June is Pride Month! Pride is celebrated each year in June in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, opens a new window. This month is dedicated to celebrating the lives and achievements of the LGBTQ+ community and to recognize their ongoing efforts in creating a safe space for all.
Start your celebration with San Mateo County Libraries at the 2023 San Mateo County’s 11th Annual Pride Celebration on Saturday, June 10 from 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM, opens a new window at San Mateo Central Park. We will have a booth at the celebration!
Upcoming Author Events
Meet Bettina Aptheker, Author of Communists in Closets
In this special LGBTQ+ themed author talk, we are excited to connect with famed author, activist and Distinguished Professor Emerita Bettina Aptheker and her new book, Communists in Closets, Queering the History 1930s-1990s. The book explores the history of gay, lesbian and non-heterosexual people in the Communist Party in the United States. The Communist Party banned lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from membership beginning in 1938 when it cast them off as “degenerates.” It persisted in this policy until 1991. Bettina’s book tells the stories of those who were forced to live in this very segmented “closet.”
Virtual Author Event with Bettina Aptheker on Saturday, June 10 at 11:00 AM
Meet Lio Min, Author of Beating Heart Baby
Lio Min has devoted their life to writing about music, magic and sadness at the locus of queer youth culture and metamorphic Asia America. Their culture reporting and fiction have appeared in The FADER, the Asian American Writers' Workshop, and Them., among others. Their debut YA novel Beating Heart Baby, which The Los Angeles Times called "alive with ache, grief, hunger, love, pain and awe," follows two boys as they fall in and out of internet friendships, first love, family, fandom and reckon with the relationship between identity and art.
Virtual Author Event with Lio Min on Tuesday, June 27 at 6:30 PM
Celebrate at the Library
Pride Art Workshop With Ginger
Come draw and create Pride buttons with artist Ginger (@Komunhorangi). Learn tips and tricks on shading, coloring and more! Create your own or use a template.
Friday, June 9, 2:00 PM at Millbrae Library
Friday, June 11, 12:00 PM at Belmont Library
Sunday, June 11, 12:00 PM at Brisbane Library
Saturday, June 17, 2:30 PM at Pacifica Sharp Park Library
Saturday, June 24, 2:00 PM at Foster City Library
El Camino Reelers
All are welcome to this free introductory square dance session led by the El Camino Reelers, opens a new window, a historic LGBTQ Modern Western Square Dance group based in Palo Alto. Dress with comfort or pride as seasoned square dancers show us the ropes!
Monday, June 12, 6:30 PM at Belmont Library
Thursday, June 21, 6:30 PM at Portola Valley Library
Thursday, June 22, 6:30 PM at San Carlos Library
Creative Chalk Art for Pride
Decorate the library patio with chalk to creatively celebrate Pride Month.
Friday, June 2, 3:00 PM at Brisbane Library
Tie Dye T-Shirts
Celebrate Pride month with us by tie dying a t-shirt! All supplies provided by the library.
Wednesday, June 7, 3:30 PM at Portola Valley Library
Creative Pride
Creatively design your own sticker and button for Pride Month in the Makerspace. For youth and families.
Wednesday, June 14, 2:30 PM at Brisbane Library
Celebrate Virtually
Art Talk – Expressions of Gender in Asian Arts
Come join us virtually at this docent lecture by the Asian Art Museum and explore some of the fascinating ways various Asian cultures have represented people and deities as male, female and non-binary.
Monday, June 12, 7:00 PM
Virtual Poetry Night Featuring Zara Jamshed
Belmont Poetry Night invites you in the theme: ‘Queeroes’ celebrating Pride Month in poetry with the community. Let us honor queer poets of the past and every queer person in the present, who is a hero and an inspiration in the world of poetry & beyond. Featuring poet, Zara Jamshed. Hosted by Belmont Poet Laureate, Monica Korde.
Tuesday, June 20, 7:00 PM
Read This!
Check out our reading lists curated by staff for all ages that cover books on self-discovery, romance, memoirs and time travel!
Celebrate this June by delving into our Pride reading book list! These children's titles range from picture books to graphic novels and chapter books, but they all took us on journeys of self-discovery!
Celebrate this June by delving into our Pride reading booklist!
Celebrate this June by delving into our Pride reading book list! We loved the super wide range of genres in these adult books, covering everything from memoir, to romance to time travel!
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