Each year, French Connection celebrates Pride Month in various different ways with a common goal of raising awareness, and bringing people together. Given the unique circumstances we’re in, our efforts have been taken online where we are providing different resources for donations, activism purposes, and a round up of iconic and educational books, films, and podcasts. Media that reflects the experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals and their history can have a profound effect not only on an LGBTQ+ audience, but also for those who don’t identify as such, and can provide a means to empathize with and better understand the LGBTQ+ identity. Scroll on down to show your support and celebrate NYC’s Pride Weekend the right way.
Movies
Call Me By Your Name
directed by Luca Guadagnino
Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name this movie portrays an understated honesty that comes with discovering your sexuality at a young age. The beauty of Call Me By Your Name is that anyone can relate to it - the feeling of falling in love for the first time and the fear, hope, joy, and hurt that go with it.
The Life & Death of Marsha P. Johnson
directed by David France
The film follows Marsha P. Johnson, a pillar of the LGBTQ community and freedom fighter who was at the epicenter of the gay liberation movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Few people know the story of her death which many believes was unfairly ruled a suicide. This is required viewing for anyone who wants to know more about the history of this community.
Moonlight
directed by Barry Jenkins
Set in Miami’s Liberty City neighborhood, Moonlight follows the youth, adolescence, and adulthood of Chiron in three definitive acts. In each the movie explores and discusses queerness and masculinity in the black community, a subject that isn’t often touched upon in cinema.
Tangerine
directed by Sean Baker
Tangerine is brash and brave in the way it presents its two fiery heroines as fiercely individualistic trans women trying to survive the streets of Los Angeles via any means necessary. The movie was praised for its authentic portrayal of transgender characters that were actually played by trans actors, something still very rare in today’s films.
Blue Is the Warmest Color
directed by Abdellatif Kechiche
This story of two teenage girls falling in (and out) of love is an intense coming-of-age drama. Not many films are as upfront about its sexuality as this one, something the director was both praised and criticized for. However, it helps normalize and romanticize what may still feel alien to some.
Paris Is Burning
directed by Jennie Livingston
This documentary gives a magical and eye opening look into the 1980s New York City ballroom scene and “house” culture that defined it. Many phrases and cultural phenomena that include dance, makeup, and fashion that are still popular today can be traced back to the ball culture of that time.
Books
Giovanni’s Room
written by James Baldwin
Considered one of the most influential novels dealing openly with homosexuality, Giovanni’s Room has resonated with the queer community since it was first published in 1956. The story revolves around a young American man living in Paris, his feelings and frustrations with his relationships. Even though a lot has changed since, many aspects of life, love, and heartbreak that Baldwin wrote about, have still remained the same. As he himself said, the book is about what happens to you if you’re afraid to love anybody.
Rubyfruit Jungle
written by Rita Mae Brown
Many see Rita Mae Brown’s 1973 coming-of-age novel as an iconic work of LGBT literature. Rubyfruit Jungle is brazen and brave. It’s a frank discussion of sexuality and a true celebration of being true to yourself, whoever that may be.
You Exist Too Much
written by Zaina Arafat
This powerful novel follows a queer Palestinian American woman from adolescence to adulthood as she pushes the limits of desire. Told in stories that shift back and forth between the Middle East and the US, You Exist Too Much charts two of our most intense longings - for love and a place to call home.
The Tradition
written by Jericho Brown
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this poetic exploration of fatherhood, blackness, identity, and what freedom really costs cuts right to the core of a national reckoning that's long past due.
Under the Udala Trees
written by Chinelo Okparanta
After getting displaced by civil war in Nigeria, a young girl falls in love with a fellow refugee. They're from different cultures, different places, and they're the same gender. Inspired by Nigeria’s folktales and its civil war, Under the Udala Trees is a powerful and deeply moving story about identity, prejudice, and forbidden love.
Fairest: A Memoir
written by Meredith Talusan
Fairest is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism from a rural Philippine village who grows up to become a woman in America. Talusan grapples beautifully and seriously with questions of identity, gender, race, migration, privilege, and belonging. Her evocative reflections are bound to shift our own perceptions of these themes.
Podcasts
Nancy
Nancy is an exploration of what it means to be LGBTQ in a radically changing world. The show possesses This American Life vibes and shares surprising personal stories from both allies queer people who aren't always passed the mainstream mic.
One From the Vaults
Host Morgan M. Page has created a vital resource for the LGBTQ community. His exquisitely researched interviews show how the history of trans people is threaded throughout the history of the world.
Las Culturistas
Join Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang and their special guests as they discuss the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas.
The Ten
Hosted by The Advocate's Editor-in-Chief, Zach Stafford, The Ten looks at the biggest stories of the week through a queer lens.
Making Gay History
The Making Gay History podcast mines Eric Marcus’s decades old audio archive of rare interviews — conducted for his award-winning oral history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement — to create intimate, personal portraits of both known and long-forgotten champions, heroes, and witnesses to history.
Activism
GLSEN
GLSEN is the leading national education organization that works to transform K-12 schools into safe and affirming environments and ensure that LGBTQ students are able to learn and grow in a school environment free from bullying and harassment.
Donate
Gill Foundation
The Gill Foundation is one of the nation’s leading funders of efforts to secure full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Their focus lies in securing change to administrative policies at the state level.
Donate
Callen-Lorde Community Health Center
Callen-Lorde has been on the front lines of LGBTQ healthcare for the past five decades, pioneering HIV/AIDS treatment, transgender care, and LGBTQ health research that extends far past its home base in New York. Callen-Lorde also works to train the global medical community on how to better provide ethical, compassionate, and competent care for the LGBTQ community.
Donate
Ali Forney Center
The Ali Forney Center was established in 2002 and has since grown into the largest agency dedicated to LGBTQ youth homelessness in the country. Headquartered in New York, AFC works to provide shelter, clothing, hygiene supplies, employment and education assistance, and healthcare to LGBTQ youth ages 16-24.
Donate
SAGE
SAGE is a national advocacy organization that provides services for and amplifies the political concerns of LGBTQ elders. The lack of support young queer people can face can stretch on into their older years, when issues around health and accessibility can become compounded. Sage also provides cultural competency training for healthcare providers and others providing services to older adults.
Donate
The Transgender District
Founded by three Black trans women in 2017, the Transgender District is the first legally recognized transgender district in the world. Encompassing six blocks in San Francisco, this collective works to economically empower the trans community while educating and celebrating the legacy of the transgender movement.
Donate