History and resistance: 10 recommended reads for Pride Month

Libraries staff

To support the UM community in learning and reflection, UM Libraries recommends the following reading for Pride Month.

UM is committed to being an inclusive and welcoming space for all 2SLGBTQIA+ students, staff and faculty. UM’s Pride celebrations, including participation in the annual Pride Winnipeg Parade, is a reflection of our continued support for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, celebration and allyship.

UM Libraries is committed to building collections that recognize new perspectives and diverse ways of knowing. Explore these works of Canadian authors and activists on the theme of “history and resistance.”

Librarians Corser du Pont and Janice Winkler selected all resources below. All resources are accessible for free with a library account.

Written by UM's own Liz Millward, Making a Scene documents the lesbian movement that developed in Canada between 1964 and 1984. Not just a story of big-city life, it chronicles the spaces lesbians created across rural and urban Canada, from physical locations – such as lesbian and gay centres, drop-ins at women’s centres, communal houses, bookstores, bars, cafés, and private members’ clubs – to the ephemeral sites women travelled to in order to meet each other – such as conferences, workshops, festivals, and Dykes in the Streets marches.

Prairie Fairies: a history of queer communities and people in western Canada, 1930-1985 by Valerie Korinek draws upon a wealth of oral, archival, and cultural histories to recover the experiences of queer urban and rural people in the prairies - including in Winnipeg!

A two-spirit journey: The autobiography of a lesbian Ojibwa-Cree elder by Ma-Nee Chacaby and Louise Plummer

From her early, often harrowing memories, Ma-Nee Chacaby's extraordinary story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the legacies of colonialism. Winner of Canada Reads 2025 and published by University of Manitoba Press.

The formation of the Manitoba Gay and Lesbian Archives is a symbolic culmination of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Two-spirited, and Queer individuals and organizations recording people’s history. Through this active approach to preservation and self-awareness, an outstanding body of knowledge exists today on the life, literature, art, philosophy and history of the Winnipeg LGBTTQ community dating back to the 1920s. 

Canada likes to present itself as a paragon of gay rights. Disrupting queer inclusion: Canadian homonationalisms and the politics of belonging, edited by OmiSoore H. Dryden, Suzanne Lenon and Julian Awwad, contends that Canada’s acceptance of gay rights, while being beneficial to some, obscures and abets multiple forms of oppression to the detriment and exclusion of some queer and trans bodies.

Out North: An Archive of Queer Activism and Kinship in Canada  by Craig Jennex and Nisha Eswaran is a fascinating exploration and examination of one nation’s queer history and activism, and Canada’s definitive visual guide to LGBTQ2+ movements, struggles, and achievements.

“Two-Spirit Resistance and Resurgence in Winnipeg” by Chantal Fiola and Albert McLeod, chapter in Indigenous resistance and development in Winnipeg edited by Shauna MacKinnon and Kathy Mallet.

Exploring the rich historical grounding of Indigenous peoples grassroots organizing developed through resistance and community work, Indigenous Resistance & Development in Winnipeg 1960-2000 traces Indigenous city development through the decades, encompassing generations of Indigenous community organizers. It is the first book that recounts Winnipeg history exclusively through the impactful development and resistance work of Indigenous people and organizations.

Trans hirstory in 99 objects , edited by David Evans Frantz, Christina Linden and Chris Vargas, is a compelling exploration of trans art, activism, and resistance. Spanning over four centuries, this volume brings together a wide-ranging selection of artworks and artifacts that highlight the under-recognized histories of trans and gender-nonconforming communities. Through the contributions of artists, writers, poets, activists, and scholars, this title reflects on historical erasure and imagines trans futures.

Parade: Queer Acts of Love and Resistance is a documentary that captures pivotal moments that sparked Canada's 2SLGBTQI+ movement, honouring the activists and elders whose resistance led to the rights we have today.

For help finding resources on a specific topic, contact a subject librarian.

History and resistance: 10 recommended reads for Pride Month

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