In recognition of LGBT Pride Month in June, Madison Public Library will celebrate with thoughtful discussion, inclusive events, and additional sessions of last year’s popular Drag Queen Storytime.

Madison Public Library provides free and equitable access to cultural and educational experiences. The library celebrates ideas, promotes creativity, connects people, and enriches lives, with an emphasis on promoting literacy and equity in library collections, services, and programs.

Events in celebration of LGBT Pride month include:

Perfect Harmony Men’s Chorus presents Love and Stonewall
June 8, 10:30-11:30am – Alicia Ashman Library, 733 N. High Point Rd.
Fifty years ago this June, bar patrons and community members said “no more!” to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn and fought back, starting the modern LGBTQ rights movement. PHMC’s spring concert titled “Love and Stonewall” features as centerpiece the multi-movement piece “Quiet No More: A Choral Celebration of Stonewall,” which commemorates that anniversary. Perfect Harmony will perform selected movements from this new musical work, as well as other thematically similar songs, such as "Make Them Hear You" from the musical Ragtime. Perfect Harmony Men's Chorus creates, enriches, and transforms community through music. Its singing membership of 35 serves as the Madison areas gay, bi, trans, queer, and ally men's chorus. This event is funded by a grant from Beyond the Page, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Madison Community Foundation.

Drag Queen Storytime
June 15, 9:30-11 am - Sequoya Library, 4340 Tokay Blvd.
June 29, 10-11:30 am – Lakeview Library, 2845 Sherman Ave. [this event is bilingual English/Spanish]
Bring your fabulous self and celebrate diversity, differences, and imagination through fun, age-appropriate stories, songs, and activities with local drag performers. This program is intended for families with children of all ages, and grownups must be accompanied by a child.

Common Chords Performance
June 29, 11:00-11:30am – Sequoya Library, 4340 Tokay Blvd.
Common Chords, the outreach ensemble of Perfect Harmony Men's Chorus, performs acapella hits for your listening enjoyment! Perfect Harmony Men's Chorus creates, enriches, and transforms community through music. Its singing membership of 35 serves as the Madison areas gay, bi, trans, queer, and ally men's chorus.

Wisconsin Book Festival Presents We’ve Been Here All Along with Richard Wagner
June 25, 7-8pm – Central Library, 201 W. Mifflin St.
The first of two groundbreaking volumes on gay history in Wisconsin, We've Been Here All Along provides an illuminating and nuanced picture of Wisconsin's gay history from the reporting on the Oscar Wilde trials of 1895 to the landmark Stonewall Riots of 1969. Throughout these decades, gay Wisconsinites developed identities, created support networks, and found ways to thrive in their communities despite various forms of suppression--from the anti-vice crusades of the early twentieth century, to the post-war labeling of homosexuality as an illness, to the Lavender Scare of the 1950s. In We've Been Here All Along, R. Richard Wagner draws on historical research and materials from his own extensive archive to uncover previously hidden stories of gay Wisconsinites. This book honors their legacy and confirms that they have been fundamental to the development and evolution of the state since its earliest days.

​Discover other resources at madisonpubliclibrary.org/pride.  Some Madison libraries will also celebrate with in-house library material displays during part or all of the month of June.