LGBTQ+ Resources in Special Collections

In many activist movements, key groups or individual leaders write statements which define and explain their purpose and goals. Here is a sample of manifestos in our collection, in chronological order:

• Refugees from America: A Gay Manifesto, by Carl Wittman. San Francisco: Council on Religion and the Homosexual, 1970.
  • (Also printed by New England Free Press and Gay Flames with title given variously as A Gay Manifesto or A Gay Male Manifesto.)
• Queer Politics Collection, folder 2. Bill of Rights. San Francisco: Bay Area Gay Liberation, 1970s. [date uncertain]
• Gay Liberation Front Manifesto. London: Gay Liberation Front Manifesto Group, 1971.
• Out of the Closet: A Gay Manifesto, by Alan Young. Reprinted from Ramparts, November 1971 issue.
• The Effeminist Manifesto, by Steven Dansky, John Knoebel, and Kenneth Pitchford. Winter/Spring 1973 issue of Double F Journal.
• Queer Politics Collection, folder 79. Statement of Intent on Gay Liberation. Philadelphia: Movement for a New Society, 1975.
• Queer Politics Collection, folder 38. Towards a Charter of Homosexual Rights. London: Campaign for Reason, 1978.
• Queer Politics Collection, folder 89. Gay Liberation 1981: What Are We Fighting For? San Francisco: Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, 1981.
• Queers Read This. Published anonymously, distributed at 1990 Pride March in New York City.
• Out Against the Right: The Dyke Manifesto. New York: Lesbian Avengers Civil Rights Organizing Project, 1995.
• Theory Boner 2: Manifesto. Toronto:[OCAD University], 2016.
• Radical transfeminism. Edinburgh : Sociopathetic Distro, 2017.

We have material from dozens of LGBTQ+ organizations, including those listed below.

Searching these by keyword will retrieve items where the organization is the subject or author. The most relevant hits will be at the top. Please note that you may get false hits where the requested terms appear in a different order.

• ACT UP
• Affirmation: LGBT Mormons, Families & Friends
• Against Equality
• Brother to Brother
• Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere
• Coalition of Vietnamese Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Network
• Daughters of Bilitis
• Dignity
• Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders
• Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
• Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
• Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network
• Gay Liberation Front
• Gay Men of African Descent
• Gay Rights National Lobby
• Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
• GSA Network
• Human Rights Campaign
• Integrity Inc. (may also be referred to as Integrity USA)
• International Foundation for Gender Education
• International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission
• Intersex Society of North America
• Lambda Legal
• Lansing Area AIDS Network
• Lansing Association for Human Rights (LAHR)
• Lesbian and Gay Community Network of Western Michigan
• Lesbian and Gay Labor Network
• Lesbian and Gay Parents Coalition International
• Lesbian Agenda for Action
• Lesbian Avengers
• Mattachine Society
• Michigan Gender Equity Team
• Michigan Organization for Human Rights
• National Association of Black and White Men Together
• National Center for Lesbian Rights
• National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays
• National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
• National Gay Rights Advocates
• National Organization of Gay & Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, Inc.
• National Stonewall Democrats
• New York State Black Gay Network
• Out & Equal
• Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
• Point Foundation
• Queer Nation
• Sister of Perpetual Indulgence
• Southeastern Michigan Gay & Lesbian Association
• Trans Oral History Project
• Transgender Network of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
• The Triangle Foundation Inc.

Vertical files consist of materials originally collected with the intention to answer reference questions. These materials are organized by subject instead of being cataloged individually, they can include newspaper clippings, brochures, advertisements, or presentation handouts.

Please note that vertical files are not cataloged. These files are currently undergoing an assessment and reprocessing. For a comprehensive list please contact Special Collections LGBTQ+ Librarian Eli Landaverde.

Here is a small sample of LGBTQIA2S+ subjects in the vertical files:

• ACT UP
• Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center
• American Library Association. Task Force on Gay Liberation
• Crossroads (Royal Oak, Mich.)
• Detroit Area Gay-Lesbian Council
• Dignity, Inc.
• Dykes Against Racism Everywhere
• Equality Michigan
• Exodus International
• Gay Games
• Gay Pride Marches in Michigan
• Integrity Episcopal Gay Society
• Lansing Women's Chorus
• Lansing Equal Rights Task Force
• Leather community
• Leaven Center
• Lesbian Alliance (East Lansing)
• LGBTQ+ people in the military
• Michigan State University. Gay and Lesbian Staff Association
• Michigan State University. Gay Liberation Movement 
• March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation (1993 : Washington, D.C.)
• Mattachine Society
• Michigan Lesbian/Gay Democratic Caucus
• Michigan Organization for Human Rights
• Michigan State University Lesbian/Gay Council
• Naiad Press
• National Stonewall Democrats
• NAMES Project
• Queer Nation
• Statewide Lesbian Political Action Committee (1979)
• Stonewall 25 (1994: New York, NY)