Celebrate LGBTQIA+ Pride Month with the Library

Written by Mackenzie Manley, Content Specialist, Downtown Main Library

June marks LGBTQIA+ — or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual — Pride Month, which coincides with the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City.

The first Pride march was held on June 28, 1970, in New York City, one year after the police raided The Stonewall Inn, which spurred six days of protests. Cincinnati held their first Pride parade on April 7, 1973, trailing from Washington Park to Fountain Square.

In 1978, Mayor Jerry Springer signed the proclamation declaring June 24, 1978, as “Lesbian/Gay Pride Day” in Cincinnati. In the late 1990s, formal celebrations were paused due to the passage of Issue 3/Article 12, an amendment to the City Charter that barred the city from adopting any law that protected LGBTQIA+ people as a class. In 2000, however, Cincinnati Pride was revived in Northside. The parade and festival returned to downtown in 2010.

Join the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library in celebrating LGBTQIA+ Pride with notable people, featured events, and booklists.

Featured People

A seventh-generation Appalachian, Barbara Marie Minney, is an award-winning poet, writer, speaker, teaching artist, guest reader/editor, and activist. Her poetry and essays have been featured in publications like Politico, The Buckeye Flame, The Gasconade Review, Gargoyle Magazine, The Pine Cone Review, Women Speak: Women of Appalachia Project, Women Scream: The International Poetry Anthology of Female Voices, and I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing.

A Woman in Progress

I Thought I Heard A Cardinal Sing

A writer and poet, Saeed Jones lives in Columbus, Ohio. His memoir, How We Fight for Our Lives, won the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction in 2019. His debut poetry collection Prelude to Bruise was named a 2014 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His poetry and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, Oxford American, GQ, and more.

How We Fight for Our Lives

Berenice Abbott, an American photographer, was born in Springfield, Ohio, but later studied sculpture in New York, Berlin, and Paris, where she worked as an assistant at Man Ray Studio. She is known for her portraits of cultural figures of the interwar period and sweeping photos of New York City. In the 1940s, Berenice developed Super Sight, or the Abbott Process, a form of macro photography.

Featured Event

Jacob Hogue Author Talk & Book Signing: Cincinnati Before Stonewall

Head to the Downtown Main Library on Friday, June 5 from 4-6 p.m. for an author visit from Jacob Hogue, who will sign his debut book, Cincinnati Before Stonewall: The Untold Queer History of the Queen City. In the book, Hogue explores remarkable stories of community, resistance, scandal, and resilience in Cincinnati long before the modern gay rights movement.

This event will take place the Cincinnati Story Center, located on the second floor of the south building at the Downtown Main Library.

Cincinnati Before Stonewall

Join a Book Club

If you’re looking to connect with community, a book club is a perfect way to do so! The Library offers three LGBTQIA+ book clubs:

Downtown Queer Book Club meets every second Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. Read and discuss books by and about people across the gender and sexuality spectrum. June’s selection is Marsha by Tourmaline.
There’s also the Westside Queer Book Club, which meets on the fourth Monday of every month from 7 to 8 p.m. June’s selection is If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin.
Join the Northside LGBTQIA+ Book Club every first Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. to explore queer identity and culture across various genres. The club launches Wednesday, June 3 with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. Duncan, the club’s moderator at the Northside Branch Library, said this of the book: “It is a cozy sci-fi story that dares to imagine a world where cultural differences are expected, identity is always respected, and an individual’s needs are always considered and accommodated where possible. The heart of the story is love and compassion, and the world needs more of that right now.”

Community Events

The Library is participating in several Pride events in the community. Drop by our table, explore resources, and say hi. Events include:

Kick off Pride Month at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Brady Block Party on Thursday, June 4 at 6:30 p.m. Located at the Andrew J. Brady Music Center’s Icon Festival Stage, the event will feature a free concert, food trucks, giveaways, drag performances, and more.
Drop by the Library’s table on Westwood Second Saturdays’ June 13 date. Peruse booths, shop local art, and enjoy community fun from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Westwood Town Hall Park.
Cincinnati Pride Parade and Festival is Saturday, June 27. Starting at 11 a.m., the parade route begins at 7th St. and Plum, travels down Vine St., and will end at Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove, the festival grounds. CHPL will walk in the parade and havea table at Sawyer Point.

Featured Resources

Compiled by the Library’s LGBTQIA+ Staff Workgroup, visit chpl.org/lgbtqia for booklists, local support groups, an FAQ, and more. Whether you're a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, an ally, or looking to understand, this webpage can help guide and inform.

Explore Cincinnati LGBTQIA+ history via the Library’s digital collection, which includes artifacts and multimedia from over 40 years of queer history in the Queen City, including newsletters, video footage, news publications, and more.