LGBT+ Pride Month 2021 at the EUI
The Library, in collaboration with the LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group, will celebrate #PrideMonth with a few initiatives.
In June 1969 patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, resisted arrest and protested against the police harassment to which LGBT+ Americans were often subjected. The raid turned into a riot which continued for the following two nights. Even though other gay resistance events occurred prior to Stonewall, the facts of June 1969 are commonly considered a watershed event in the history of gay life in the United States. From that year onwards, parades were organised across the US, making Gay Pride celebrations a national event, but also in other countries, notably in Europe – the first EuroPride, for instance, took place in London in 1992.
June, therefore, has gradually become Pride Month, a moment in the year to recognize the impact LGBT+ people have had in the world. In the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the then President of the United States Barack Obama declared June 2009 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.
This year at the Library we decided to celebrate Pride Month together with the members of the LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group, who helped us organising the three main initiatives that we would like to share with the EUI community. Everyone is welcome to participate and suggest changes and improvements!
Social Media
Throughout the month of June, we will share on our social media channels people, events and places of the history of the LGBT movement together with the books and eBooks available in the Library about these topics.
Cadmus’ Twitter account will also share various Open Access publications and theses by EUI members which are kept in the EUI Research Repository.
Library Itinerary
In the Library you will find signs that highlight parts of the collection related to LGBT+ topics such as human and civil rights, gender equality, sexuality, art. Moreover, in the new entrance of the in the Vasco da Gama room, some recommended by the LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group will be on display.
Interview
Tune in on Radio Cavolo on Wednesday 23 June at 20:00 and on Friday 25 June at 15:00 to listen to Queer celebrations, a special programme featuring Prof. Benno Gammerl (HEC), Uladzimir Valodzin (HEC), Coordinator of the LGBTIQ Interdisciplinary Working Group, and Federica Signoriello, outreach librarian. The programme delves into Prof. Gammerl’s new book Anders fühlen: schwules und lesbisches Leben in der Bundesrepublik : eine Emotionsgeschichte (Feeling differently: gay and lesbian life in Germany: a story of emotions), but also into more general issues in queer history. The podcast is available on MixCloud. Come for the content and stay for the music, as this chat is mixed up with some outrageously good tunes.
If you’d like to know more about Pride Month, we warmly recommend the eBook Pride parades and LGBT movements: political participation in an international comparative perspective, by Abby Peterson, Mattias Wahlström and Magnus Wennerhag.