June 2026: Pride Month

By Research Librarian Jessica Zaricki

On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Uprising began in New York City as a series of riots and protests that are now considered the catalyst for the modern gay liberation movement. Over the following decades, annual marches commemorating the event grew into month-long celebrations across the country. In 1999, President Bill Clinton officially declared June as “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month”, and President Barack Obama later expanded the designation to officially include all LGBTQ+ people in 2011. Please join us in celebrating the lives, contributions, and stories of this vibrant and essential part of our community.

Members, find the listed titles on display in the Sawtelle Reading Room through the month of June.

We Are Green and Trembling

LITERATURE

This 2025 National Book Award winner for Translated Literature reimagines the life of the Basque conquistador Antonio de Erauso (born Catalina de Erauso). This queer, baroque satire critiques colonialism, gender, and religious tyranny through a surreal narrative set in the rainforest. It blends historical fiction and magical realism to explore themes of identity, subjugation, and the messy aftermath of conquest.

Cabezón Cámara, Gabriela. We Are Green and Trembling. PQ7798.413 .A3 N5613 2025.

The Sleeping Car Porter

LITERATURE

Mayr uses this novel to explore the intersection of race, labor, and queer identity in early 20th-century North America. Baxter, a queer Black train porter in 1929 Canada, endures grueling shifts and racist passengers who call him (and all other Black porters) George to fund his dentistry education. When a mudslide strands his train, his exhaustion-induced hallucinations and a forbidden postcard threaten his carefully guarded secret and his livelihood.

Mayr, Suzette. The Sleeping Car Porter. PR9199.3 .M24 S54 2022

Atmosphere: A Love Story

LITERATURE

Another work of historical fiction, this time set in the 1980s. The novel focuses on scientist Joan Goodwin, one of the first women accepted into NASA’s Space Shuttle program. It follows her journey from physics professor to astronaut candidate, exploring themes of ambition, love, and identity as she navigates the male-dominated environment, forms deep bonds with her fellow trainees, and faces a life-altering crisis during a mission. The subtitle refers to a secret and significant relationship formed with another female member of the crew.

Reid, Taylor Jenkins. Atmosphere: A Love Story. PS3618 .E5478 A94 2025

The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard

BIOGRAPHY

Birdsall’s 2020 biography of the “Dean of American Cookery,” reveals his role as a gay culinary pioneer who shaped modern American food culture by championing fresh, flavorful ingredients against a backdrop of industrialization. Particular focus is given to his queer life, how it intertwined with his work, and his role as a foundational figure in the farm-to-table movement.

Birdsall, John. The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard.

In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God

BIOGRAPHY

This memoir from the 9th bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire explores his journey of faith and his experience at the center of global religious controversy surrounding the inclusion of LGBTQ+ members within the church community, especially at higher levels of ministry. Robinson was the first openly gay bishop elected within the Episcopal Church.

Robinson, V. Gene. In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God.

Dear Juliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley

BIOGRAPHY

These letters explore the complicated relationship between writer May Sarton and her muse Juliette Huxley. They span over 60 years of friendship, passion, rejection, silence, and reconciliation. We find a relationship rife with complications and misunderstandings but one in which the deep love and compassion they shared for one another prevailed.

Sherman, Susan, ed. Dear Juliette: Letters of May Sarton to Juliette Huxley. PS3537 .A832

The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle

NON-FICTION

This comprehensive history of the American Gay Rights movement takes the reader from the 1950s and its condemnation and criminalization of gay and lesbian lifestyles, through the protests of the 1960s, reactionary movements of the 1970s and early 80s, the crucible forged in the decimation brought about during the AIDS epidemic, and struggles for marriage equality. Faderman presents a nuanced, readable, and well-researched portrait of the LGBTQ+ civil rights movement.

Faderman, Lillian. The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle. HQ76.8 .U5 F33 2015

Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland

NON-FICTION

This book documents over 300 years of LGBTQ+ life in Boston, including examples from the colonial era and carrying through the mid-20th century. Using a variety of sources including newspaper accounts, private archives, and advertisements, we learn about unconventional and unapologetic men and women, and the cost at which ignoring tradition and protocol came. The text is fun, often surprising, and magnificently illustrated—containing over 200 images.

History Project. Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland. HQ76.3 .U52 M45 1998

In Search of Gay America: Women and Men in a Time of Change

NON-FICTION

This work explores the diversity of gay and lesbian life in the United States during the late 1980s. At a time when much of the discussion around the LGBTQ+ experience in America centered on HIV and AIDS, Miller’s book focuses on community building, religious beliefs, reconciliation, and coping with homophobia. The chapter on religion describes the ecclesiastical trial of Methodist minister Rose Mary Denman in Dover, NH.

Miller, Neil. In Search of Gay America: Women and Men in a Time of Change. HQ76.33 .U5 M55 1989

IMAGE: A “Love Is Love!” sign from Portsmouth Pride 2019 at Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH. E 2713.