Library Services Blog

Pride Month 2024

Pride Month is a month long celebration that recognises the LGBTQ+ community, their history and achievements, to acknowledge the challenges and stand in solidarity with their fight for equality, acceptance, and human rights.

Pride Month has its roots in the Stonewall Uprising, which occurred in New York City in June 1969. The uprising was a turning point in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, sparked by a series of protests against police harassment and discrimination. The following year, the first Pride marches were organised to commemorate the anniversary of the uprising.

In the United Kingdom, the first official Pride march took place in London in 1972. Since then, Pride Month has grown in significance, with cities across the UK hosting vibrant parades, events, and educational programs throughout June. It serves as a platform for LGBTQ+ individuals and allies to celebrate diversity, raise awareness about LGBTQ+ rights, and foster a sense of community and acceptance.

Developed in partnership with Hallam LGBTQ+ Network, we’ve gathered together an extensive but not exhaustive range of LGBTQ+ books, journal articles, DVDs, picture books and comics within the Library to help you explore narratives, social history, academic texts, fiction and nonfiction, aimed at all age ranges.

Explore the LGBTQ+ Network Reading List

If you want to delve back in time with vintage publications ranging from 1954 - 2015… take a look at the ProQuest LGBTQ+ Magazine Archive! The collection is an archival run of twenty six of the most influential, longest-running magazine publications covering LGBT interests.

The collection includes the pre-eminent US and UK titles – The Advocate and Gay Times, respectively and chronicles more than six decades of the history and culture of the LGBT community.

Prejudice and Pride: LGBT Activist Stories from Manchester and Beyond by LGBT North West (Author), Cliodhna Devlin (Editor)

Explores aspects of LGBT activist history. It covers educational activism, youth work activism and the history of the LGBT Centre in Manchester

Find it on Library Online

Sea Foam and Silence by Dove Cooper

Fantastical worldbuilding meets verse novels in this queer-platonic retelling of The Little Mermaid, the first story in a series of queer fairy tale retellings.

Find it on Library Online

Queer Power: Icons, Activists and Game Changers from Across the Rainbow by Dom & Ink

A celebration of modern trailblazers, activists and icons who have shaped, or are shaping our world. Covering topics including queer rights, sexuality, gender, mental health and activism, this book will provide life lessons from a range of queer icons, from hugely well-known public figures to others you may not immediately recognise but will wish you had heard of earlier.

Find it on Library Online

Our LGBTQI+ discover collection

Covering a wide range of subjects, including history, queer and gender studies, women's studies, literature, law, health, and social sciences.

Find it on Library Online

The BFI Flare LGBTQIA+ collection

Here are the pioneers, the iconoclasts, the brave - from landmark LGBTQIA+ portraits to the next generation of queer classics from the BFI Flare festival. This collection offers a chance to look back, to revisit and discover - not just the icons of queer cinema but the lesser-known treasures.

Explore the BFI Flare collection

Students can access of all of the BFI player's content for FREE! Signing up is easy, go to https://player.bfi.org.uk/students and create an account. Remember it's absolutely FREE to Sheffield Hallam students!