Pride month is a time to celebrate the lives and contributions of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. It's also a great time to acknowledge the history of the 2SLGBTQIA+ rights movement.
Pride month is observed in June to honour the historic Stonewall riots that took place in June 1969. This protest was led by trans and lesbian women after a police raid on a gay bar in New York City. The riots quickly evolved into an international gay liberation movement. Since this initial movement, Canada has made many strides in 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, including Bill C-150 which decriminalized being openly gay in Canada (1969), legalized gay marriage (2005) and added gender identity and expression under the Canadian Human Rights Act (2017).
This Pride month take time to understand the history, accomplishments and ongoing struggles that the 2SLGBTQIA+ community faces today.
Kitchener Public Library Resources
Upcoming Programs
Monday, June 2 at 3 p.m. at Country Hills Library
Queer KPL: Cooking for Community
Monday, June 9 at 6:30 p.m. at Southwest Library
Queer History by Button Workshop
Saturday, June 14 at 3 p.m. at Central Library
Queer KPL: Family Pride Breakfast with Spectrum
Saturday, June 21 at 10 a.m. at Southwest Library
Queer KPL: Basic Kitchen Skills
Monday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Southwest Library
Curated Reading Lists
There are a variety of titles that highlight 2SLGBTQIA+ voices and stories available at Kitchener Public Library. Browse our list for children and our list for adults.
Local History Collections
The Grace Schmidt Room of Local History holds the Ron Welker Collection and the newly acquired Grand River Rainbow Collection.
The Grand River Rainbow Collection is a rare collection of historical items that chronicle the organizing of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities around the Grand River. It was donated by Spectrum, Waterloo Region's rainbow community space. Discover it in the Grace Schmidt Room of Local History or view the digitized collection.
Waterloo Region has many locations that are significant to our local 2SLGBTQIA+ history. Use our QueerKPL Bike Tour to take a journey through time and explore our local history collections!
Queer KPL Postcards and Zine:
QueerKPL is a chapter within Kitchener Public Library that provides 2SLGBTQIA+ programming and opportunities to highlight the stories of this community. Some of our projects have included the QueerKPL Postcards and the QueerKPL Zine.
In 2024, the QueerKPL Postcards project gathered stories from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in partnership with Spectrum and OK2BME. We encouraged the queer community to respond to the prompt "If you could tell something to your younger self (or a young queer person), what would it be?" People shared their responses on postcards that featured historic photos from the Ron Welker Collection. We recently digitized the QueerKPL Postcards and are excited to launch it this Pride month! Explore the digitized postcards to see what our local 2SLGBTQIA+ community shared.
The QueerKPL Zine program brought the 2SLGBTQIA+ community together to create a visual expression of our queer community. People wrote, collaged and made art together for the 2024 volume of the QueerKPL zine. Check out these excerpts from the zine!
2SLGBTQIA+ Friendly Wedding and Event Venue
Central Library and Southwest Library are beautiful spaces to exchange your wedding vows. Say “I do” surrounded by the greatest love stories of all time! Both locations are a fully accessible with inclusive washrooms for all your event needs. All love is welcome here. Learn more about venue rentals at Kitchener Public Library.
Photo courtesy of Liam Good Visuals.
Community Resources
- Gender Variant Working Group (GVMG)
- Glow Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity
- OK2BME
- Spectrum
- Tri-Pride
- Willow River Centre
There are so many great ways to celebrate Pride Month! We hope you enjoy exploring these resources in our community and at Kitchener Public Library.