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  • Allisandra Palomba
    • May 31, 2022
    • 7 min read

Happy pride month!!

Updated: Jul 12, 2022

All are welcome here


Let's celebrate the LGBTQ community together with a comprehensive list of resources and information that we can all share in the beauty of.


Happy Pride Month Everyone!!

Alli here, This month is extremely important to me personally as I am a part of the lgbtq community myself! It has been a journey of self-love and acceptance that seems to ebb and flow as the years come. I am so grateful to live in a time where we have begun to focus on acceptance and safety for everyone no matter who we love or how we identify. Pride is a history of resilience, strength, grace, and community. From back in the late 60s at the start of the lgbtq revolution when we were still in hiding, but holding onto the hope for peace nonetheless, all the way to the present day when pride is celebrated openly and lgbtq voices are being uplifted and brought to the forefront of conversations, we have held onto light and love together. I am grateful and proud to be a part of this unbelievably warm found family. I don't know where we'd all be without the elders who came before us or the youth that continues to propel us forward into a brighter future. Here at Sanctuary Massage, we welcome everyone with open arms and warm hearts. This month, please remember you are loved and deserving of care and community just as much as everyone else. Know you can find a place of solace here with us. No matter how far we have come as a society, we know that there are still spaces where safety is not granted for people like you and me. Just know you can turn to all of us if you are ever in need of a little extra self-love, warm open arms, and hearts. We are here for you, ready to focus on your healing and peace.


In the wise tender words of Lesbian Activist, Poet, and self-described Warrior and Mother Audre Lorde, “Without community, there is no liberation.”

“I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.”


Do not be afraid to be who you are! Live loudly, live proudly! Be who you are in the ways that feel safe and liberating to you. There is no "right way" to be a part of this community. We support you no matter where you are at in your journey. We love you, we see you, we hear you!


With the help of my dear friend Sunmi Jin, I have taken some time to make a list of books, media, and resources for the LGBTQ community and their families/friends to look through if they are in need of some community or understanding. I hope this list brings joy and knowledge and shines some light on all your lives during this time.


Joy is found everywhere in the community

Here is a list of LQBTQ shows and movies that will warm your heart, bring tears to your eyes, give you big belly laughs, and make you want to hug everyone you love a little bit tighter:

  • My personal favorite of the list, Pose as seen on Netflix, FX and Amazon Prime

Pose is a drama spotlighting the legends, icons and ferocious house mothers of New York’s underground ball culture, a movement that first gained notice in the late 1980s. Making television history, Pose features the largest cast of transgender actors in series regular roles, including Mj Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore and Hailie Sahar, who co-star alongside Tony Award® winner and Golden Globe® nominee Billy Porter, Angel Bismark Curiel, Dyllón Burnside, Sandra Bernhard and Jason Rodriguez. The Golden Globe-nominated drama also features the largest recurring cast of LGBTQ actors ever for a scripted series.



  • Our Flag Means Death as seen on HboMax

From creator David Jenkins comes the Max Original OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH. The comedy series is loosely based on the true adventures of Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a pampered aristocrat who abandoned his life of privilege to become a pirate. The series also stars Academy Award® winner and Emmy®-nominated Taika Waititi as “Blackbeard,” history’s most feared and revered pirate. In addition to Darby and Waititi, the ensemble cast includes Nathan Foad, Samson Kayo, Vico Ortiz, Ewen Bremner, Joel Fry, Matt Maher, Kristian Nairn, Con O’Neill, Guz Khan, David Fane, Rory Kinnear, Samba Schutte, Nat Faxon, Fred Armisen and Leslie Jones. OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH is executive produced by Waititi, who is also directing the pilot, alongside showrunner David Jenkins, Emmy®-nominated producer Garrett Basch, and Dan Halsted.



  • Elisa y Marcela as seen on Netflix

In 1901 Spain, Elisa Sánchez Loriga adopts a male identity in order to marry the woman she loves, Marcela Gracia Ibeas. Based on true events.


  • Queer Eye as seen on Netflix

More than a decade after the original series went off the air, Netflix reboots the "Queer Eye" franchise with a new Fab Five and a new setting, trading in the concrete jungle of New York City for communities in and around Atlanta. The style experts forge relationships with men and women who often have different beliefs from them, leading to moments of social commentary interspersed with style advice. Advising people in need of lifestyle makeovers are food and wine specialist Antoni Porowski, interior designer Bobby Berk, grooming consultant Jonathan Van Ness, fashion designer Tan France and culture expert Karamo Brown, who reality TV fans may recognize as one of the housemates on "The Real World: Philadelphia." David Collins, who created the original show, is on board as an executive producer.


  • Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness: Episode 3 Can We Say Bye Bye to the Binary

Jonathon takes a deep, personal dive into why systems of power are threatened by gender nonconformity, then continues with a Wabanaki two-spirit maker.


  • The Handmaiden as seen on Vudu

Park Chan-Wook’s “The Handmaiden” is a love story, revenge thriller and puzzle film set in Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1930s. It is voluptuously beautiful, frankly sexual, occasionally perverse and horrifically violent. At times its very existence feels inexplicable. And yet all of its disparate pieces are assembled with such care, and the characters written and acted with such psychological acuity, that you rarely feel as if the writer-director is rubbing the audience’s nose in excess of one kind or another. This is a film made by an artist at the peak of his powers: Park, a South Korean director who started out as a critic, has many great or near-great genre films, including “Oldboy,” “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance,” “Lady Vengeance” and “Thirst,” but this one is so intricate yet light-footed that it feels like the summation of his career to date.


  • Moonlight as seen on Hulu

A look at three defining chapters in the life of Chiron, a young black man growing up in Miami. His epic journey to manhood is guided by the kindness, support and love of the community that helps raise him.


  • Paris is Burning as seen on AppleTV and Youtube

This documentary focuses on drag queens living in New York City and their "house" culture, which provides a sense of community and support for the flamboyant and often socially shunned performers. Groups from each house compete in elaborate balls that take cues from the world of fashion. Also touching on issues of racism and poverty, the film features interviews with a number of renowned drag queens, including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija and Dorian Corey.



  • Steven Universe as seen on Hulu, is one for the whole family!

The Crystal Gems are a team of magical beings who are the self-appointed guardians of the universe. Half-human, half-Gem hero Steven is the "little brother" of the group. The goofball is learning to save the world using the magical powers that come from his bellybutton and he goes on magical adventures with the rest of the Crystal Gems, even though he's not as powerful -- or smart -- as fellow group members Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Despite his shortcomings, Steven usually finds a surprising way to save the day.




Here is a list of books written by LGBTQ authors about the LGBTQ experience:

  • We Are Everywhere: Protest Power and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation by Matthew Riemer & Leighton Brown

  • Lord of the Butterflies by Poet Andrea Gibson

  • You Better Be Lightning by Poet Andrea Gibson

  • Autopsy by Poet Donte Collins

  • Audre Lorde The Masters Tools Will Never Dismantle The Masters House

  • The Black Unicorn Poems by Audre Lorde

Here is a list of people to follow on Instagram for resources, education, a bit of joy and representation:

  • @gendersauce

  • @alokvmenon

  • @joshuaobawole

  • @summerluk

  • @niskapisuwin

  • @dineaesthetics

  • @queersextherapy

  • @bunnymichael

  • @andrewgibby

  • @meganfalley

  • @dominiquet.a.r.jackson

  • @theebillyporter

  • @mjrodriguez7

  • @indyamoore

  • @angelicaross

To conclude this list I'd like to add a few links to resources in case anyone is in need!

  • https://www.folxhealth.com/ folx health is dedicated to making HRT accessible for everyone. Here you can look at plans, speak to licensed therapists, and start making a plan for therapy.

  • https://www.glitsinc.org/ Glits is a nonprofit organization. Here is a snippet from their mission statement: GLITS creates holistic solutions to the health and housing crises faced by TGBLQIA+ individuals experiencing systemic discrimination at intersecting oppressions impacted by racism and criminalization, through a lens of harm reduction, human rights principles, social justice and community empowerment, imbued with a commitment to empowerment and pride in finding solutions in our own community. Centering Black trans leadership, GLITS is committed to building future community leaders and is grounded in a multi-generational approach to growth.

  • This link will take you to a pdf with a comprehensive list of resources for LGBTQ youth and adults in the Albany Area chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.capitalpridecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Youth-Resources-2012.pdf

In commemoration of the stonewall riots, the reason we have a pride to celebrate this month and every June to come:

"You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights."

-Marsha P. Johnson

"We were sick and tired of being put down," wrote Sylvia Rivera in "The Question of Equality: Lesbian and Gay Politics in America Since Stonewall." "Things just started happening." In fact, one of the most famous quotes from the Stonewall riots is attributed to Rivera: "I'm not missing a minute of this. It's the revolution!"

“The spirit that emerged outside a Mafia-run bar in 1969 became the pulse of the gay community and inspired not just an annual parade but ways to express gay pride in individual lives.

Stonewall happens every day.”






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