Every June the Free Library celebrates LGBTQIA+ Pride Month. The Free Library aims to be a place where everyone belongs. We value the LGBTQIA+ community, including transgender people and transgender youth, as one of many valued communities we serve in Philadelphia. We uphold our commitment to providing services, programming, and materials to the LGBTQIA+ community, including transgender youth and adults — and to providing a safe space for transgender patrons and staff as we aim to provide for all patrons and staff.

This June, the Free Library of Philadelphia commemorates LGBTQ+ Pride Month with events, programs, and resources that amplify LGBTQ+ voices and stories!

Begin your summer with the Free Library of Pride as we host LGBTQ+ crafting clubs, Quizzo, music events, reading circles, drag storytimes, and plenty of opportunities to interact with and learn about LGBTQ+ history. View the full Pride Month calendar online, and find a few examples of the great programs coming to a library near you below:

• LGBTQ+ Wellness Fair | Tuesday, May 30 at 2:00 p.m. → Nicetown-Tioga Library

• SAGA (Sexuality and Gender Acceptance): Vogue 101 with Jahad Martin | Thursday, June 1, at 3:00 p.m. → Field Teen Center at Parkway Central Library

• Pride Month Craft Club: Button Making | Tuesday, June 6, at 4:00 p.m. → Cecil B. Moore Library

• Queer Quizzo with Simone Allender | Wednesday, June 7, at 6:00 p.m. → Parkway Central Library

• Youth Queer Lit Fest | Saturday, June 24, at 1:00 p.m. → Philadelphia City Institute

• Drag Camp with Brittany Lynn | Wednesday, June 28, at 3:30 p.m. → Fishtown Community Library

• Debunking the Myths of Stonewall: an Evening with Mark Segal | Thursday, June 29, at 7:00 p.m. → Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

Interested in curating your reading list for Pride Month? Browse these Free Library book and materials lists, which include picture book recommendations, fiction and nonfiction, DVDs, nominees for the Stonewall and GLAAD Media awards, and much more! We also have book lists created by the Rainbow Connection, an LGBTQ+ group of library staff across all job classes that serve to support each other and Philadelphia's queer communities.

Would you like to learn more about Barbara Gittings and the Gittings Collection? Pride Month is the perfect time! Located at the Independence Library on S. 7th Street, the Gittings Collection is the largest LGBTQ+ public library collection east of San Francisco. Barbara passed away in 2007, but the collection continues as a tribute to her memory and her achievements. It currently serves our local Philadelphia community, but it also fills interlibrary loan requests from patrons throughout Pennsylvania and the United States.

Be sure to check out our recently updated LGBTQ+ Explore page, which includes helpful links to information and resources about health, activism, bullying, LGBTQ+ youth, legal support, and the important work of local LGBTQ+ organizations; podcasts from our Author Events series; and blog posts on a range of related topics, such as coming out at work and the history of drag storytimes and the controversy that often surrounds them.

Finally, support the Free Library Foundation and show off your Pride with the Free Library's original Pride design shirts:

 

Purchase Free Library LGBTQ+ Pride Shirt - White

 

Purchase Free Library LGBTQ+ Pride Shirt - Black

Pride, at its core, is about celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. It is an affirmation of living your authentic self. Celebrating Pride is not only for LGBTQ+ people; everyone is encouraged to show solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community during Pride month and year-round.

Any comments or concerns regarding our programming or material selections may be addressed using the Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials form.

Check out the Free Library's Pride event calendar. We're excited to celebrate Pride Month with you!