PRIDE Month Resource Guide
In celebration and recognition of Pride Month, we encourage you to learn more about how the criminal legal system impacts the LGBTQIA+ community in different and disparate ways. People who identify as LGBTQIA+ are disproportionately incarcerated, but discussions of why they are overrepresented in correctional facilities, criminalization of this community, their pathways to incarceration, and the violence they can experience while inside are not frequently explored.
The PGP team has compiled a list of books, articles, movies and documentaries, and additional resources to guide your learning on this topic, as Pride Month closes and beyond.
Articles:
“How I Celebrate Pride in Prison” (Prison Journalism Project)
“Meeting Another Trans Woman in Men’s Prison Made Me Believe in My Future Again” (Harper’s Bazaar)
“The Forgotten Ones: Queer and Trans Lives in the Prison System” (The New Yorker)
“Pride Has Always Been About Ending Mass Incarceration” (ACLU)
“How I Found Queer Pride in Prison” (The Street Spirit)
Resources:
“Visualizing the unequal treatment of LGBTQ people in the criminal justice system” (The Prison Policy Initiative)
“Defending the Freedom of our LGBTQ+ Students to be Themselves Toolkit” (National Educational Association)
“Resources for LGBTQ+ Youth by State” (Lambda Legal)
Virtual Interactive Stonewall Monument (Stonewall Forever)
Books:
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison by Hugh Ryan
Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg
The Stonewall Reader edited by the New York Library as a collection of essays, articles, and first hand accounts of the Stonewall riots
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
Movies/Documentaries:
Paris is Burning dir. by Jennie Livingston. A documentary on drag queens living in New York and the ball performance community which acted as a sanctuary for many African American, Latino, gay, and transgender performers in the late 1980s. Highlights the intersections of racism and poverty.
Looking for Langston dir. by Isaac Julien. A combination of archival footage and recreated images of the Harlem Renaissance in honor of the late Langton Hughes. An ode to identity and sexuality in a pivotal period of music, art, and literature.
Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria dir. by Victor Silverman and Susan Stryker. A documentary about transgender women and drag queens fighting against police harassment at the Compton’s Cafeteria riot in 1966.
Free Cece! dir. by Jacqueline Gares. A film looking at the violence that transgender women face and who is protected by the criminal justice system.
Moonlight dir. by Barry Jenkins. A three part coming of age story about self-discovery, childhood trauma, relationships, and sexuality.
Happy Together dir. by Wong Kar-Wai. Follows a young gay couple and their relationship struggles as they navigate loneliness, masculinity, and heartbreak. Groundbreaking in Hong Kong cinema, during a time where there was still a widespread stigma surrounding LGBTQ+ stories.
Songs/Albums/Podcasts:
“True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper (song
“Vogue” by Madonna (song)
“Freedom!” by George Michael (song)
Born This Way by Lady Gaga (album)
Come to My Garden by Minnie Riperton (album)
“Queery” by Cameron Esposito (podcast)
“Lesbian Chronicles” by Tagg Nation (podcast)
Important Figures:
Marsha P. Johnson: prominent figure for the Stonewall movement
Audre Lorde: Black lesbian feminist poet known for addressing issues of race, gender, and sexuality
Harvey Milk: first openly gay elected official in California
James Baldwin: writer and activist whose work with complex social issues
Remaining Events:
DC Poetry Reading on June 28th
Virtual trans support group on June 28th
New York Pride March on June 29th and 30th