Books for LGBTQIA Pride Month
June is LGBTQIA Pride Month! We’ve gathered together some great fiction, non-fiction, memoir and biography.
June 1, 2021
Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.
Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.
To learn more about the history of Pride Month, check out the Library of Congress’s About, Resources, and Audio & Video pages.
For events this year in Connecticut, visit LGBT Pride Month.
Fiction
Find Me
André Aciman
The author of the worldwide best-seller Call Me by Your Name revisits that novel’s complex and beguiling characters decades after their first meeting.
Days Without End
Sebastian Barry
Entering the U.S. army after fleeing the Great Famine in Ireland, 17-year-old Thomas McNulty and his brother-in-arms, John Cole, experience the harrowing realities of the Indian wars and the American Civil War between the Wyoming plains and Tennessee.
Plain Bad Heroines
Emily M. Danforth
A highly anticipated adult debut from the award-winning author of The Miseducation of Cameron Post follows the release of a best-selling book about an early 20th-century New England boarding school where gender-diverse students died under suspicious circumstances.
The Bright Lands
John Fram
Reluctantly returning to his small hometown when his star football player brother goes missing, a disgraced older sibling reconnects with the local sheriff, who begins to suspect former classmates in her search for her own missing brother.
Upright Women Wanted
Sarah Gailey
A near-future exploration of queer identity, written in the style of a pulp western, finds a woman stowing away to escape her arranged marriage to a man who was once engaged to the late best friend she secretly loved.
Less
Andrew Sean Greer
Receiving an invitation to his ex-boyfriend’s wedding, Arthur, a failed novelist on the eve of his fiftieth birthday, embarks on an international journey that finds him falling in love, risking his life, reinventing himself, and making connections with the past.
Boyfriend Material
Alexis Hall
Fabricating a respectable relationship with a man with whom he shares nothing in common when his rock-star father’s comeback leads to unwanted attention, Luc stages publicity-friendly dates that become complicated by all-too-real feelings.
Speak No Evil
Uzodinma Iweala
An Ivy League-bound star athlete from a prestigious private school in Washington, D.C., and his best friend, the daughter of prominent government insiders, struggle with brutal responses to the young man’s sexual orientation before finding themselves speeding toward a violent and senseless future.
The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune
Given a curious classified assignment to evaluate the potential risks posed by six supernatural orphans, a case worker at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth bonds with an enigmatic caregiver who hides dangerous secrets.
Red, White & Royal Blue
Casey McQuiston
After an international incident affects U.S. and British relations, the president’s son Alex and Prince Henry must pretend to be best friends, but as they spend time together, the two begin a secret romance that could derail a presidential campaign.
Love After Love
Ingrid Persaud
An award-winning Trinidadian author offers a novel that looks at a complicated marriage, an unconventional family and the shocking secrets that unite them.
The Knockout Queen
Rufi Thorpe
In a novel of love, violence and friendship in the California suburbs, privileged teen Bunny Lampert befriends in-the-closet rebel Michael, who lives on the other side of the tracks.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
A letter from a son to a mother who cannot read reveals the impact of the Vietnam War on their family history and provides a view into parts of the son’s life that his mother has never known.
Something to Talk About
Meryl Wilsner
When her career is threatened by a red-carpet photo that appears to have romantic undertones, a Hollywood showrunner and her female assistant are targeted by paparazzi before realizing their actual feelings for each other.
Written in the Stars
Alexandria Bellefleur
A lighthearted holiday romance inspired by Pride and Prejudice depicts the experiences of a free-spirited social media astrologer who agrees to a fake relationship with a no-nonsense actuary to appease their respective families.
The Prophets
Robert Jones, Jr
A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence.
Detransition, Baby
Torrey Peters
A trans woman, her detransitioned ex, and his cisgender lover build an unconventional family together in the wake of heartbreak and an unplanned pregnancy.
Honey Girl
Morgan Rogers
After completing her Ph.D. in astronomy, a young, straightlaced, Type A personality black woman goes on a girls’ weekend to Vegas to celebrate and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t even know.
Memorial
Bryan Washington
Japanese-American chef Mike and Black daycare teacher Benson begin reevaluating their stale relationship after Mike departs for Japan to visit his dying father and Benson is suddenly stuck with his visiting mother-in-law, who becomes an unconventional roommate.
Biography and Memoir
Mama’s Boy
A Story From Our Americas
Dustin Lance Black
The screenwriter and political activist presents a candid, resonant memoir of his experiences as a young gay Mormon in Texas whose polio-disabled mother taught him about surviving against all odds.
