October is LGBTQ History Month, and it’s a reminder that learning our history is crucial. In many countries around the world, it feels like progress is moving backwards in terms of LGBTQIA+ rights and acceptance. The fight is far from over. Learning about how the generations before us fought oppression while finding love, joy, and community can help us to build better strategies today.
Here at Book Riot, we’ve been recommending queer books from day one. So instead of writing a list of 5-10 queer history books to read, I’ve gathered together 31 of our recommendations for LGBTQ History Month, from nonfiction to historical fiction to children’s books.
This is far from a complete list! Check out our LGBTQ archives for many years of queer book recommendations in every conceivable category. And if you haven’t already, sign up for the Our Queerest Shelves newsletter to get recs in your inbox every week.
LGBTQ History Books
How To Survive a Plague by David France
Centered around the AIDS epidemic, How To Survive A Plague tells the story of the activists and organizations that fought to turn AIDS from a deadly infection to a manageable disease. This is a story of loss and triumph that looks at the lives lost to HIV and those who are still fighting today. This is a wonderful history of queer activism, even in the midst of devastation, that looks specifically at the organizations ACT UP and TAG. —Mara Franzen
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Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman
In this illuminating history, Hartman explores the radical lives of young Black women in New York and Philadelphia during the early 20th century. She shares stories of women who broke away from expected racial and gender norms, creating queer and creative networks of kinship and support. It’s a hefty, thoughtfully researched, and moving work of scholarship that reexamines the prevalent, simple story about early 20th-century Black life and tells a much more nuanced and complicated one. —Laura Sackton
The Stonewall Reader by The New York Public Library
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot, The New York Public Library collected an anthology reflecting on the momentous occasion. The Stone Wall Reader is full of essays, articles, poems, short stories, and first-person accounts. Though the pieces differ in style, each one rings with stories of triumph, loss, dedication, and resilience. It’s a beautiful collection of history. —Mara Franzen
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity by C. Riley Snorton
Black on Both Sides is a wonderful history of Black trans folks in the postwar era and into today. This discusses the erasure of people like Lucy Hicks Anderson, James McHarris, and others lost to time. It’s a deep dive into the historical reconstruction of voices often left out of the queer experience in the United States. C. Riley Snorton has created a stunning look at an often forgotten part of queer history, pulling from well-known stories, narratives of enslaved peoples, Afro-modernist literature, and so much more. —Mara Franzen
And the Category Is… Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community by Ricky Tucker
Despite the history of drag in the U.S. being based in Harlem with Black and Latine drag artists, there are unfortunately very few books that are by or about drag artists of color. Luckily, there’s And the Category Is… This is a history of New York’s Ballroom community, including interviews with some of the biggest names in that space. —Danika Ellis
Hermaphrodite Logic: A History of Intersex Liberation by Juliana Gleeson
Intersex people are some of the least represented in LGBTQIA+ literature, so I’m excited to see a new work about the history of the intersex liberation movement. In this history, Gleeson explains how the movement began in protest against medical abuses. She blends personal insight with theory to demonstrate how intersex liberation is tied to liberation from sexed oppression for all. —Danika Ellis
So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro De Robertis
In this essential oral history, queer elders of color share stories of self-discovery, activism, resistance, and survival. Their testimonies are a necessary record of lived experience and hard-won progress, a love letter to queer history, and gorgeous reminder to treasure the wisdom of those who’ve witnessed history, helped shape it, and allowed us to imagine brighter futures. There is so much beautiful humanity in these pages, so much laughter and joy even in periods of profound struggle and loss. That joy is resistance, that joy is protest, that joy is unshakable. I need everyone to read this book. —Vanessa Diaz
Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought Edited by Briona Simone Jones
