June is nationally recognized as PRIDE Month for members of the LGBTQ+ community, and the J. Ardis Bell Library is proudly celebrating the diversity of our Northeast Campus with a book display focused on several non-fiction issues (past and present) that affect the Community, as well as an assortment of fictional titles by gay authors, or featuring gay characters. Accompanying the book display is an exhibit of related memorabilia and buttons to represent some of the different orientations on the LGBTQ+ spectrum.
This exhibit is co-sponsored by the NE Campus LGBTQ+ Club (formerly known as the “Spectrum Club”), and can be viewed on the Library’s main floor, throughout the month of June. According to a 2016 Diversity/Inclusion survey, more than 8 percent of our student population at TCC publicly identify as being on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and those numbers continue to rise every year.
So, what are the origins of the PRIDE movement?
In June of 1969, NYPD officers raided the Stonewall Inn – a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village. The violence of that raid sparked a week-long series of protests and demonstrations, collectively known as the “Stonewall Riots.” These events helped bring the gay & lesbian community’s movement for equal treatment into the national spotlight. One year later, in June of 1970, the first Gay Pride parade was held, as a reminder of what had happened. Each year since, the last Saturday in June has been known as ‘Pride Day’ for members of the LGBT community nation-wide. Parades, parties, concerts, and other public events are put on in cities across America to express the pride and hope that the community shares, as they come together and continue to struggle for fair and equal treatment. Click HERE for a listing of books and DVDs on the Stonewall Riots, all of which are available through your TCC Library.
In June of 2000, then-President Bill Clinton was the first to proclaim that the entire month of June would be known as “Gay & Lesbian Pride Month,” extending the celebration from the single day/weekend it had traditionally held. President Barack Obama expanded the name to include those who identify as bi-sexual and transgender, since he issued the first proclamation to celebrate “LGBT Pride Month” in June of 2009. The name stuck, and follow-up proclamations were issued each year, through 2016.
For more information and additional readings on the LGBT community and their experiences in higher education, check out the following links:
- To see some of the hundreds of books on LGBT issues in the TCC Library system – Click Here
- Campus Pride – https://www.campuspride.org/
- Trans* Student Educational Resources – http://www.transstudent.org/
- Local, State & National LGBT Groups – http://www.lgbtcenters.org
In History, NE Library, Non-Fiction, Observances, Special Events, Spotlight on Exhibits