What’s your favorite book with a LGBTQ+ connection? Tell Chalkbeat for Pride Month.

Students protest in support of the LGBTQIA community outside of their school, holding Pride flags and signs.
The San Pedro High School Pride Club, Fem Fellowship, and Pirate Dancers participated in a silent parade and a Break the Silence Rally on campus in San Pedro, California on Friday, April 22. (Brittany Murray / MediaNews Group / Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)

For Pride month, Chalkbeat wants to celebrate diverse LGBTQ+ identities and experiences by exploring the power of representation in literature, especially at a time when educators face new limits on the types of stories they can share in the classroom. 

Efforts to ban books considered obscene or divisive are censoring the narratives of racial and LGBTQ+ identities, according to Pen America, an organization that advocates for freedom of expression. The discussion of critical race theory, an academic framework that examines how policies and the law perpetuate systemic racism, has led to 36 states enacting legislation that restricts the teaching of race and racism. And restrictions like Florida’s recent “Don’t Say Gay” law prohibit lessons about gender and sexual identity in kindergarten through third grade. Florida’s law inspired other states to enact legislation that threatens to marginalize LGBTQ+ kids by restricting the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues in history and removing books with themes of sexuality and gender from school libraries. 

But stories with diverse characters and themes help adolescents feel seen. Diverse literature is vital for kids’ personal development and identity formation, according to the Urban Libraries Council, as stories are mirrors in which people see reflections of themselves. 

Chalkbeat wants to hear from students, teachers, and members of the LGBTQ+ community about what Pride means to you, how you think of your identity, and how diverse storytelling affects you.  

Tell us: What is your favorite novel or short story featuring an LGBTQ+ narrative or character? We might include your suggestion in a book list.

We look forward to receiving your submissions on the form below; the deadline is Wednesday, July 13th, at the end of the day. Questions? We’re always listening at community@chalkbeat.org.

If you are having trouble viewing this form, go here.

The Latest

The Education Department threatened the federal funding of states that wouldn’t comply with the administration’s anti-DEI interpretation of civil rights law. With that demand paused, states are suing to end it entirely.

A presentation used to brief school board members and obtained by Chalkbeat outlined potential cuts, many of which include staff and programs supported by federal COVID relief money. District officials and school board members look to lobby City Hall and Illinois lawmakers for funding.

Republicans have proposed school safety reforms and more public school access for home-schooling students. Democratic proposals include restrictions on school building closures.

New and existing charter schools will go before authorizers to ask for new campuses in the city, mergers, and more. Some schools won’t open until the fall, but public meetings are getting underway.

The Trump administration has sought to exert greater federal control over higher education. Researchers visiting Denver rallied at the Capitol against the president’s actions.

Detroit Superintendent Nikolai Vitti is urging the district community to reach out to lawmakers to express their concerns about potential education funding cuts.