Gay's The Word | The UK's Olst LGBT+ Bookshop | London, England

Contents:

•  GAY'S THE WORD 
• SAVG ‘GAY’S THE WORD’: THE ‘OPERATN TIGER’ RAID ON A LGBTQ BOOKSHOP 1984
• “GAY IS GOOD”: HEARTFELT MSAG FOUND THE BASEMENT OF RADIL KG’S CROSS BOOKSHOP
• INIC GAY BOOKSHOP LONDON VANDALISED
• FD HOTELS GAY'S THE WORD BOOKSHOP

 GAY'S THE WORD 

Readg is fundamental: si Bra’s queer bookshop boom | Dazed⬅️ Left Arrow*️⃣ Asterisk␠StarOptn Slirs✉️ MailExGay’s The WordCourty of Gay’s The WordAlim Kheraj prents a gui to the UK’s bounty of LGBTQ+ bookshops – om London’s Gay’s The Word and Glasgow’s Category Is Books, to Cardiff’s Paned o Gê and Belfast’s Paperxclips Books. Queer spac have also diversified, too: whereas throughout the 00s most LGBTQ+ venu were nightlife-specific, terg primarily to an dience of whe cis gay men, the current landspe is far more clive, providg spac for people of lour, trans people, lbians, and those who are sober. From that moment beme a muny hub for the pal’s LGBTQ+ muny, hostg polil and activist groups such as the Gay Black Group, the Lbian Discsn Group (which still meets at the shop) and, 1983, Lbian and Gays Support the Mers – ma famo the 2014 film Pri.

SAVG ‘GAY’S THE WORD’: THE ‘OPERATN TIGER’ RAID ON A LGBTQ BOOKSHOP 1984

Along wh specific sectns dited to gay, lbian, trans and YA fictn, there are shelv foced on history, tobgraphy and memoir, queer theory, and a rather brilliant send-hand sectn, where you n often fd rare and out-of-prt LGBTQ+ books. Along wh lks to the Gay Liberatn Front, the not-for-prof bookshop Kg’s Cross was the birthplace of the London Lbian and Gay Swchboard (now known simply as the chary Swchboard), which provid a val lifele to queer people throughout the 70s, and was stmental sharg rmatn about the HIV/AIDS crisis the 80s and 90s. As one of the longt-nng radil bookshops the UK, Homans also has a history of stockg LGBTQ+ lerature, and like Gay’s The Word, the shop was raid by HM Ctoms and Excise 1984.

“GAY IS GOOD”: HEARTFELT MSAG FOUND THE BASEMENT OF RADIL KG’S CROSS BOOKSHOP

Sharg their profs wh var LGBTQ+ chari, the Gay Pri Shop, loted Manchter’s Northern Quarter, is a place to pick up all your Pri paraphernalia, along wh fancy drs, stickers, toys, accsori and ratns.

2 In April 1984, officers om Ctoms and Excise raid Gay’s the Word, a small pennt bookshop Marchmont Street, Bloomsbury, as well as the hom of two of s directors, and seized thoands of imported books a move they lled Operatn Tiger.

This happened durg a perd of right-wg ernment followg Margaret Thatcher’s electn victory 1979 and heightened homophobia om queerbashers the street, the media, polil and relig lears and the thori.

INIC GAY BOOKSHOP LONDON VANDALISED

In 1979, Ernt Hole and a small group of iends opened Gay’s the Word bookshop to sell gay and femist lerature at 66 Marchmont Street, London WC1, premis still occupi today. It took s name om the Ivor Novello mil Gay’s the Word and grew out of a portable llectn of books that Hole rried to different venu and events, fund by himself and Peter Dorey who had jt received a small herance. At the time, LGBT+ books were not generally available Brish bookshops but a few radil booksellers stocked some tl, and Gay News, a fortnightly newspaper found by a llective of activists June 1972, had an extensive mail-orr list.

Onlywomen Prs had started publishg the UK 1974 and the muny’s publishers were to blossom the 1980s wh the foundg of Gay Men’s Prs and Brilliance Books.

Gay’s the Word not only stocked s polics on s shelv, also provid s premis for other lbian and gay polil and muny purpos: was home to the Lbian Discsn Group, the Gay Men’s Disabled Group, the Gay Black Group, and for many years the Lbian and Gay Pri Commtee held s meetgs there.

FD HOTELS GAY'S THE WORD BOOKSHOP

Hole was not alone; lbian and gay bookstor were beg opened around the world wh siar polil and muny motiv and as part of a growg cultural surge of wrg and publishg. Gvanni’s Room bookstore, named after Jam Baldw’s classic gay novel, was opened Philalphia 1973 by three members of Gay Activists Alliance and was bought for $500 three years later by Ed Hermance. Norman Lrilla and Gee Leigh opened A Different Light bookstore, named after Elizabeth Lynn’s gay science fictn novel, Los Angel 1979, wh further stor openg New York and San Francis.

In 1980 and 1981, Gay’s the Word and Edburgh’s First of May radil bookshop supported the Lavenr Books llective, which ran LGBT+ bookstalls the cy and at nferenc and march around the UK. In the same year that Gay’s the Word opened on Marchmont Street, Margaret Thatcher me to power leadg a radil right-wg ernment that would transform Brish polics the 1980s. It was a difficult time for Brish LGBT+ people: queerbashg and murrs were rife, as scribed a Campaign for Homosexual Equaly (CHE) report entled Attacks on Gay People.

Incints clud police cursns to clubs and snas, for example Monroe’s Northampton, 6 and several raids on the Gemi Hudrsfield, which was allied wh so-lled ‘fishg trips’ for spected homosexuals through people’s private addrs books and a no-go area of the town. 9 In London and Manchter, they even ed agents provotrs – young, handsome, male officers drsed leather jackets and torn nim, known as ‘the pretty police’ – to entrap gay men and charge them wh importung for an immoral purpose. 11 Anyone who had killed a gay man uld e the ‘homosexual panic’ fence sayg that he had ma a pass at them, their ex had been blocked so they panicked and killed him.