The month of June is an opportunity to highlight stories and recognize the impact that different communities have had on our world. Through storytelling, Immigrant Heritage Month (IHM) offers an opportunity to explore the diversity of immigrant communities. Similarly, Pride Month commemorates events like the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Greenwich Village, New York, which demonstrate the impact LGBTQ individuals have had on history.

This June in Philadelphia, the Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Office of LGBT Affairs, and the Free Library of Philadelphia are collaborating for Immigrant Heritage Month (IHM) and Pride Month. Using storytelling, the two celebratory months will explore intersectionality and highlight the diversity and depth of Philadelphia’s immigrant and LGBTQ communities, while also engaging broader audiences—regardless of how they identify.

For people who are typically marginalized by differences like race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality,  language ability, and citizenship status, storytelling is important. It can:

• add dimension to immigrant and LGBTQ experiences.
• bring attention to how larger social inequalities shape individual people.
• offer opportunities to connect with others outside our immediate circles.
• help explore ways to build supportive communities.

In addition to highlighting stories that explore intersectionality between the immigrant and LGBTQ communities, IHM and Pride will both feature programming that centers these shared experiences.

The Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Office of LGBT Affairs, and the Free Library of Philadelphia hope that our efforts to explore the convergence of immigrant and queer identities will inspire others to think about intersectionality in all aspects of life.