Happy Pride, QLL!

It’s the best time of year again - the time where we celebrate as loud and proud as we can. The time of year where we ask for your help to keep us going for another year. It's time for the QLL Pride Fundraiser!

56 years ago this month, queer bar patrons at the Stonewall Inn stood up to oppressive policing and unjust laws about love and gender expression. They fought back. The Gay Liberation Front, one of the groups that inspired QLL’s name, was born not long after, and the queer movement became an unstoppable, unavoidable force in the world.

This month, we’re honoring that legacy and putting the queer community first after a turbulent year. We want to turn the spotlight around and shine it back on you, our amazing community! QLL isn’t just one thing. We’re not just a steering committee of friends in a trenchcoat or a group of dedicated volunteers. 

QLL is you, our members, our community, who inspire us to relentlessly pursue our mission. So imagine us all as part of a constellation, or a mycelium network, or whatever your collaborative community of choice might be. We each play our part to join together and hold strong when the going gets tough. We fight back together.

We’re asking you to give what you can to keep QLL growing this Pride. This year, our goal is a lofty $50,000, and we’ve got a fun incentive to encourage you to ask your people to join you!

Have you ever wished you could choose a book to add to the QLL collection? Well, this Pride Fundraiser, you can! We’re introducing Fundraising Teams! If you’d like to be a team leader, you can click "Start A Team" on this page to create a team. Then, you and your friends can work together to pool your donations to the fundraiser and win the ability to choose a title to be added to the QLL collection. There are three requirements for the book choice: 

• The title must be available in OverDrive for us to purchase

• The title must align with our Collection Development Policy

• Your team must fundraise $300 to select a title

You get to choose the title and the format. You could also opt to add another copy of a book that’s already in the collection. If your team manages to double it and get $600 - well that’s a second book you and your team get to select! Team Leaders will be contacted in July/August to make their selections on behalf of their team.

The vibrant, flourishing queer future we’re building depends on all of us, and we are so grateful to be in community with you during Pride and always.

Be safe, be proud!