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, Alok Vaid-Menon
Artist and activist Alok Vaid-Menon challenges the world to see gender not in black and white, but in full color. 

, Meg-John barker and Jules Scheele 
From identity politics and gender roles to privilege and exclusion, Queer explores how we came to view sex, gender and sexuality in the ways that we do; how these ideas get tangled up with our culture and our understanding of biology, psychology and sexology; and how these views have been disputed and challenged, all through engaging comic panels.

, edited by New York Public Library
The Stonewall riots were a pivotal moment in the history of queer politics, when a police raid on the New York dive bar on June 28, 1969, turned into three nights of defiance from LGBTQ people frustrated by police brutality and societal oppression. Until relatively recently, historical accounts have erased the crucial roles played by lesbians and trans women of colour in that fight. These first-hand accounts, diaries and media drawn from the NY Public Library archives act as an important reset, telling the story of queer liberation’s biggest night, from its forgotten figures.

, Leighton Brown and Matthew Reimer
An essential and empowering introduction to the history of the fight for queer liberation. Featuring more than 300 images from more than seventy photographers and twenty archives, it enables us to truly see queer history unlike anything before. By challenging many of the assumptions that dominate mainstream LGBTQ+ history, We Are Everywhere shows readers how they can–and must–honor the queer past in order to shape our liberated future.

, Saeed Jones
Queer coming-of-age memoirs shine light on the diversity of experience in the LGBTQ community. That we are not simply one thing is a cornerstone of Saeed Jones’ timely memoir about growing up gay and black and Southern, in Texas in the late 1990s. “Being a black gay boy can get you killed,” he writes, in this emotionally raw and intimate account of discovery and identity which happens at the intersection of sex, race and power.

, Samra Habib
The conflict between faith and sexuality is explored in journalist Samra Habib’s memoir of growing up queer in a Muslim household. Habib was raised in the Ahmadi Muslim community in Pakistan, which regularly faced with threats from Islamic extremists. When her family moved to Canada as refugees, she encountered new dangers from racism to poverty and familial pressure to conform. Harrowing yet hopeful, We Have Always Been Here is testimony to the power of speaking your truth, and the potential for reconciliation with family and faith.

, Audre Lorde
A collection of essential essays and speeches written by Audre Lorde focused on the particulars of her identity: Black woman, lesbian, poet, activist, cancer survivor, mother and feminist. Lorde explores the complexities of intersectional identity, while explicitly drawing from her personal experiences of oppression to include sexism, heterosexism, racism, homophobia, classism and ageism. The book examines a broad range of topics, including love, self-love, war, imperialism, police brutality, coalition building, violence against women, Black feminism and movements towards equality that recognize and embrace differences as a vehicle for change. 

This 2020 Netflix film directed by Sam Feder and executive produced by Laverne Cox examines the history of transgender visibility from the earliest days of cinema to TV’s current scripted dramas, and how that has evolved over decades. The documentary features interviews with Cox as well as Lilly Wachowski, Yance Ford, Mj Rodriguez, Jamie Clayton and Chaz Bono and more as they share their own experiences of seeing themselves represented (or misrepresented) onscreen in everything from Dog Day Afternoon to The Crying Game, and shows like The Jeffersons, The L-Word and Pose.����

This six-part FX docuseries chronicles the rise of LGBTQ+ rights in America from the 1950s through the 2000s, with six renowned LGBTQ+ directors exploring different eras as well as heroic and heartbreaking stories that helps define the community. The series spans from the 1950s Lavender Scare to the “Culture Wars” of the 1990s and beyond, exploring the queer legacy of the Civil Rights movement and the battle over marriage equality as well as the evolution of trans rights and identities through the decades.

This legendary 1990 documentary chronicles the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay and transgender communities involved. It explores race, class, gender and sexuality in 1980s America, and is widely credited with bringing mainstream attention to voguing and the ballroom scene. Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBeija, Venus Xtravaganza, Octavia St. Laurent, Angie Xtravaganza, Sol Pendavis, Freddie Pendavis, Junior Labeija, Paris Dupree and Willi Ninja (the ‘godfather of voguing’) were among the performers involved.

In Kiki, New York City‘s present-day drag ball scene continues many of the subjects and themes explored in Paris Is Burning, with today’s youth taking center-stage. Written and directed by Sara Jordenö and co-written by Twiggy Pucci Garçon, a leader in New York’s “kiki” community — an evolution of the ball room scene for a new generation — the joyous film presents this competitive dance world as a safe haven for LGBTQ youth in political landscape that’s changed significantly since the 1980s.

Marsha P. Johnson has been called “the Rosa Parks of the LGBTQ movement,” because of the pivotal role she played in the Stonewall riots of 1969 alongside the likes of Sylvia Rivera and others. She was also a pioneer of the gay liberation movement, co-founder of S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries), a self-proclaimed drag queen, community leader and, according to her friend and roommate, Randy Wicker, an “Andy Warhol model, prostitute, starving actress and saint.” Her life and tragic death is captured in the Netflix doc from David France, who says, “If you were in New York – in gay New York, in queer New York – during her lifetime, you knew Marsha.”

While television in America has been around since the 1930s, it wasn’t until the ’70s before the LGBTQ community started seeing positive portrayals of themselves onscreen. Now, 50 years later the five-part docuseries examines the evolution of visibility on the small screen. “It’s easy to turn on your television now and go, ‘Almost every show has an LGBTQ character,’ and just assume that that’s a natural thing,” producer Wilson Cruz says. “But, you know, that didn’t just happen. It happened because a lot of people risked a lot in order to tell those stories.” Over the course of the docuseries, media personalities candidly discuss how storytelling and portrayals have changed over time. 

This film chronicles the plight of the LGBTQ+ community prior to the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. Directed by Greta Schiller and Rosenberg, with narration from Rita Mae Brown, the documentary investigates cultural perceptions of homosexuality before the event and looks back on queer life in previous decades, as well as the relationship between the police and the LGBTQ+ community. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival, and went on to win Emmy Awards for Best Research and Best Historical/Cultural Program.

�ո鴡�����䷡������is a vivid, colorful collection of portraits of trans people by trans artist Rae Senarighi. Select pieces from �ո鴡�����䷡������are on display in the C4C Abrams Lounge and the Center for Inclusion and Social Change lobby space in C4C N320. Learn more about the artist, series and subjects. This collection was previously displayed in the Laughing Goat Cafe in Norlin Library from Sept. 2021–June 2022.