CURRENTLY ONLINE ONLY: We hope to pick back up with in-person Civic Conversation groups at the Library in the near future. In the meantime, please feel free to utilize our resources for your own in-person or virtual group discussions!
This event features the documentary The Day It Snowed In Miami, available on YouTube. Our conversation will center around the political and cultural difficulties faced in the United States by people who have historically nontraditional gender and/or sexual identities.
Potential Discussion Questions:
- Where are some intersections in your personal life with LGBTQ+ awareness?
- What are some questions you’ve had for your LGBTQ+ neighbors and have you found open institutions, web communities or individuals who’ve helped to answer your questions?
- How can being LGBTQ+ both complicate and enrich experiences in self-love, romantic love, familial love, and religious love?
- How do certain aspects of your identity impact other aspects of your identity? For instance, how does your racial identity impact your experience with your sexual orientation, or vice versa? How does gender influence what kind of privilege you have access to?
- If you have historically been in connection with the LGBTQ+ community, what are some of the advances you’ve seen around social justice and support for their personal rights? Where is America still struggling with this? What were/are some of the most effective methods for advancing social justice for historically nontraditional gender and sexual identities?
- How do you think living with multiple aspects of identity (intersectionality) affect LGBTQ+ youth and adults differently from their straight counterparts?
- What do you think are some of the stresses that come with having LGBTQ+ identity? What about stresses for those who are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) LGBTQ+?
LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA RESOURCES
Books:
- Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships by William E. Benneman
- LGBT Hampton Roads by Charles Howard Ford and Jeffrey L. Littlejohn
- Loving Women/Loving Men: Gay Liberation and the Church by Sally Miller Gearhart
- Sexual Revolution in Early America: Gender Relations in the American Experience by Richard Godbeer
- Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. A Documentary by Jonathan Katz
- Gay and Lesbian Richmond by Beth Marschak and Alex Lorch
- True Sex : the Lives of Trans Men at the Turn of the Twentieth Century by Emily Skidmore
- Lewis Ginter : Richmond’s Gilded Age Icon by Brian Burns
- Queer places : retracing the steps of LGBTQ people around the world. Volume 1.4
- Living Queer History: Remembrance and Belonging in a Southern City by Dr. Gregory Samantha Rosenthal
Archives:
- Our Own Community Press. Norfolk, Va: Unitarian-Universalist Gay Community, 1977. A widely-read gay and lesbian newspaper whose availability at some of the public libraries in Norfolk led to a censorship controversy
- Unclaimed Property personal papers, : J. M. Fleear, letters, 1921-1923.
- Virginia Dept. of the Treasury, Unclaimed Property: Papers of Carl J. Ferraro, Jr., 1919-1974.
- The Richmond Pride – publication from the Richmond Virginia Gay and Lesbian Alliance
Database:
- The HeinOnline Database HeinOnline has added a database called LGBTQ+ Rights to its Social Justice Suite. The database includes Supreme Court briefs, scholarly articles, an extensive bibliography for further research, and a timeline of LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S. from 1950-present.
Videos:
- Dr. Gregory Samantha Rosenthal on Living Queer History, from the Library’s Carole Weinstein Author Series
- Learn more about the indigenous perspective in this talk by historian and author Gregory D. Smithers as he discusses his new book, Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America.
EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Books:
- When We Rise: My Life in the Movement by Cleve Jones
- The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle by Lillian Faderman
- The Mayor of Castro Street by Randy Shilts
- Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality by Debbie Cenziper & Jim Obergefell
- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
- The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government by David K. Johnson
- Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution by Susan Stryker
- Real Queer America: LGBT Stories From Red States by Samantha Allen
- The Stonewall Reader by The New York Public Library
- A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski
- Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights by Ann Bausum
- We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation by Matthew Rieme and Leighton Brown
- Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBTQ Rights Uprising that Changed America by Martin Duberman
- Pride: The LGBTQ+ Rights Movement by Christopher Measom
- Pride: Fifty Years of Parades and Protest by New York Times Staff
- The Book of Pride: LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World by Mason Funk
- The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History edited by Marc Stein
- Information Activism: A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies by Cait McKinney coming soon from Duke University Press
Webpages:
- DHR’s Google map of LGBTQ historical sites in Virginia
- LGBTMap – Virginia’s Equality Profile
- The Marsha P Johnson Institute
- Digital Transgender Archive
- Queer Zine Archive Project
- ACT UP Oral History Archive
- LGBT materials at New York Public Library
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies Commons
- GLBT Historical Society
- ONE Archives at USC Libraries
- How to Teach LGBTQ History
- LGBTQ History Timelines Reference
- VCU Area LGBTQ History Walking Tour
- Stonewall National Monument
- 50 Years of LOVE: A History of LGBT Travel in Virginia
- Harvey Milk Foundation
- Cleve Jones
- UCLA Law Library resources
- GLAAD
- The Trevor Project
- Equality Virginia
- LGBTQ Objects within the Smithsonian: National Museum of African American History and Culture
Articles and Blog Posts:
- Supreme Court Ruling Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide New York Times, June 26, 2015
- The Navy made Harvey Milk resign for being gay. Now they’re going to name a ship after him Washington Post, December 15, 2019
- Larry Kramer, Author and Outspoken AIDS Activist, Dies at 84 New York Times, May 27, 2020
- How one man’s idea for the AIDS quilt made the country pay attention Washington Post, October 7, 2016
- Governor Northam Signs Virginia Values Act
- “Injustice At Every Turn: A Look at Black Respondents in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey”
- Virginia Continues to be a Leader on Advancing LGBTQ Equality in the South Human Rights Campaign, April 11, 2021
Podcasts:
- Making Gay History
- Teaching Tolerance: Queer America
- Oxford LGBT History Month Lectures
- Communicating the Value of Inclusive History by Reframing History
More Films, Videos and Documentaries:
- This Is What LGBT Life Is Like Around the World | Jenni Chang and Lisa Dazols TEDTalk
- State of Pride documentary
- Coming Out: 50 Year History on Kanopy
- Stonewall American Experience documentary
- Pay It No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P. Johnson documentary
- The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson Netflix Documentary
- Milk
- The Normal Heart
- PBS Prideland
- Inside HRC’s Fight to Protect LGBTQ Virginians 5-minute video