For anyone looking for a history-adjacent book, and anyone interested in delving more deeply into the intersections of Blackness, queerness, and feminism, this volume of writing by and about Black lesbians is a must-read. It includes the work of some of the most prominent 20th century Black queer and lesbian writers, including Audre Lorde and Alice Dunbar-Nelson, as well as work from some lesser-known but equally important writers. —Laura Sackton
Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline
I’m having trouble trying to summarize Tourmaline’s accomplishments: TIME 100 Most Influential Person in the World awardee, Guggenheim Fellow, award-winning filmmaker, a permanent art installation in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and so much more. Now, she’s written the “first definitive biography” of one of the most prominent figures in LGBTQ history: Marsha P. Johnson. Published simultaneously is a picture book version: One Day in June: A Story Inspired by the Life and Activism of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline and illustrated by Charlot Kristensen. —Danika Ellis
Baldwin: A Love Story by Nicholas Boggs (August 19)
This isn’t just another biography about James Baldwin, acclaimed writer and civil rights activist. In Baldwin: A Love Story, Nicholas Boggs set out to explore James Baldwin’s life and works through his intimate relationships: his mentor, the painter Beauford Delaney; Lucien Happersberger, a Swiss painter who was Baldwin’s lover and muse; and his collaborators, actor Engin Cezzar and the French artist Yoran Cazac. “From the very beginning,” Boggs writes that he knew this book was “a love story.” —Emily Martin
Miss Major Speaks by Miss Major with Toshio Meronek
Trans elder Miss Major has played a major role in Black and queer social justice movements. Her involvement in the Stonewall Riots is legendary, but she has also been instrumental in fighting for sex workers’ rights and AIDS activism. In this book, she shares all the wisdom she’s gained over the years, with warmth, humor, and generosity. —Laura Sackton
Our Work is Everywhere by Syan Rose
Reading this beautiful collection of oral histories and interviews feels likes sitting down with a bunch of rad queer and trans artists, healers, and activists, and listening to them talk about what inspires them, angers them, fuels them. The art is truly unique — each page feels like its own work of art. Here you’ll find stories about ancestral wisdom, the power of queer tarot, mutual aid organizations, community gardening initiatives, radical wealth redistribution, and so much more more. It’s an inspiring book spilling over with LGBTQ+ brilliance and creativity. —Laura Sackton
Trans History: From Ancient Times to the Present Day by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett
This is an excellent introduction to trans history in comic format, from ancient history to interviews with trans people today. It’s a broad yet thorough glimpse into the myriad ways gender has been expressed throughout time, and the ways trans people have been oppressed and erased from history. The beautiful illustrations enhanced and made the details more accessible. While listed as young adult, I would recommend it for anyone who wants to better understand the history of gender expression and transness, no matter their age. My only complaint is that I wanted an entire book for each chapter! I didn’t want it to end! —Margaret Kingsbury
LGBTQ Historical Fiction
The Lilac People by Milo Todd
When Hitler rises to power in 1930s Germany, the Institute of Sexual Science is raided, queer clubs are closed, and LGBTQ people begin disappearing. Bertie, a young trans man, barely manages to escape Berlin with his girlfriend, Sofie. In the countryside, they take on the identities of an elderly couple and manage to live under the radar for over a decade. But just when the end of the war is in sight, a young trans man wearing the distinctive clothes of a prison camp collapses on their farm. Despite the danger, Bertie and Sofie vow to protect him—not from the Nazis who imprisoned him, but from the Allied Forces who are now arresting queer prisoners even as they liberate the rest of the concentration camps. —Rachel Brittain
These Heathens by Mia McKenzie
One weekend in 1960s Atlanta is enough to open the eyes and change the life of one small town girl. When pious, 17-year-old Doris finds herself pregnant, she knows there’s only one person she can turn to: her beloved teacher, Mrs. Lucas. Mrs. Lucas calls on her childhood friend to help find a doctor who can take care of Doris’s problem, but while they’re waiting for a call back, they fill their time rubbing shoulders with celebrities and with activities that Doris finds as intriguing as she does shocking. Doris knows she doesn’t want to have a baby, but will one weekend be enough time to figure out what she does want? —Rachel Brittain
Next Time Will Be Our Turn by Jesse Q. Sutanto (out November 11, 2025)
Izzy Chen has always felt like the black sheep of her family. But when her grandmother brings a stunning woman as her date to their Chinese New Year celebration, Izzy realizes she and her Nainai may have more in common than she ever realized. When Magnolia Chen sees her teenage self in her granddaughter’s struggles, she tells the story of how she was sent from Jakarta to Los Angeles for school—only to fall in love. —Rachel Brittain
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg
A notorious thief by the name of Jack Sheppard and a modern-day trans professor’s obsessive search to discover his last confessions drive this propulsive story about identity, love, and liberation. When Dr. Voth uncovers a manuscript about an orphan sold into servitude in the eighteenth century, an orphan who desires to be called “Jack,” he’s certain he’s found the writings of Jack Sheppard. But even as he learns Jack’s tale and feverishly works to authenticate it, other powers are hard at work to steal it away. —Rachel Brittain
Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta
Inspired by both folklore and war, Under the Udala Tree tells the story of a woman coming of age alongside her nation. Ijeoma is born before independence; she’s only 11 when civil war breaks out in Nigeria. Sent away for her protection, Ijeoma meets another young refugee and falls in love. But not only are they from different ethnic communities, they’re both girls. And when their feelings are discovered, Ijeoma learns that there are parts of herself that will never be accepted and that you can never truly be at peace when forced to live a lie. —Rachel Brittain
Cantoras by Carolina de Robertis
Five wildly different women find each other in the midst of a Uruguayan military dictatorship that crushes dissent in the 1970s where homosexuality is a crime to be punished. But Romina, Flaca, Anita, Paz, and Malena find each other nonetheless, the five cantoras discovering a reprieve from the harsh realities of life on a nearby uninhibited cape. At Cabo Polonio, the women can be themselves. And over the next 35 years they will return, together and alone, in pairs and with lovers in tow, to this one place where they can finally stop pretending. —Rachel Brittain
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
When it comes to sapphic historical fiction, you just can’t make a complete list without mentioning Sarah Waters. And in Tipping the Velvet, a male impersonator transfixes a young oyster girl in the music halls of Leicester Square in Victorian London, before bringing her on as part of a singing and dancing double act. On stage, they dazzle audiences. But behind closed doors, Nan and Kitty can openly admit their feelings for each other. And so a love affair begins. —Rachel Brittain
LGBTQ Historical Romance Books
An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera
Like the oft-quoted Audrey Hepburn, Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan decides, “Paris is always a good idea,” and goes there for one last summer of freedom in 1889 before getting married to a man she doesn’t love. She’s there to take in all the art of the city, but soon gets caught up in a steamy romance with Cora Kempf Bristol. Initially, they’re tied together for business reasons, but their connection is clearly meant to last longer than one summer. —Julia Rittenberg
You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
Baseball is not Mark Bailey’s chosen writing subject, but he’s forced to go where the newspaper sends him. The shortstop he’s covering, Eddie O’Leary, is having a deeply unpleasant first season with his new team. Though Mark and Eddie initially butt heads, they have the deep, important fact of their sexuality in common. They get inevitably closer while stuck together, but Mark’s grief over being his last partner’s secret (before his partner died) means he doesn’t want to be Eddie’s hidden lover. —Julia Rittenberg
A Lady For A Duke by Alexis Hall
Need a book that will smash you to pieces and put you back together again? This sweeping, tender romance with a trans woman main character does just that. After faking her own death, Viola is free to live as herself, but without title or her best friend, Justin de Vere, Duke of Gracewood, at her side. When they reconnect years later, Gracewood is a shadow of himself. As Viola and Gracewood get reacquainted, their care and respect for each other blooms again. Filled with beautiful friendships, hope, and heart-aching yearning, this book is one you won’t want to put down. —Courtney Rodgers
The Pursuit Of… by Courtney Milan
Though they attempted to kill each other the first time they met and are fighting on opposite sides of a war, John and Henry find themselves making the same 500-mile journey together. And they’re definitely not falling in love. After all, what would a Black American soldier, invalided out at Yorktown, and a British deserter have in common? It soon becomes clear that they share more than either of them initially think. —Rachel Brittain
LGBTQ YA Historical Fiction
Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo
For much of history, queer bars had to exist underground, with word of mouth as the only way of finding out about their existence. This historical fiction novel set in 1950s Chinatown in San Francisco centers around a secretive lesbian bar for queer women that becomes a safe haven for 17-year-old Chinese American Lily Hu and her white love interest Kathleen. As racism stoked by the Red Scare threatens to pull them apart, they find community and hope for a life together at the Telegraph Club. As we worry about the future of queer bars, it’s a good reminder that they’ve survived more hostile times in the past and will continue to survive whatever society throws at them. —Susie Dumond
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
Monty is supposed to be an 18th century gentleman, but so far his family has not tamed him of his rougeish passions: gambling, drinking, and bisexuality. But now that he’s gotten to the age where he’s supposed to settle down and be a Lord, he’s got one last hurrah with his BFF (and crush) Percy as they go on a Grand Tour of Europe. At first the trip is the adventure full of vice and pleasure Monty is expecting; but one bad decision sends them on a cross-continent manhunt that makes Monty rethink everything in his life. —Casey Stepaniuk
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell
This YA anthology is made up of historical fiction short stories with a range of queer identities represented, and they all have happy endings. They’re a reminder that queer people have existed and found joy in so many places and time periods. These stories are a way for queer people to reclaim the past, because so much of our history has been erased. Also check out Out Now: Queer We Go Again! and Out There: Into Queer New Yonder. —Danika Ellis
LGBTQ Children’s History Books
Queer and Fearless by Rob Sanders and Harry Woodgate
Look, there is basically nothing I love more than children’s poetry. Poems + gorgeous illustrations = the best thing ever. And when those poems celebrate the lives of LGBTQ+ activists, writers, artists, scientists, politicians, and more — even better! The book features 17 queer heroes, from Marsha P. Johnson to Richard Blanco. There’s a poem about each person’s life, accompanied by a short biography. Back matter includes notes on the different styles of poetry and why they were chosen. This is a bright and vivid book that’s full of information, but always centers beauty and emotion. —Laura Sackton
‘Twas the Night Before Pride by Joanna McClintick, illustrated by Juana Medina
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, but make it gay! This delightful picture book features a family preparing for the next day’s Pride celebration. An older sibling explains to their younger sibling what Pride means to them and the history of Pride parades. While this book has a lovely rhyming story and vibrant illustrations, it also features real history like the Stonewall and AIDS marches, presented in an age-appropriate way. —Susie Dumond
It’s Pride, Baby! by Allen R. Wells, illustrated by Dia Valle
Join one family as they get ready to participate in a D.C. Black Pride March in It’s Pride, Baby! With vibrant illustrations and beautiful writing, this book teaches kids to take pride in everything that makes them unique. It’s a joyful book with an excellent message, and even better, it comes with special back material to teach you and your kids about the history of Black Pride. —Susie Dumond
Glenn Burke, Game Changer by Phil Bildner and Daniel J. O’Brien
When I discovered picture book biographies, it was like stepping into a new world. I’m never going to have time to read biographies of every interesting person in the world. But picture book biographies? Sign me up! This book tells the story of professional baseball player Glenn Burke, the first MLB player to come out as gay, and the inventor of the high-five. His spontaneous gesture during a game in 1977 has now become a universally recognizable symbol of celebration and achievement. This book tells the story of that day, the challenges Burke faced as a gay Black player, and his many achievements. —Laura Sackton
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