Pride Month
Celebrate Pride with special programming and events at the Santa Ana Public Library.
Books for Adults
by Kim, Hye-jin
Prize-winning Korean author Kim Hye-Jin's debut confronts familial love, duty, mortality, and generational schism through the incendiary gaze of a tradition-bound mother faced with her daughter's queer relationship.
by Hernandez, Catherine
The author of the acclaimed novel Scarborough weaves an unforgettable and timely dystopian tale about a near-future, where a queer Black performer and his allies join forces to rise up when an oppressive regime gathers those deemed "Other" into concentration camps.
Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality
by Joyce, Helen
Biological sex is no longer accepted as a basic fact of life. It is forbidden to admit that female people sometimes need protection and privacy from male ones. In an analysis that is at once expert, sympathetic and urgent, Helen Joyce offers an antidote to the chaos and cancelling.
She/He/They/Me: An Interactive Guide to the Gender Binary
by Ryle, Robyn
In She/He/They/Me, Dr. Robyn Ryle, professor of sociology and gender studies at Hanover College in Indiana, thoughtfully discusses gender constructs, expectations, and transitions along with covering everything from the science, biology, and psychology of gender to the philosophy, legality and societal implications.
Body Language: Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves
Selected from the archives of Catapult magazine, the essays in Body Language affirm and challenge the personal and political conversations around human bodies from the perspectives of thirty writers diverse in race, age, gender, size, sexuality, health, ability, geography, and class-a brilliant group probing and speaking their own truths about their bodies and identities, refusing to submit to others' expectations about how their bodies should look, function, and behave.
D'Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding
by Higgins, Chencia C.
Instant I Do could be Kris Zavala's big break. She's right on the cusp of really making it as an influencer, so a stint on reality TV is the perfect chance to elevate her brand. And $100,000 wouldn't hurt, either. D'Vaughn Miller is just trying to break out of her shell. She's sort of neglected to come out to her mom for years, so a big splashy fake wedding is just the excuse she needs. All they have to do is convince their friends and family they're getting married in six weeks. If anyone guesses they're not for real, they're out. Selling their chemistry on camera is surprisingly easy, and it's still there when no one else is watching, which is an unexpected bonus. But each week of the competition brings new challenges, and soon the prize money's not the only thing at stake.
by Cassidy, Luke
Dundalk--The Town, to locals--took Aoife in when she left home at eighteen. Now she's gone from a small-time slinger of hash to a bona fide player in Dundalk's criminal underworld. Aoife's smart, savvy, and cool under pressure. Except, that is, when it comes to Annie. Annie is mysterious and compelling, and Aoife is desperate to impress her and keep her close. Unfortunately, not everyone in The Town shares Aoife's opinion of Annie. So much so that when Aoife's friend and associate, the Rat King, approaches her about off-loading ten kilos of stolen coke, he specifically tells her to keep Annie out of it. Aoife doesn't want to do the job without Annie, though, so she lands on an idea. Annie has contacts in the UK, and sure it'd be better to get the coke as far away from Dundalk as possible. At first, everything goes to plan. But when Annie decides she'd like to stay in the UK, Aoife makes a decision that changes everything, and finds her whole world turned upside down.
Gritty yet tender, tragic yet hopeful, Iron Annie crackles with energy, warmth, and heart.
by Jones, Robert
Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man--a fellow slave--seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony.
With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries--of ancestors and future generations to come--culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.
Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York
by Green, Elon
The Townhouse Bar, midtown, July 1992: The piano player seems to know every song ever written, the crowd belts out the lyrics to their favorites, and a man standing nearby is drinking a Scotch and water. The man strikes the piano player as forgettable.
He looks bland and inconspicuous. Not at all what you think a serial killer looks like. But that's what he is, and tonight, he has his sights set on a gray haired man. He will not be his first victim.
Nor will he be his last.
The Last Call Killer preyed upon gay men in New York in the '80s and '90s and had all the hallmarks of the most notorious serial killers. Yet because of the sexuality of his victims, the skyhigh murder rates, and the AIDS epidemic, his murders have been almost entirely forgotten.
This gripping true-crime narrative tells the story of the Last Call Killer and the decades-long chase to find him. And at the same time, it paints a portrait of his victims and a vibrant community navigating threat and resilience.
by Gigl, Robyn
LGBTQ+ activist Robyn Gigl tackles the complexities of gender, power, and human trafficking with a ripped-from-the-headlines plot in her second legal thriller featuring Erin McCabe, a protagonist who, like the author, is a transgender attorney.
by Maren, Mesha
The riveting new novel by the acclaimed author of Sugar Run, Perpetual West is a brilliant and evocative story of borders--between countries, between lovers, and between facets of the self.
