CIVIC CONVERSATIONS: A Conversation about LGBTQ+ Identities in America

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+?

Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. (1973). Kady Vandeurs and Marsha P. Johnson at gay rights rally at City Hall Retrieved from http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-57fd-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

LIBRARY OF VIRGINIA RESOURCES
Books:

Archives:

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:


EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Books:

Webpages:

Articles and Blog Posts:

Podcasts:

More Films, Videos and Documentaries: