Gay book stores near me
Circus of Books was a bookstore and male lover pornography shop owned by Karen and Barry Mason, with locations in West Hollywood and Silver lake. As a notable Los Angeles gay cruising identify, place of refuge during the AIDS crisis, and mom-and-pop porn shop fighting federal obscenity charges, both locations are now considered important sites of Los Angeles' gay history.
This store is in the heart of what was once West Hollywood’s “Vaseline Alley,” a parking lot and alley where gay men cruised for sex.
“There was a lot of outing in the alley behind our store,” Mason said. “People would meet each other here, and even though we, as owners, kept out of it, it was definitely a pickup spot. I ponder when Circus of Books opened, this was such a special place for people who were male lover or were trying to come out or touch comfortable.”
A documentary on the store, filmed by the Masons' daughter Rachel Mason, was released in 2019.
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@mrburlesk
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 male lover, trans, or non-gender conforming comes with a risk.
I’m blessed 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 employment, 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 reliable 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 evening. The twelve businesses on this list represent just some of the fabulous queer-owned bookstores that are working challenging 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 female homosexual bookstore is strongly c
The Ultimate Guide to Queer Literature in Philadelphia
From queer-owned bookstores and book clubs to a reading list of classic and new works, here are some of the places and spaces that make Philadelphia one of the top cities in America to be gender non-conforming and bookish.
Get a compelling drawn-out read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!
Giovanni’s Room, just one of Philly’s many resources for gay literature. / Photo by C. Benner, courtesy of Go to Philadelphia
To be gay today is to live at the center of a contradiction: perhaps at no point in history have LGBTQIA+ people experienced such widespread social acceptance and cultural prominence and yet perhaps at no signal in recent memory have we also been the goal of such intense legal and cultural attacks, from laws that would criminalize our choices, to attacks on our vital healthcare, and bans of books that tell our stories. In 2023 alone, lawmakers proposed more than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills and more than 300 trans people (mostly trans women of color) were murdered.
To be queer in Philadelphia is also to be part of both a unique, long lineage of activism, jo
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