The Charles County Public Library is recognizing contributions made by members of the LGBTQ community during Pride Month with a display at P.D. Brown Library and a celebration this Saturday.

The library’s fourth annual pride event will feature screenings of a few LGBTQ film titles, engaging discussion of similar media and light refreshments. Billed as a laid back, cafe-styled gathering, the event will be from 2-4 p.m. and is recommended for residents 16 years of age and older. Saturday’s gathering will mark the first time the event has been held at P.D. Brown.

“We are so excited at P.D. Brown to be hosting CCPL’s fourth annual Pride event,” P.D. Brown Branch Manager Mariana Sprouse wrote in a comment to the Maryland Independent. “This year, we’re hosting a Pride Cafe, which is more relaxed and customer-driven. Customers can come in and casually talk with others in the LGBTQ+ community about whatever they want.”

Per the Library of Congress, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month is observed in June every year to commemorate the Stonewall Riots of 1969, with the focus being to recognize members of the LGBTQ community who have had a significant local, national and international impact on history. The riots took place in Manhattan and turned public sentiment in favor of the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States, and were initially memorialized with a single day, the last Sunday in June. The celebration soon expanded to the entire month of June and includes remembrances of individuals who have lost their lives due to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS in addition to parades and concerts highlighting achievement in the community.

The P.D. Brown display includes selections by Chaz Bono, Laverne Cox and Sarah McBride. Some of the books focus on the lives and struggles of the authors themselves, while others are novels with LGBTQ content and subject matter.

“The materials we select include as much of the LGBTQ+ community as possible and show that CCPL is an open, welcoming place for everyone,” Sprouse said. “We think it is so important to have these materials in the library because books and movies serve as mirrors and windows for people; they show you are not alone and what is possible no matter who you are.”

CCPL isn’t the only organization with ample Pride Month opportunities, as the Library of Congress held conversations with authors of critically-acclaimed novels with LGBTQ themes in early June, and the American Library Association offers free bookmarks and posters with artwork celebrating the occasion. P.D. Brown’s LGBTQ Pride Cafe also coincides with a few national events, including San Francisco’s Pride Celebration starting June 23 as well as New York’s Pride March and the Chicago Pride Parade on June 24.

Twitter: @CharlieIndyNews