When Alex and Elana move from smalltown Virginia to El Paso, they are just a young married couple, intent on a new beginning. Mexican by birth but adopted by white American Pentecostal parents, Alex is hungry to learn about the place where he was born. He spends every free moment across the border in Juárez--perfecting his Spanish, hanging with a collective of young activists, and studying lucha libre (Mexican wrestling) for his graduate work in sociology. Meanwhile Elana, busy fighting her own demons, feels disillusioned by academia and has stopped going to class. And though they are best friends, Elana has no idea that Alex has fallen in love with Mateo, a lucha libre fighter.
Muchachas Ordinarias : Memorias
by Díaz, Jaquira
Para las muchachas que fuimos, para la muchacha que fui, para las muchachas de todo el mundo que son como nosotras solíamos ser. Para las muchachas que nunca se vieron reflejadas en los libros. Para las muchachas ordinarias.
Books for Teens
Last Night at the Telegraph Club
By Lo, Malinda
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can’t remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club. America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall in love, especially not in Chinatown. Red-Scare paranoia threatens everyone, including Chinese Americans like Lily. With deportation looming over her father, Lily and Kath risk everything to let their love see the light of day.
By Kobabe, Maia
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Then e created Gender Queer. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fan fiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: It is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it--for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
By Wind, Lee
"History" sounds really official. Like it's all fact. Like it's definitely what happened.
But that's not necessarily true. History was crafted by the people who recorded it. And sometimes, those historians were biased against, didn't see, or couldn't even imagine anyone different from themselves.
That means that history has often left out the stories of LGBTQIA+ people: men who loved men, women who loved women, people who loved without regard to gender, and people who lived outside gender boundaries. Historians have even censored the lives and loves of some of the world's most famous people, from William Shakespeare and Pharaoh Hatshepsut to Cary Grant and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Join author Lee Wind for this fascinating journey through primary sources—poetry, memoir, news clippings, and images of ancient artwork—to explore the hidden (and often surprising) Queer lives and loves of two dozen historical figures.
Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets
by Pitman, Gayle E.Title
This book is about the Stonewall Riots, a series of spontaneous, often violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBTQ+) community in reaction to a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The Riots are attributed as the spark that ignited the LGBTQ+ movement. The author describes American gay history leading up to the Riots, the Riots themselves, and the aftermath, and includes her interviews of people involved or witnesses, including a woman who was ten at the time. Profusely illustrated, the book includes contemporary photos, newspaper clippings, and other period objects. A timely and necessary read, The Stonewall Riots helps readers to understand the history and legacy of the LGBTQ+ movement.
By Langford, Jo.
The Pride Guide covers universal topics that apply to everyone, such as values clarification, digital citizenship, responsibility, information regarding abstinence as well as indulgence, and an understanding of the consequences and results of both action and inaction. For LGBTQ youth, this is a resource containing information on the unique issues queer youth face regarding what puberty looks like (particularly for trans youth), dating skills and violence, activism, personal safety, and above all, pride.
Parents and other supportive adults who are motivated to educate themselves and who are interested in gaining some tools and skills around making these necessary conversations less uncomfortable and more effective will benefit from this book. The go-to resource for making informed decisions, The Pride Guide is indispensable for teens, parents, educators, and others hoping to support the safe journey of LGBTQ teens on their journey of discovery.
by Jacobson, Kelly Ann
What happens when Tinker Bell is in love with both Peter Pan and Wendy? In this sparkling re-imagining of Peter Pan, Peter and Wendy's granddaughter Hope Darling finds the reclusive Tinker Bell squatting at the Darling mansion in order to care for the graves of her two lost friends after a love triangle gone awry. As Hope wins the fairy's trust, Tink tells her the truth about Wendy and Peter--and her own role in their ultimate fate. Told in three alternating perspectives--past, present, and excerpts from a book called Neverland: A History written by Tink's own fairy godmother--this queer adaptation is for anyone who has ever wondered if there might have been more to the story of Tinker Bell and the rest of the Peter Pan legend.
by Lippincott, Rachael
Alex Blackwood is really good at getting the girl she wants, but coming from a broken home with an alcoholic mother she finds committment difficult, even when she thinks she is in love; impossibly awkward Molly Parker has a crush on the cool Cora Myers, but she does not know how to even start a conversation, much less make a connection; now they are all at college in Pittsburgh Alex decides to "help" Molly get the girl, while proving to her own flame that she is not just totally selfish--but things do not work out as the two have planned.
by Gow, Robin
Two seventeen-year-old trans boys in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, struggling to understand themselves and their love for each other, are inspired by an online story about trans soldiers who fell in love during the American Revolution.
By Valdes Greenwood, David
All Luis Gonzalez wants is to go to prom with his boyfriend, something his “progressive” school still doesn't allow. Not after what happened with Chaz Wilson. But that was ages ago, it would never happen today, right? He's determined to find a way to give his LGBTQ friends the respect they deserve. When a hit on the head knocks him back in time to 1985 and he meets the doomed young Chaz himself, Luis concocts a new plan-he's going to give this guy his first real kiss. Though it turns out a conservative school in the '80s isn't the safest place to be a gay kid. Especially with homophobes running the campus, including Gordo (aka Luis's estranged father). Luis is in over his head, trying not to make things worse-and hoping he makes it back to the present day at all.
