LGBT@NYPL

Tonight at 9pm, HBO will premiere Jeffrey Schwarz's new documentary VITO: The Life of Gay Activist Vito Russo.

Let's keep the momentum of NYC's 2012 Gay Pride Parade going with a list of LGBTQ-themed books for young adults. New and old, NYPL has titles your teens are going to love, if they don't already. Please feel free to add recommendations or additions in the comments.

Not that there is not enough already going on in your busy summer life...

But Wednesday, June 6th at 7:00p.m. in the Trustees Room of Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (476 Fifth Ave) you are joining Linda Hirshman and Eric Marcus as they discuss Linda's new book Victory: The Triumphant Gay Revolution and the remarkable history of the LGBT civil rights movement.

Gravity by Leanne Lieberman, 2008

Ellie, a 15-year-old Orthodox Jew, is happy to go to Bubbie's (her grandmother's) cottage this summer to learn about the flora and fawna. There, she meets Lindsay, a beautiful, provocative blond girl, whom Ellie is attracted to. Unlike boys, whom she is supposed to like, Ellie is captivated by Lindsay. They swim together in a canoe, and she visits Lindsay at her cottage.

"Is that what we are: libertines?"

"It's what I am," Jack said, "and what you aspire to be."

Jack Holmes and His Friend.

Joe Brainard was born in 1941 in Salem, Arkansas and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A gentle, unathletic stutterer, Joe exhibited artistic talent from an early age. It was his way of dealing with the outside world of the public school in a working-class neighborhood. “Artistic” was a wide range of things, including designing his mother’s dresses. He won practically every art contest he entered.

“Things have made you what you are... What you are will make you what you will become.”

—Samuel R. Delany, Dahlgren

Hello, all. Thank you for keeping an eye on what's going on at the LGBT initiative at The New York Public Library. 

My name is Dennis Orlov, I am a 30-year old recent transplant from Portland, Oregon. I am fascinated by this city, its history, and its people, especially when it comes to the LGBT community. I am not a specialist on LGBT issues or history, neither am I a writer. I'm just an avid reader, trying to fill in the gaps in my knowledge of the history of "my people."

As part of my volunteer experience at NYPL, I will take it upon myself to keep you up-to-date on the happenings, as well as dig through the gems of the collection and post some thoughts 

The way that I have been inspired to read teen literature tends to be from meeting authors, listening to them talk about their work, and then getting curious about what they wrote. This happened to me first with Walter Dean Myers, then with David Levithan. I heard Levithan discuss his work at a Teen Week event at The New York Public Library and was inspired to read How They Met and Other Stories. Levithan seemed very interesting to me. I have read some of his other works, but I am impressed by the variety of perspectives he has on love stories in this particular work. Explore more of Levithan's work in the Library's collection >>

"We all know that Gay is Good. It's up to us to get out there and make it better---much better!"

  In case you need some inspiration this National Coming Out Day, check out It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating A Life Worth Living edited by Dan Savage and his partner Terry Miller. The book shares stories of coming out and thriving from LGBT notables from Gene Robinson to Suze Orman,  as well as everyday people. My favorite is Urvashi Vaid's essay "The only reason big changes happen is when people like you and me decide to fight for things to change, when we take action to make things different." Check it out!

 Given today's historic repeal of DADT, it important to remember just how long exclusion from military service has been affecting LGBT people in the U.S. It is often thought that exclusion of gays and lesbians from military service focussed in WWII. However, there is evidence that there were soldiers discharged for homosexuality as early as the American revolutionary war. Last year, the Library received a unique letter documenting a member of the U.S. navy who was discharged for homosexuality in 1914. The donor, David Jarrett kindly transcribed the letter with the donation. The letter is being cataloged and digitized for the Library's Digital Gallery.  Below is the 

  If you haven’t already, make sure to check out Michael Schiavi’s new biography of Vito Russo: Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo.  As Schiavi eloquently glosses—“Twenty years after Vito’s death, we remember him as the author of The Celluloid Closet, as one of Gay Liberation’s angriest agitators, and as one of the earliest, most eloquent voices raised on behalf of people with AIDS.”  The biography was researched using the Vito Russo Papers in the Library’s Manuscripts & Archives Division, as well as extensive interviews with Russo’s family, friends, and colleagues. Russo’s life and work were so integral 

To mark the 30th anniversary of the first documented case of HIV/AIDS, the Mid-Manhattan Library, the Columbia Center for Oral History and the HIV Story Projectare co-sponsoring a special program. Tonight at 6:30pm at the Mid-Manhattan Library, three oral historians play interview clips and talk about their interviews with AIDS doctors and activists. Speakers include Jim Hubbard, Co-Director of the ACT UP Oral History Project and Columbia Professors, Ron Bayer and Gerald 

Remember, marriage equality passed in New York last night because of 40 years of political activism. Pictured above is GAA's Jim Owles with "Gay Power to Gay Lovers" wedding cake at the Gay Activist Alliance's zap of the New York City Clerk for marriage equality in 1971. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

In case you missed the runway fashion show at this year's Anti-Prom, the fabulous designs of the students from the High School of Fashion Industries are on view in the Fifth Avenue window of the Mid-Manhattan Library. And to see the story behind the designs check out our online videos of Design NYPL 2011.

Boy meets Boy while wandering in the Vast Fields of Ordinary? Kicked Out Tales from the Closet? From Glee to DADT to It Gets Better, what’s happening in the world of LGBT youth? Here from authors and illustrators as they talk diversity, identity and visibility in the YA book world. For ages 12 and up.

Today at the Library's Mulberry Street Branch at 4:30pm.