Finding Music and Resources About Music
Milner Library has a variety of resources about LGBTQIA2S+ musicians, as well as music by LGBTQIA2S+ musicians.
Resources About LGBTQIA2S+ Musicians
Searching for the Library of Congress subject terms listed below will help you find resources about LGBTQIA2S+ musicians in the library catalog. To search for a subject, enter your search terms and change the search parameters to "All items that contain my query words in subject." Entering your search terms in quotes will search for an exact match.
Please note that these terms are from the Library of Congress and are not inclusive of all identities. These subject terms only provide a starting point-- to find more, look at each record to review the additional subject terms they use!
- Castrati.
- Gay men and musicals.
- Gay men -- Biography. Gay musicians.
- Gay musicians -- Biography.
- Gay musicians -- United States.
- Gays and rock music.
- Gender identity in music.
- Homosexuality and music.
- Homosexuality and popular music.
- Homosexuality Related to Music.
- Lesbianism in opera.
- Lesbians and musicals -- United States.
- Lesbian musicians -- Biography.
- Lesbian musicians -- United States -- Biography.
- Lesbian musicians -- United States -- History.
To identify LGBTQIA2S+ musicians, you can also search for these terms in the databases listed below:
- Baker's Biographical Dictionary of MusiciansFull text music biography database ranging from the medieval ages to the present.
- Contemporary MusiciansFull text biography database focused on musicians involved in rock, jazz, pop, rap, rhythm and blues, folk, New Age, country, gospel, and reggae.
- Oxford Music OnlineCompilation of music reference sources and includes full text articles, musician biographies, and music-related definitions. Includes Grove Music Online, The Oxford Companion to Music, and The Oxford Dictionary of Music. Limited to eight simultaneous users.
Streaming Audio by LGBTQIA2S+ Musicians
Milner Library has several databases that include streaming music, including Naxos Music Library and DRAM. These databases do not use the same subject terms as our catalog, so you will need to search for known musicians. That said, they have a few albums and playlists that highlight LGBTQIA2S+ composers:
- Gay American Composers
- Gay American Composers, vol. 2
- Lesbian American Composers
- LGBT Composers Pt. 1 Playlist
- LGBT Composers Pt. 2 Playlist
Musical Vocal Scores
On the 6th floor of Milner Library, you'll find our music scores, including the vocal scores from musicals. The following items aren't easily findable as having LGBTQIA2S+ subject matter, so are listed here for your convenience!
Podcasts & Playlists
Milner Library doesn't own any podcasts, but we've made a few free selections available for you in the carousel to the right. Note that these are only a few samplings of what is available! Follow the links to listen online, or access via your favorite podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Stitcher. We've also compiled a fun Spotify playlist with LGBTQIA2S+ artists!
Select Items at Milner
Spotify playlist
Podcasts
Being Seen
A weekly podcast about the power of Being Seen, focused on the gay and queer Black male experience.
Gender Reveal
Gender Reveal is a podcast that features nonbinary, genderqueer, transgender, and queer artists, activists, and educators.
Nancy
Stories and conversations about the queer experience today. Prepare to laugh and cry and laugh again.
Queer America
Queer America takes listeners on a journey that spans from Harlem to the Frontier West, revealing stories of LGBTQ life we should have learned in school.
Making Gay History
Bringing the voices of LGBTQ history to life through intimate conversations with champions, heroes, and witnesses to history.
Unshaming.
Unshaming is a podcast founded on the belief that shame exists because representation doesn’t. You'll hear the stories of people ostracized from society, people who have hidden themselves due to fear of rejection, judgment, and violence — now loudly visible.
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
Come on a journey with Jonathan (Queer Eye, Gay of Thrones) and experts in their respective fields as they get curious about anything and everything under the sun.
Gayish
Gayish is an independent, award-nominated gay podcast where Mike Johnson and Kyle Getz talk about a different gay stereotype each episode.
Outward
Outward is a whip-smart monthly salon in which hosts and guests deepen the audience’s understanding of queer culture and politics, delight them with unexpected perspectives, and invite listeners into a colorful conversation about the issues animating LGBTQ communities.
Meet the Kramers
Hosts Geri and Sarah Kramer discuss their 25 year marriage in relation to Geri’s coming out as a trans-woman.
LGBTQ&A Podcast
LGBTQ&A was created in 2016 in order to document modern LGBTQ+ history — to get beyond transition and coming out stories, to get to know each person, their accomplishments, their failures, and how to they got to where they are today.