By Sophie Gonzales
Seventeen-year-old Darcy Phillips, a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates, is hired by the "hot" guy at school to help him get his ex back.
By La Sala, Ryan
Raffy has a passion for bedazzling. Not just bedazzling, but sewing, stitching, draping, pattern making—for creation. He's always chosen his art over everything—and everyone—else and is determined to make his mark at this year's biggest cosplay competition. If he can wow there, it could lead to sponsorship, then art school, and finally earning real respect for his work. There's only one small problem... Raffy's ex-boyfriend, Luca, is his main competition.
By Gaku, Keito
High schooler Ryo knows he’s transgender, but he doesn’t have anyone to confide in about the confusion he feels. He can’t tell his best friend, who he’s secretly got a crush on, and he can’t tell his mom, who’s constantly asking why Ryo “dresses like a boy.” He certainly can’t tell Jin, the new transfer student who looks like just another bully… The only time Ryo feels at ease is when he’s wearing his favorite clothes. One day, while out shopping, Ryo sees someone he didn’t expect: Jin. The kid who looked so tough in class has the same taste in fashion as him! At last, Ryo has someone he can open up to—and the journey ahead might finally give him a way to express himself to the world.
A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities
by G, Mady
In this quick and easy guide to queer and trans identities, cartoonists Mady G and J.R. Zuckerberg guide you through the basics of the LGBTQ+ world! Covering essential topics like sexuality, gender identity, coming out, and navigating relationships, this guide explains the spectrum of human experience through informative comics, interviews, worksheets, and imaginative examples. A great starting point for anyone curious about queer and trans life, and helpful for those already on their own journeys!
Free Movies and Documentaries on Kanopy
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The Best of Boys in Love is a wildly diverse collection of films that mixes styles, settings, and stories ranging from "elegant gay romance" (Frontiers), to a musical send-up of Hollywood, to an "exquisite period piece" (Village Voice) set in New Zealand.
Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine
Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine explores the life and tragic death of Matthew Shepard, the gay student brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyoming in one of the most notorious hate crimes in U.S. history. Framed through the personal lens of friends and family, it’s a story of loss, love, and courage in the face of unspeakable tragedy.
At a house party fifteen year old Bram is surrounded by friends and draws the attention of many girls. He has no interest in them. He has fallen hopelessly in love with the pretty boy on the dance floor: Florian. Love at first sight. There is only one problem: no one knows that Bram is gay. As the evening progresses and the tension rises between the two boys, Bram realizes that he has to make a choice. When a game of spin the bottle starts, he decides to twist the fate of the evening, and maybe his whole life.
As San Francisco’s gig economy grows, so does the city’s need for housing. The Tenderloin district, a historically black and queer neighborhood, becomes prime real estate for the city’s tech workers. Cookie, Janetta, and Ronjah bring you into their world as they fight San Francisco’s housing crisis.
In 1969 the police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, leading to three nights of rioting by the city's gay community. With this outpouring of courage and unity the Gay Liberation Movement had begun.
BEFORE STONEWALL pries open the closet door--setting free the dramatic story of the sometimes horrifying public and private existences experienced by gay and lesbian Americans since the 1920s. Revealing and often humorous, this widely acclaimed film relives the emotionally-charged sparking of today's gay rights movement, from the events that led to the fevered 1969 riots to many other milestones in the brave fight for acceptance.
Experience the fascinating and unforgettable, decade-by-decade history of homosexuality in America through eye-opening historical footage and amazing interviews with those who lived through an often brutal closeted history.
Narrated by Rita Mae Brown.
Segundo Paucar, a 14 year old boy wants to become a master story-box maker just like his father to carry on with the family legacy. On his way to a community celebration in the Andes, Segundo accidentally observes his father in a situation that shatters his whole world. Trapped in a chauvinistic environment, Segundo will try to deal in silence with all that is happening to him. Film Independent Spirit award nominee, Best International Film, Winner of Best First Feature award at Frameline: San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.
MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY explores the intimate re-encounter between two former lovers of a polyamorous triad. Bertie, a musician, has recently married and moved to southern France where she’s since been uninspired. Lane shows up hoping to get Bertie back in the swing of things -- but old passions and pains simmer to the surface when Lane takes interest in another woman.
In THE OBITUARY OF TUNDE JOHNSON, a wealthy, Nigerian-American teenager is pulled over by police, shot to death, and immediately awakens, trapped in a terrifying time loop that forces him to confront difficult truths about his life and himself. Tackling the social issues of racism, police brutality, LGBTQ+ acceptance, mental health and addiction, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson confronts these seminal issues, all too prevalent in American society.
What a makes a voice "gay?" This witty, entertaining look at a controversial topic features candid interviews with Dan Savage, David Sedaris, George Takei, and Margaret Cho.