Hello and welcome to Episode Fifty of Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. I'm your host, Hannah!
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The English Language Transcript can be found below
But as always we start with Reader's Advisory!
The Reader's Advisory for Episode Fifty is Em by Kim Thúy. If you like the sound of Em you should also check out: The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen, America is Not the Heart by Elaine Castillo, and Like a Love Story by Abdi Nazemian.
Bonus segment my personal favorite Goodreads list Em is on is REALLY Underrated Books (Fewer Than 1,000 Ratings)
Happy Reading Everyone
Today’s Library Tidbit is a history tidbit! Specifically, the history of and highlighting modern day celebration of Pride.
Pride is the celebration and recognition of LGBTQIA people and rights. It began in New York City but has since spread across the globe. In areas of the world where there are more LGBTQIA social acceptance and rights Pride tends to be a celebration. In areas of the world where there are few or no LGBTQIA social acceptance and rights Pride is protest. This is a simplification as of course there will always be some celebrating when LGBTQIA people gather together and there will always be protest when LGBTQIA people gather together. LGBTQIA people are still fighting for basic human rights everywhere.
The most famous initiating event for Pride was the Stonewall Uprising. While there had been protests in Chicago and California prior to June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Uprising is the protest that is gained the most publicity and sparked the most change. LGBTQIA people have faced a great deal of discrimination throughout modern history. For one example, in the 1960s everyone had to be wearing at least 3 articles of clothing of their assumed, by police, gender and if the police decided that they were not they were arrested and jailed. Just a reminder, clothing does not have a gender, so this was used to harass and imprison everyone in the LGBTQIA community at will.
The Stonewall Inn was a popular bar for the LGBTQIA community in New York. The Inn was run by the mafia who did not particularly care who used the space as long as they paid. It had no running water and was in general not in great shape. It was routinely raided by the police looking to harass and imprison people for being gay or trans or just not the right sort. On June 28th 1969, the police raided once again, but this time something different happened. As people were being loaded into police wagons a woman yelled to the standing crowd “Why don’t you guys do something?” and so they did.
The next 3 days the LGBTQIA community of New York protested against the hate crimes and police brutality they had been facing for their entire lives. But what started as loosely organized protesting soon coalesced into a movement and organized activism. Over the next few years groups formed to fight in a more organized way for gay rights in society and politics.
One year after the Stonewall Uprising one of these groups through what was called the Christopher Street Liberation Day march. Christopher being the street the Stonewall Inn is on. Simultaneously there were Gay Pride marches happening in Los Angeles and Chicago that year as well. Since then every year Gay Pride marches have grown and spread from across the US to across the globe.
Locally, St Pete Pride is the largest of the Pride gatherings. The event started in 2003 after Tampa cancelled their Pride event. What started as a modest parade down Central Ave has grown into a months long celebration with multiple events highlighting different groups of people within the LGBTQIA community. While the Mayor at the time would not sign a proclamation the now current Mayor, and then City Council member, Rick Kriseman, did sign a proclamation for the event.
In 2017, the parade route was moved from the Grand Central District to the do...