Boy Erased
Garrard Conley
A survivor of a church-supported sexual orientation conversion therapy facility that claimed to “cure” homosexuality describes its institutionalized, intense Bible study program and the daily threats of his abandonment by family, friends, and God.
Ordinary Girls
Jaquira Díaz
A biographical debut by a Pushcart Prize-winning writer traces her upbringing in the housing projects of Puerto Rico, her mother’s battle with schizophrenia, her personal struggles with sexual assault and her efforts to pursue a literary career.
Untamed
Glennon Doyle
An activist, speaker and philanthropist offers a memoir wrapped in a wake-up call that reveals how women can reclaim their true, untamed selves by breaking free of the restrictive expectations and cultural conditioning that leaves them feeling dissatisfied and lost.
Naturally Tan
Tan France
The Queer Eye star and designer recounts his complicated early life as a closeted gay youth from a traditional South Asian family in Yorkshire, sharing insights into his coming of age, emergence as an artist and happy marriage
Me
Elton John
An official autobiography by the influential music artist, published to coincide with the release of Rocketman, includes coverage of John’s complicated upbringing in a London suburb, his celebrity collaborations, his struggles with addiction and the establishment of his AIDS Foundation.
How We Fight for Our Lives
Saeed Jones
Written from the crossroads of sex, race, and power in America, How We Fight for Our Lives is a stunning coming-of-age memoir and a haunting reflection of the nation as a whole.
In the Dream House
Carmen Maria Machado
The award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties shares the story of her relationship with an abusive partner and how it was shaped by her religious upbringing, her sexual orientation and inaccurate cultural beliefs about psychological trauma.
Sissy
A Coming-of-Gender Story
Jacob Tobia
A gender-diverse cultural influencer on both the Forbes “30 Under 30” and “OUT 100” lists examines how religious, political and educational experiences revealed the need for greater cultural inclusion and anti-discrimination legislation that acknowledges the gender spectrum.
Over the Top
A Raw Journey to Self-Love
Jonathan Van Ness
The style-expert star of Queer Eye shares deeply personal stories from his Midwestern childhood, revealing how he channeled his passions and setbacks into the positive energy that shaped his signature brand.
Broken Horses
Brandi Carlile
Evocative and piercingly honest, Broken Horses is at once an examination of faith through the eyes of a person rejected by the church’s basic tenets and a meditation on the moments and lyrics that have shaped the life of a creative mind, a brilliant artist, and a genuine empath on a mission to give back.
One Life
Megan Rapinoe
The Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women’s World Cup champion describes her childhood in a conservative California town, her athletic achievements, and her public advocacy of civil rights and urgently needed social change.
Fairest
Meredith Talusan
The award-winning journalist and activist presents a coming-of-age memoir that describes her experiences as a Filipino boy with albinism, a white immigrant Harvard student, a transgender woman and an artist whose work reflects illusions in race, disability and gender.
Non-Fiction
The Book of Pride
LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World
Mason Funk
Paying tribute to more than 50 extraordinary and influential leaders who sparked the worldwide LGBTQ-rights movement, this important volume tells stories of dedication and triumph through never-before-published original interviews.
Becoming Nicole
The Transformation of an American Family
Amy Ellis Nutt
Presents the story of a politically conservative New England family whose son identified as a girl, Nicole, and how they overcame their confusion and fear to champion transgender rights and allow Nicole to be herself.
Transgender Children and Youth
Cultivating Pride and Joy With Families in Transition
Elijah C. Nealy
A comprehensive guide to the medical, emotional, and social issues of trans kids.
Journey to Same-Sex Parenthood
Firsthand Advice, Tips, and Stories From Lesbian and Gay Couples
Eric Rosswood
Same-sex couples are faced with many different options when choosing to have children today. In Journey to Same-Sex Parenthood, author, activist and father Eric Rosswood guides and helps prospective LGBT parents to explore these five popular options: Adoption, Foster Care, Assisted Reproduction, Surrogacy and Co-Parenting.
From the Closet to the Courtroom
Five LGBT Rights Lawsuits That Have Changed Our Nation
Carlos A. Ball
A timely chronicle of how key legal battles reflect and raise the visibility of sexual minorities and compel society to take seriously their claims to equal citizenship. By revealing the people and stories behind some of the most far-reaching court cases in the history of the LGBT rights struggle, it brings alive the impact of litigation.
Binge
Tyler Oakley
The prominent LGBTQ YouTube social rights advocate presents a collection of essays that reveal such mishaps as a Cheesecake Factory meltdown, a fashion stand-off with the White House Secret Service, and an embarrassing car crash.