Every June the LGBTQ community comes together and celebrates Pride month. It's an opportunity for everyone in communities and towns across America to celebrate with them while embracing, supporting, engaging and learning more about the LGBTQ community. Typically Pride Month celebrations include things like large pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, and concerts, it's also celebrated in locations around the world. There are so many more in-person events this year, also check the for the most up to date Pride event listings. No matter the size of the celebration, big or small it's important for us to support our LGBTQ community and their rights.
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The History behind Pride Month:
Pride Month is celebrated in June as a way to commemorated the Stonewall riots also known as the Stonewall uprising that took place early, on June 28, 1969 in New York. On the one year anniversary of of the Stonewall action, thousands of people marched in the streets of New York, this was considered America's first Gay Pride Pride Parade.
Before Stonewall:
What happened at Stonewall was a significant event in the history of the LGBTQ community's fight for equal rights, just like any important movement there were many other significant and lesser known events that happened before and after.
Going back a decade before Stonewall, there was another defining act of resistance early on that added a spark to the fight for LGBTQ rights - this one closer to home. One evening in May, 1959 in the Skid Row area of Downtown Los Angeles there was an act of resistance at Cooper Do-Nuts, this incident also sparked another small uprising nearby later that evening, read more about it here and here. Then sometime in August of 1966 there was the Compton's Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco. Another local event . . . on February 11, 1967, 200 people gathered outside the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles for an organized public demonstration against the earlier actions by the police at the same location on Midnight, New Year's Eve in 1967. Read more about it here: LGBTQ History Made in Los Angeles: Cooper Do-Nuts and the Black Cat Tavern. These are but a few events on the road to LGBTQ civil rights.
- Just before Pride month is Harvey Milk Day, it's celebrated on May 22. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay politician in California and a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement.
- Learn about the Stonewall National Monument in New York.
Learn more about the history of the LGBTQ movement here and by clicking on the links above.
 Books are a great way to start a discussion at home with your kids about acceptance and understanding while discussing LGBTQ rights and what it means to be an ally. |
LGBTQ+ Book recommendations for kids and teens:
- Macaroni KID: LGBTQ+ Pride Month Book Suggestions for Kids, Teens and Young Adults
- Ventura County Library: PRIDE - Youth Titles
- L.A. County Library: LGBTQ+ Books selections for Kids | Teens | Adults
- Thousand Oaks Library Staff Picks: Rainbow Book Month from picture books to adult
- Santa Monica Library: LGBTQIA+ Picture Books for Kids | Read with Pride books for youth | Books for Elementary School Students | Lit for Young Adults
- MaiStoryBook: Celebrate Pride Month 2023: Books, Craft, Interactive Read Alouds
- Brightly: 30 Great LGBTQIA+ Books for Kids and Teens
- Today: 20 picture books to help you raise kind, tolerant kids - Books that celebrate pride and have a powerful message for any child
- Colours of Us: 90 Multicultural LGBTQIA Books for Children & Teenagers
- Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award, 2010-2023
- It's Okay to Be Different, by Todd Parr is one of my family's favorites
Note: Keep in mind that not all books are appropriate for all ages, use your own discretion.
- Many books have age recommendations available online.
- Visit Common Sense media for helpful reviews and detailed information about books, movies, TV and other media.
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Pride Celebrations - 2023
Local and nearby Pride events
- Visit the Macaroni KID Conejo Valley - Malibu - Calabasas event calendar for the latest local family fun things to do!
Confirmed Family Friendly Pride events:
- 🏳️🌈 Gay Men's Chorus - Free Concert 🎶June 17, 2023
- 🏳️🌈 Disney Pride in Concert 🎶June 24, 2023
- 🏳️🌈 Disney Pride in Concert 🎶June 25, 2023
Please note not all events listed are appropriate for all family members, use your own discretion.
- ABC7 PRIDE 365: Southern California LGBTQIA+ events
- WEHO Pride event calendar
- WEHO Pride Arts Festival through June 30, 2023
- LA Pride website
- Trans Pride LA 2023: Trans Town Hall, June 16, 2023 from 4:30 pm - 9:00 pm
- Trans Pride LA 2023: Festival, June 17, 2023 from 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm
- SaMo Pride - Santa Monica
- Pride for Camarillo: Sunday, June 25, 2023
- 2023 VC Pride: Ventura Dreamin', Saturday, August 19, 2023 at Plaza Park
LGBTQ Organizations and Resources
- Most LGBTQ are Cyberbullied. Here's How to Stay Safe Online
- Los Angeles LGBT Center: Offering programs, services, and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy.
- Beth Chayim Chadashim, Los Angeles: an affirming, nurturing, and brave Jewish space for LGBTQIA+ people, our friends, and our families. Founded in 1972 as the world’s first synagogue by and for gay and lesbian Jews, BCC is a thriving, progressive, and welcoming Reform Jewish space for the LGBTQIA+ community, our friends, and our families.
- MCC United Church of Christ in the Valley, North Hollywood: an inclusive and green Christian community of faith.
- The Wall Las Memorias, Los Angeles is a community health and wellness organization dedicated to serving Latino, LGBTQ and other under-served populations through advocacy, education and building the next generation of leadership.
- Ventura County Resources
- diversity collective: Ventura County's LGBTQ community
- PFLAG: The first and largest organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people, their parents and families, and allies. Local chapters: Oak Park / Conejo Valley | Los Angeles | Ventura
- Somos Familia Valle in Pacoima is a community organization created and led by local low-income first-generation college students who are LGBTQ + people of color and immigrants.
- ABC7 - LGBTQ+ Support Organizations
- ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries: The oldest continuing LGBTQ organization in the United States and the largest repository of LGBTQ materials in the world.
- June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives: The largest major archive on the West Coast dedicated to preserving and promoting lesbian and feminist history and culture. - Open now
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If you have additional events or resources to share please let me know, brennag@macaronikid.com
💙 Macaroni KID Conejo Valley - Malibu - Calabasas is a free resource for local families looking for things to do and information about local businesses and organizations and covers the towns of: Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Oak Park, Westlake Village, Thousand Oak, Newbury Park and Malibu. I will also include worthwhile information, events and activities, classes, fundraisers and other happenings in the nearby communities of Simi Valley, Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura, San Fernando Valley, greater Los Angeles and Southern California.
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Previously published in 2021, updated June 16, 2023
