Reading is Joy, Power, Resistance: Nearly 25,000 Youth, Parents, Teachers Nationwide Join 10th Annual National Day of Reading

by Laurel Powell •

As LGBTQ+ youth and their families face unprecedented and cruel attacks on their welfare from the highest offices, the community and our allies will show our support–and defiance–through reading and celebrating trans stories

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRCF), the educational arm of the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, marks the tenth anniversary of its Welcoming Schools National Day of Reading, a day for thousands of students, educators, parents, caregivers, and allies to join in solidarity with transgender and non-binary students. Recent state legislative sessions have been fraught with harmful anti-LGBTQ+ bills, including bills that ban books and censor lessons about LGBTQ+ identities and historical figures. 175 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in state houses last year were attacks on queer or trans inclusion in the classroom. And in just the first month of his administration, President Donald Trump has signed a raft of actions taking aim at LGBTQ+ young people, including efforts to punish schools that are inclusive of and welcoming for LGBTQ+ students. The wave of unrelenting legislative hate has only fueled anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, bullying and violence in communities throughout the nation. 

In scary and uncertain times, it’s so important that LGBTQ+ young people see themselves represented in our culture. They might not know exactly why people take books from libraries or why teachers can’t teach the way they want to, but they do see it happening. Reading isn’t just homework anymore. It’s a way to bring joy, a way to build power and knowledge, and above all, help our young people know that they are not alone. We also know that when people know us and our families, they support us, they will help defend us, and that we are stronger standing together than apart. We’ll read together, and we’ll resist together.

Kelley Robinson, President of the Human Rights Campaign & Human Rights Campaign Foundation

The Welcoming Schools National Day of Reading is sponsored by the HRC Foundation as well as the National Educational Association (NEA), the country’s largest professional employee organization, representing 3 million educators across the U.S and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL), representing over 7,000 school librarians in the U.S., Canada and abroad. Since 2016, over 1,500 readings have taken place on National Day of Reading across the globe, from the United States to Canada, Uganda and Dubai, with over 96,000 people participating.

In 2023, the HRC Foundation’s Youth Report showed that more than 46 percent of LGBTQ+ youth, including almost 55 percent of transgender and gender-expansive youth, feel unsafe in at least one school setting. And despite the pervasiveness of school bullying, many teachers and staff remain unaware — or are explicitly unhelpful when informed. National Day of Reading events continue to be vital to meeting the needs of LGBTQ+ students today.

About Welcoming Schools:

HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program is the nation’s most comprehensive, bias-based bullying prevention program in the nation to provide LGBTQ+ and gender inclusive professional development training, lesson plans, booklists and resources specifically designed for Pre K - 12 educators and youth-serving professionals.

To learn more, please visit WelcomingSchools.org. To learn more about the National Day of Reading, please visit hrc.im/NationalDayofReading.

The Human Rights Campaign reports on news, events and resources of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation that are of interest to the general public and further our common mission to support the LGBTQ+ community.

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