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June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month
Pride Month is a nationally recognized celebration honoring the history, achievements, and contributions of the LGBTQ+ community. Join us throughout the month for a variety of programs for all ages that celebrate Pride and promote inclusion. Plus, explore booklists for kids, tweens, teens, and adults curated by library staff.
Exhibit:
Sunday, June 1 – June 30 • Central Library
Explore a century of LGBTQ+ history through this powerful exhibit featuring key events, pivotal moments, and personal stories. Gain a deeper understanding of the community’s challenges, resilience, and progress over the past 100 years.
All Ages:
Tuesday, June 17 • 6:30-8 p.m. • Central Library
Celebrate Pride with the whole family through music, crafts, resources, and more. Join us in honoring love, equality, and our beautifully diverse community—libraries are for everyone!
Youth:
Book Explorers: The Rainbow Parade
Sunday, June 8 • 2-3 p.m. • Central Craft Room • 5-8 years
Join us for a read-aloud and discussion of The Rainbow Parade by Shane Jordan and Rick Hendrix. After the story, we’ll enjoy fun, book-inspired activities together.
Tuesday, June 24 • 2-3 p.m. • Central Craft Room • 6-9 years
Mickalene Thomas is a contemporary artist known for bold, rhinestone-covered portraits of Black women, including Michelle Obama’s first solo portrait at the National Portrait Gallery. Create a portrait in her style using rhinestones, photos, and bold patterns.
Teen:
Pride Jeopardy with the Kenneth Young Center
Wednesday, June 4 • 5-6 p.m. • Central Teen Program Room
Join us in partnership with the Kenneth Young Center for Pride Jeopardy—your chance to show off what you know or learn something new about LGBTQ+ history and culture.
Adult:
Night with a Museum: The Stonewall National Museum, Archives and Library
Tuesday, June 17 • 7-8 p.m. • Online
The Stonewall National Museum presents 55 Years of Pride, an immersive exhibit tracing the history of PRIDE from 1970 to 2025, highlighting the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equality. Executive Director Robert Kesten shares inspiring stories of unity and action.
LGBTQ+ History Timeline
1924
The first gay rights organization, Society for Human Rights, was founded in Chicago in 1924 by Henry Gerber. While it was short-lived, it was a major stepping stone in queer history.
1958
The U.S Supreme Court extends free speech to protections of the gay press in the case One, Inc. vs Oleson, sparked by the magazine's challenge to government censorship.
1962
The State of Illinois decriminalizes homosexualty by repealing its sodomy laws.
1969
Nine policemen enter Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, and take several patrons into custody in accordance with New York law authorizing the arrest of anyone not wearing gender-appropriate clothing. Riots ensue for five days.
1970
The first Pride March is held in New York City called "Gay Liberation Day March."
1970
Marsha "Pay it No Mind" Johnson and Sylvia Rivera co-founded th Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR).
1973
The American Psychiatric Assn. issues a resolution removing homosexuality as a mental illness or sickness from it's manual, changing a position that had been held for nearly a century.
1975
The first federal gay rights bill is introduced to address discrimination based on sexual orientation. This bill goes to the Judiciary Committee but it never brought forward for consideration.
1978
Inspired by Harvey Milk to develop a symbol of pride and hope for the LGBTQ community, Gilbert Baker designs and stitches together the first rainbow flag.
1980
Democrats are the first political party to add "gay rights" to their platform campaign during the Democratic National Convention.
1982
GRID (Gay-Related Immune Deficiency) is changed to AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) by the CDC.
1988
First National Coming Out Day is observed.
1980s–1990s
The GLB community changes its name to LGBT community to show recognition to the lesbian community's contribution during the AIDS crisis and to reflect the growing recognition of transgender people.
2002
New York City expands the definition of "gender" to include protection for transgender and gender nonconfroming people in housing, employment, and public accomodation in the NYC Human Rights Law.
2003
Lawrence v. Texas was passed. The Supreme Court ruled that a Texas law criminalizing same-sex sexual activity was unconstitutional.
2009
President Obama signed a Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crimes Prevention Act, expanding the federal hate crime laws to include perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.
2011
Congress repeals "Dont Ask, Don't Tell" (originally enstated in 1993), allowing gay and lesbian people to serve openly in the U.S military.
2012
The American Psychiatric Assn. removes "gender identity disorder" from it's manual, dispelling the stigma that transgender people are mentally ill.
2013
The US federally recognizes same-sex marriage, extending federal benefits to couples in states that allow same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a law President Clinton instituted in 1996 that prohibited same-sex couples from receiving federal marriage benefits.
2015
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the fundamental right to marry.
2020
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Bostock v. Clayton County that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects LGBTQ+ people from workplace discrimination nationwide.
2022
The Social Security Administration announced that people can now choose their sex marker in their social security records.
2022
President Biden signs the Respect Marriage Act which included new federal protections for same-sex and interracial couples.
2023
FDA changes its blood donation guidelines, eliminating restrictions specific to gay and bisexual men. Instead, all potential donors, regardless of sexual orientation, are assessed using the same risk-based questions regarding sexual behavior.