Gay bookshop
Why Are Lgbtq+ & Gay Bookshops Important?
Because reading is fundamental! OK so RuPaul didn’t quite mean it in this context, but it’s still true. Knowledge is power, and there's a lot of knowledge in reading. But it runs way deeper than that. Queer literature has always been a refuge, a place where we can see ourselves represented, with stories of people fond of us finding achievement, love, joy and adventure.
So Queer and queer bookshops are crucial for our collective. Partly because books, for so many, are the place where we can lose ourselves in a world away from the one in which we have been forced to hide who we are. But mostly because they’re more than just shops, they own historically been society spaces, where people from all sides of our group have been competent to meet, to make friends, to organise, to struggle back, to argue ideas and to feel safe.
The American Library Association has reported that in 2023 a staggering 4,240 books were banned in US schools and libraries. That’s more than any other year since records began. Many of those censored are Homosexual books. So having places where people can go and talk about, peruse and buy Diverse books has n
95 LGBTQ-Owned Bookstores You Can Be Pleased to Support
In honor of Pride Month, we're revisiting this story that was originally published in 2020, along with an updated directory of queer-owned bookstores by state. If you can’t generate it to one of these stores in person, you can support them by shopping from their websites.
In Parade 2020, married couple Amy Elkavich and MerryBeth Burgess were getting ready to launch their independent, LGBTQ- and woman-focused bookstore, hello again books, in their Florida nook of Cocoa Village. The pair saw an opportunity—a need, as Elkavich told Oprah Daily, to “serve as an inclusive and safe vacuum for those who seek one,” to make their group a more welcoming and friendly room. “Visibility is everything in small towns, where books are some of the only windows to a more accepting world.”
Visibility is everything in small towns, where books are some of the only windows to a more accepting world.
Visibility allows people with marginalized identities to see themselves and their stories reflected in and worthy of art. As Oprah herself wrote: “When we see ourselves, our presence and being in the planet has been validated.” Additi
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The Bars Are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America,1960 and After
“Gay bars have operated as the most visible institutions of the LGBTQ community in the United States for the better part of a century, from before lgbtq+ liberation until after their assumed obsolescence. In The Bars Are Ours Lucas Hilderbrand offers a panoramic history of gay bars, showing how they served as the medium for queer communities, politics, and cultures. Hilderbrand cruises from leather in Chicago and drag in Kansas City to activism against gentrification in Boston and racial discrimination in Atlanta; from New York City’s bathhouses, sex clubs, and discos and Houston’s legendary bar Mary’s to the alternative scenes that reimagined queer nightlife in San Francisco and Latinx venues in Los Angeles. The Bars Are Ours explores these local sites-with additional stops in Denver, Detroit, Seattle, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, and Orlando, as well as Wisconsin, Pen
For queer people, LGBT-owned bookstores function as more than just a space to buy books, they’re informal meeting places, resources hubs, and safe spaces. This is especially true in rural or politically conservative areas where being lgbtq+, trans, or non-gender conforming comes with a risk.
I’m lucky enough to own found solace and companionship in the haven of a queer bookshop: Still North Books & Prevent in Hanover, New Hampshire. This woman-owned, queer-powered bookstore-café simultaneously functioned as my day job, community gathering hub, and artistic outlet when I needed those things most. Having a workplace where I knew sharing my pronouns and freely embracing my gender presentation would be harmless was so valuable to me, and I made lifelong friends there. Queer-owned bookstores around the region offer a similar solace to their staff and patrons every day. The twelve businesses on this list represent just some of the fabulous queer-owned bookstores that are functional hard to protect free speech and provide a refuge for LGBT patrons.
Bookends in Florence, Massachusetts
Tucked into the beautiful Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts, this lesbian bookstore is strongly c