Pride 2025: Queer Joy and Visibility

Pride is celebrated every June and we have displays in our libraries and online with the theme of ‘Queer Joy and Visibility’. Pride originated in the 1970 marches that took place in the U.S.A. to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which were a series of gay liberation protests and which catapulted LGBTQ+ community and the fight for their rights into the spotlight.

Pride has grown over the years and today all of June is a celebration of the queer community across the globe, including here in Wolverhampton.

The inspiration for the resources we have on display and plan to share throughout the month via social media is a quote attributed variously to Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera, , “We have to do it because we can no longer stay invisible. We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are”

We have chosen resources that include memoirs of queer people, anthologies talking about the lived experiences of being LGBTQ+ in the modern day, novels by queer authors with queer characters and histories and mythologies of LGBTQ+ peoples, celebrating that the community have always been here.  

A few examples from the display at Harrison library include

• We have always been here by Samra Habib: a memoir about queer Muslim life.

• Nettleblack and its sequel Earlyfate by Nat Reeve: Two fun queer historical novels by a trans author with a wealth of LGBTQ+ characters and themes throughout. 

• Life and Lichen: A small mini-zine about being non-binary which really speaks to the heart of people.