Pride Month – an open access collection

June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate LGBTQ+ identities, reflect on the history of the movement and recognise the work still being done to advance equality and inclusion around the world. 

Originating from the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City, Pride has grown into a global moment that is at once a celebration, a protest and a call for continued progress. 

To mark Pride Month, we’ve curated a collection of open access titles spanning history, sociology, politics, gender theory and creative research. Here are five titles that reflect some of the different themes and approaches explored across the collection, highlighting how LGBTQ+ research spans disciplines, time periods and lived experience. 

1. The American LGBTQ Rights Movement: An Introduction by Kyle Morgan and Meg Rodriguez

A peer-reviewed, chronological survey of the LGBTQ+ fight for equal rights in the United States, this book traces the people, organisations and legal battles that shaped the movement from the early twentieth century to the present day. 

Personal narratives sit alongside historical photographs and institutional history, grounding political and legal developments in lived experience. Capturing both the sweep of the LGBTQ+ movement and the individual lives within it, the book has breadth for an introductory text, making it a strong entry point into American LGBTQ+ history and politics. 

2. Lesbian Mothers by Ellen Lewin

Based on interviews with 135 women in the San Francisco area, this book explores the everyday realities of lesbian motherhood, offering an intimate portrait of the attitudes, choices and daily lives of lesbian mothers. 

Lewin examines relationships, childcare, financial pressures and custody to build a portrait of lives shaped by both intimacy and institutional constraint. The interview-led approach and ethnographic depth give the book a vividness that makes it a distinctive contribution to sociology, gender studies and qualitative research more broadly. 

 3. Pride Parades and LGBT Movements by Abby Peterson, Mattias Wahlström and Magnus Wennerhag

Using survey data and qualitative interviews across eleven Pride parades in seven European countries and Mexico, this book examines who participates in Pride, what it means to them and how organisers navigate different political and cultural contexts. 

By situating these events within social movement theory, it moves beyond celebration to ask deeper questions about mobilisation, strategy and solidarity across national settings. As Pride continues to evolve across different political and cultural contexts, this book is a valuable resource for students of politics and sociology.

4. Queer Compassion in 15 Comics by Phillip Joy, Andrew Thomas and Megan Aston (eds.) 

This anthology brings together fifteen original comics created through collaboration between queer artists and social science researchers, exploring themes of community, belonging and compassion across a range of art styles and lived experiences. 

Rooted in qualitative research on beliefs and experiences of compassion within LGBTQ+ communities, each comic translates that research into visual storytelling. The format makes it an engaging read for courses in media studies, social work and health sciences, particularly those exploring participatory or creative research methods. 

5. Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography by Alicia Spencer-Hall and Blake Gutt (eds.)

This interdisciplinary collection examines trans and genderqueer figures in medieval hagiography, biographies describing the lives and veneration of saints or religious leaders, arguing that the genre’s resistance to rigid categories makes it a rich site for thinking about gender identity. 

Centring the work of emerging trans and genderqueer scholars, the collection reconnects modern trans identity to a longer and often overlooked history. This approach positions medieval studies as a productive and unexpected space for contemporary gender theory, with clear relevance for students of literary studies, history and gender studies. 

Looking for more LGBTQ+ reading? Explore our LGBT+ History Month collection or revisit our Pride 2024 picks. 

To access the full collection, you can get in touch with your Kortext Account Manager for more information. 

You don’t have to be an existing Kortext customer to benefit from our Open Resources Collection. To find out more, talk to us today.