This story was corrected Feb. 18 to reflect the Pride Center Library has volunteers, not employees, and all books are donated rather than sold.
When the Pride Center Library reopened its doors at 11 a.m., it expected to welcome around 50 visitors. Once the headcount reached 70, volunteers stopped keeping track.
Volunteers pushed display tables against the shelves lining the walls of the library, rushing to set up folding chairs in the empty space as visitors entered. Guests — some wearing shirts reading “Pride is power” and “Hi gay, I’m mom” — browsed the library’s collection of LGBTQ+ books.
“I'm really happy that the community has turned out for this,” said Amirah Elmahdi, a 23-year-old UF sociology major. “Especially because I know it's really scary right now, and it gives me some hope for the future.”
The Pride Community Center of North Central Florida relocated to the Gainesville Community Counseling Center, located at 3850 NW 83rd St., two years ago. On Saturday, it reopened its Pride Center Library after having to close as the organization relocated, a feature of the organization called the Audre Lorde Library.
The library focuses on LGBTQ+ books, especially those often challenged in K-12 schools, like “Gender Queer,” an illustrated memoir by Maia Kobabe and the most challenged book of 2023. The book was quickly selected from the library’s display table by a visitor.
Ashley Johnson serves as a board member for the Pride Center and oversees much of the library’s operations. She said she hopes to focus the library’s attention on the increasing number of book removals regarding gender diversity.
“Previous harmful leaders who have done book bans in the past have started with trans, queer and non-binary books,” the 22-year-old said. “Those are the books that got banned and burned, and those are still the books that are getting banned.”
Library visitors were able to browse a collection of LGBTQ+ literature, arranged on shelves around the room on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.
Many of the frequently challenged books offered at the reopening were donated by customers of The Lynx, a local bookstore that promotes the distribution of challenged books. PCCNCF also worked with the Unspoken Treasure Society, an organization advocating for LGBTQ+ members of marginalized communities.
Johnson said she aims to collaborate with other Gainesville-based businesses, nonprofits and advocacy groups committed to the same causes as the Pride Center Library.
With the addition of book removals, she said she is concerned about the lack of understanding regarding the experiences of transgender people. Johnson is worried as books regarding the transgender experience are removed from K-12 schools, young people will be less tolerant of transgender people.
“Research shows that more exposure equals more acceptance and more tolerance,” she said. “So, at the basic level, taking away those stories removes that exposure.”
Many of the event’s attendees discussed “scary” or “uncertain” times. One speaker, wearing a rainbow T-shirt from the 2019 Gainesville Pride Festival, encouraged guests to buy similar shirts before noting “it’s not safe in this four-year period,” which was in reference to Donald Trump’s presidency.
Katie Jo Collins, 41, is a volunteer with the Pride Center. They were one of the people who helped organize the library’s reopening and said they’re worried about new legislation limiting transgender youths’ access to gender-affirming care. As the parent of a transgender son, Collins said they recognize there are several misconceptions about gender-affirming care, especially among policy-makers.
“[There is] this hyperbolic notion that kids can walk into the doctor’s and walk out with meds and walk out with surgery,” they said. “We've been trying to get [my son] access to surgery for five years now.”
With 82% of transgender youth reporting having considered suicide, Collins emphasized the need for identity affirmation. Books are an important way to promote identity-affirmation, they said.
Because of this, they view the legislation regarding gender-affirming care as a matter of life or death.
“I would rather have a child who spends a lifetime discovering themselves than having a child in the grave,” they said. “That is the thing I would not survive.”
Contact Juliana DeFilippo at jdefillipo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @JulianaDeF58101
Juliana DeFilippo is a first-year journalism major and general assignment Avenue reporter. In her free time, she loves to read and work on crossword puzzles.
