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The Oldest & Very Best LGBTQ & Feminist Bookstore in the Country
New Releases
The Bars Are Ours: Histories and Cultures of Gay Bars in America, 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 gay 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, Phila
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 gay, trans, or non-gender conforming comes with a risk.
I’m lucky enough to include 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 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 protected 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
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Gay's The Word
Books
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Fiction, Nonfiction, Young Adult Fiction, Classics, Poetry, Plays, Scarce Books, Coming Out,
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LGSM merchandise
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Pre-Orders
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a hotly anticipated title?
Check out our Pre-Orders page for a selection of upcoming books with both
UK and European shipping available online.
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OUR EVENTS
Online and in shop, we host book launches, author signings, readings, and panel discussions.
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OUR HISTORY
We are the UK's oldest LGBT+ bookshop, opening in January at 66 Marchmont Street.
About Us
OUR COMMUNITY
Online and in shop, we provide meeting space for community groups and resources.
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Plus,
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 , along with an updated directory of queer-owned bookstores by express. If you can’t build it to one of these stores in person, you can support them by shopping from their websites.
In March , 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 friendly space. “Visibility is everything in small towns, where books are some of the only windows to a more accepting world.”
Visibility is everything in petite 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: