Happy Pride! Now more than ever, it’s important to recognize the artists and authors who, after having searched for stories like theirs and finding none, decided to write their own. These books represent the incredible stories, challenges, and joys of those in the LGBTQIA+ community, and allow each and every one of us to widen our worldview and better appreciate the power of acceptance, awareness, and love.

For those in the LGBTQIA+ community, advocates, allies, or anyone who wants to read and learn more about gender and sexual diversity, here is a roundup of books that need to be on your Pride 2026 reading list.

How We Do Family is a heartfelt memoir that sheds light on what author Trystan Reese and his partner, Biff, learned about love and LGBTQ parenthood.

Reese covers so many issues in his book, from adoption to trans pregnancy. As such, How We Do Family is much more than a memoir; it is a much-needed resource that strives to redefine the conception of family for the LGBTQ community and beyond, and a reminder that family, ultimately, is all about love.

Going the Other Way is an intimate memoir of major league baseball’s first-ever Ambassador for Inclusion and one of the few openly gay former players. In the prime of his career, he had to make a terrible choice between his love of the game and the love of his life.

More than ten years after its original publication, Going the Other Way remains deeply moving, and more timely than ever. At once heartbreaking and farcical, ruminative and uncensored, this unprecedented memoir points the way toward a more perfect game, one in which all players can pursue their athletic dreams free of prejudice and discrimination.

Dr. Diane Ehrensaft has devoted her career in psychology to the care of children and teens who do not identify with their biological gender. In her first book, Gender Born, Gender Made, she coined the phrase “gender creative” for what the American Psychiatric Association at the time officially termed a “disorder.” Now, Dr. Ehrensaft offers a comprehensive resource for children and adolescents whose gender expression is fluid, rather than binary.

Gender Explained, coauthored with clinical psychologist Michelle Jurkiewicz, helps make sense of the misinformation and common myths about gender, examines the role of gender in contemporary politics and culture, and expands awareness and knowledge about the role of gender in our lives.

The Gender Creative Child is the perfect book for parents, teachers, clinicians, gender studies students, gender-curious adults—not to mention gender-creative kids and adolescents themselves—and everyone who wants to learn more about gender creativity in children.

Black History for Every Day of the Year is a unique celebration of well-known figures and unsung heroes, famous cultural moments and hidden histories, from ancient times to today.

Accompanied by photos, quotes, and illustrations, these 366 entries will take you on a journey across global history. Featuring entries for Audre Lorde, Moonlight, The Stonewall Uprising, and more, this celebration of black history also sheds light on the important intersection of race and sexuality.

How to Be a Girl is an intimate, inspiring memoir about Marlo Mack’s experience raising her transgender daughter, M.

When M utters the words “Mama, something went wrong in your tummy – and it made me come out as a boy instead of a girl,” Marlo Mack is first faced with her own biases and ingrained notions of gender, but she also realizes that she needs to start listening to her child. As the journey continues, and mother and daughter teach each other a new perspective, Mack understands that it’s really the world that has a lot to learn—from her sparkly, spectacular M.