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Current and upcoming events, hours and policies, staff recs, links, and More!

Weekly Themes

The Walt Whitman Archive
Origin Of Love
From "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" ...We've all heard "origin" stories- the stories different cultures come up with to explain something's existence. This little gem is sort of like that, but ties in the mythology from most of the great civilizations from western antiquity.
Should History Textbooks "out" Historical Figures?
The Turing Archive
Article on Alan Turing's contribution to computer science by ©B. Jack Copeland, Diane Proudfoot
Alan Turing, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
U.K. Will Posthumously Pardon Thousands Of Gay And Bisexual Men
This piece is excruciating and worth every second spent reading it. Anyone who has seen the movie "The Imitation Game" knows who Alan Turing was- and if you don't all you need to know is that he was one of those crucial individuals who may have tipped the balance of WW2 in favor of the allies. However, despite his incredible contribution, his own country made his life unbearable, and can be directly held accountable for his suicide. An important lesson in what happens when we rope off swathes of society- what we lose, and the suffering we can cause.
Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders
Pride Flags and Foreign Policy: U.S. Diplomats See Shift on Gay Rights
New York Times article By Ernesto Londoño
June 9, 2019
'Homophiles': Before Stonewall, there was a growing gay rights movement
June 10, 2019, 6:56 AM EDT
By Ben Kesslen
How the homophobic media covered the 1969 Stonewall uprising
Written for the Washington Post By Gillian Brockell June 8
LBGTQ TV: A history of gay characters, from Stonewall to 'Batwoman'
By Brian Lowry, CNN

2:28 PM ET, Fri June 7, 2019
True Crime Obsessed Podcast
If you're a True Crime fan, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of material out there- and it can get depressing. This is a fantastic, super fun podcast which dissects current True Crime documentaries/docu-series and describes them in hilarious detail. It keeps you as informed about the documentary-du-jour as someone who watched it, but without having to spend hours in front of the TV or getting depressed. Gillian and Patrick are a painfully funny, and if you're like me and want to watch one of the new true crime documentaries that is released, but can't afford a subscription to every single streaming service, then they save the day (and, when it comes to the super long series, time). Anyways, since it is pride month, I figured I'd add a True Crime podcast rec! (Since the nature of the material is graphic, I'll also add that they do use "colorful" language, and this podcast probably shouldn't be listened to with children).

"Bathroom Bill"
Wikipedia page that looks at the first so-called "bathroom bill" in North Carolina, and how the legislation spread.

Food for thought: Should we avoid the conversation of sexual orientation? An argument could be made that there is no reason to include the sexual orientation of major historical figures- that their orientation is irrelevant to their accomplishments, and similarly, it's rude to ask people their orientation as it's none of our business. On the other side of the issue is the argument that of course we should include the sexual orientation when discussing historical figures, and of course we should know the orientation of those around us- it's a major part of a persons, identity, so why should we ignore it?

Did you know?
It's true what they say assumptions make of me and you. Did you make assumptions about the sexual orientation of these people? Does their orientation change the way you perceive them? If so, is it a positive or negative change?
MASTERPIECE CAKESHOP, LTD., ET AL. v. COLORADO CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION ET AL
Supreme Court written opinion on the wedding cake case that drew the attention of the entire country. The court sided with the cake-maker, stating that because his religious beliefs held that a union between a same-sex couple was wrong, he was not obligated to create a cake for them under the freedom of the first amendment. Critics of this decision argue that this is not a case about freedom of speech or religion, but rather a case of discrimination.
Supreme Court opinion on Same-Sex Marriage
The official Supreme Court opinion on the ruling which upheld that states must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

'Homophiles': Before Stonewall, there was a growing gay rights movement
June 10, 2019, 6:56 AM EDT
By Ben Kesslen
Americans’ views flipped on gay rights. How did minds change so quickly?
June 7 article from the Washington Post By Samantha Schmidt
NYPD apologizes for 1969 raid at the Stonewall Inn that sparked gay rights movement
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
JUN 06, 2019 | 2:35 PM
| NEW YORK
The lavender scare: How the federal government purged gay employees
Story produced by Kay M. Lim and Julie Kracov.

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Young and Gay in Putin's Russia (Part 1/5)
VICE
Published on Jan 13, 2014

LGBT Life Around The World

'Homophiles': Before Stonewall, there was a growing gay rights movement
June 10, 2019, 6:56 AM EDT
By Ben Kesslen
Pride Flags and Foreign Policy: U.S. Diplomats See Shift on Gay Rights
New York Times article By Ernesto Londoño
June 9, 2019
Hong Kong Court Issues Landmark Ruling in a Victory for LGBT Rights
BY ASSOCIATED PRESS JUNE 6, 2019
Globally, Support for Gay Rights Is Growing
U.S. News & World Report
Article By Sintia Radu, International Affairs Reporter June 7, 2019, at 1:19 p.m.
Japan Opposition Parties Submit Same-Sex Marriage Bill
Written for Bloomberg By Emi Nobuhiro
June 3, 2019, 3:13 AM EDT
Taiwan’s parliament passes historic same-sex marriage law
Written for VOX By Jen Kirbyjen.kirby@vox.com May 17, 2019, 1:00pm EDT
The tortuous path to gay marriage in Taiwan
Article from The Economist May 23rd 2019
Botswana to rule on scrapping anti-gay laws
Written for "France24" Gaborone (Botswana) (AFP) Date created : 10/06/2019 - 03:57
Gay rights in Kenya: 'Why our fight isn't over'
25 May 2019 for BBC News
Israelis Stage Mass Wedding to Advocate for Gay Rights
The Associated Press and Haaretz Jun 05, 2019 3:58 PM
Thousands rally in Northern Ireland in support of gay marriage
May 20, 2019, 11:40 AM EDT
By Reuters
Uproar Over Ad with Gay Couple Shows Hong Kong Lags in LGBT Rights
By Bruce Einhorn and Natalie Lung
May 21, 2019, 5:00 PM EDT
China embraced gay ‘marriage’ centuries ago – until the West perverted history
Inkstone |Translating China | Written by SARAH NGU

How homosexuality benefits evolution

The Invention of Heterosexuality

Everything Is Beautiful, and I'm Not Afraid

The Gender Game

The Sentinel

A fantastic book that winds an utterly compelling story between present-day Spain and Spain under Franco's dictatorship. The heroine is a no-nonsense, hardworking forensic investigator, and the story begins with her being called to a mass grave hidden in an abandoned mine-shaft. While one gets the feeling that she would face sexual harassment at work regardless of her orientation, the fact that she is a lesbian isn't the primary focus of this series, though it does play into some of the intense, edge-of-your-seat plot twists that Oldfield is so adept at seamlessly weaving into the story.