Garde. His dance company went on to work with the US State Department to tour Southeast Asia and Australia as part of President Kennedy’s Special International Program for Cultural Presentations in 1962. The company also worked with Duke Ellington. Ailey went on to be a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and choreograph more modern pieces that depicted and shared the Black experience.

The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater was the first American modern dance company to perform in the Soviet Union. Over the course of his career, Alvin Ailey developed 79 ballets for the public, created the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. He was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 1988, inducted into the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame in 1992, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, and received VH1 Trailblazer Honors in 2017 posthumously. Alvin Ailey died from AIDs related illness December 1, 1989.

Adult Books
Revelations : the autobiography of Alvin Ailey by Alvin Ailey

Children’s Books

My story, my dance: Robert Battle’s journey to Alvin Ailey by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Alvin Ailey by Kaitlyn Duling
Alvin Ailey : celebrating African-American culture in dance by Bárbara Cruz
Alvin Ailey Dance Theater by Jack Mitchell

Documentaries
Ailey direct by Jamila Wignot (on Kanopy)
Alvin Ailey: An Evening With The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (on Kanopy)

Paula Allen

Paula Gunn Allen

Poet, writer, activist, and English professor Paula Gunn Allen (1939 - 2008) identified as a lesbian after two marriages and divorces. Later in life she described herself as being bisexual. Known for popularizing American Indian literature during a time when academia claimed there was none, Allen wrote groundbreaking articles and books on the American Indian understandings of the lesbian, gay, and two-spirit communities.

She wrote that traditional Native cultures’ respect for women, the complementary gender systems, family structures, and fluid sexualities allowed Native peoples to be more “spirit-centered” and accepting of those who bridged the worlds of men and women.

Born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1939 to a Lebanese father and a Laguna Pueblo, Lakota Sioux, and Scottish descent mother, Allen grew up near the Laguna Pueblo and Acoma Pueblo reservations. Allen identified closely with her Laguna Pueblo heritage and is related to famous Laguna Pueblo writers Carol Lee Sanchez and Leslie Marmon Silko. Graduating from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature and a Masters of Fine Arts degree in creative writing, she earned her doctorate in American Studies from the University of New Mexico.

Allen had many accomplishments which included being awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Writing and the American Book Award. She was also awarded the Hubbell Medal and taught at prestigious colleges such as UC Berkeley and UCLA. She is best known for her books Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writings by Native Women, Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs, and her The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions.

Allen’s advocacy in American Indian oral traditions, literature, and gender studies challenged western views that dominated during her time. Her work has become the foundation for many Native scholars. It has encouraged them to more accurately portray cultural and relevant views and highlighted the importance of spirituality in these fields.

Adult Books
Spider Woman’s Granddaughters: Traditional Tales and Contemporary Writings by Native Women by Paula Gunn Allen
Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs by Paula Gunn Allen
The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions by Paula Gunn Allen
Other works by Paula Gunn Allen

Online Resources
Paula Gunn Allen on her book Pocahontas (Booktv / C-SPAN)

LGBTQ+ Collection at the West Hollywood Library

Our West Hollywood Library holds our LGBTQ+ Collection, a comprehensive collection of LGBTQ+ fiction and non-fiction literature and history in a variety of formats: books, journals, periodicals, VHS, and DVD. The collection reflects the rich history, culture, and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community both locally and globally. It includes popular and academic materials, out-of-print and hard-to-find titles, LGBTQ+ classics, current bestsellers, and new Lambda Literary Award winners and nominees.

Activities & Resources

Host a film festival in your community, college, school, or just in the comfort of your own home with friends and family. We’ve gathered a list of films and included a viewers guide to help you get started.

You can also check out our Learning Pathways for opportunities to dig deeper into topics impacting the LGBTQ+ community, and view our at-home activity ideas for some fun ways to celebrate Pride Month.

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