Gay bookshops
95 LGBTQ-Owned Bookstores You Can Be Proud 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 articulate. If you can’t construct it to one of these stores in person, you can support them by shopping from their websites.
In March 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 space for those who seek one,” to make their community a more welcoming and approachable space. “Visibility is everything in small towns, where books are some of the only windows to a more accepting world.”
Visibility is everything in compact 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 existence in the world has been validated.” Additi
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 love us finding accomplishment, love, joy and adventure.
So Queer and lgbtq+ bookshops are inherent for our people. 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 collective spaces, where people from all sides of our group have been qualified to meet, to make friends, to organise, to defend back, to talk about 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 Diverse books. So having places where people can go and talk about, peruse and buy Homosexual books has n
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 correct in rural or politically conservative areas where being same-sex attracted, trans, or non-gender conforming comes with a risk.
I’m prosperous enough to possess found solace and companionship in the haven of a queer bookshop: Still North Books & Bar in Hanover, New Hampshire. This woman-owned, queer-powered bookstore-café simultaneously functioned as my day position, 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 secure was so valuable to me, and I made lifelong friends there. Queer-owned bookstores around the country offer a similar solace to their staff and patrons every night. The twelve businesses on this list represent just some of the fabulous queer-owned bookstores that are working difficult 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 queer woman bookstore is strongly c
prockomi.ru
eu-ua.org
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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 male lover 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