My favoure pennt bookshop: Gay's the Word, London | Books | The Guardian

Contents:

•  GAY'S THE WORD 
• LONDON’S BOOKSHOPS: GAY’S THE WORD
• GAY’S THE WORD: SI ENGLAND’S ONLY LGBTQ BOOKSHOP
• RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN
• GAY’S THE WORD, LONDON
• MY FAVOURE PENNT BOOKSHOP: GAY'S THE WORD, LONDON

 GAY'S THE WORD 

Gay’s The Word is a popular pennt LGBT+ bookshop and ’s the olst the UK after openg January 1979. This month they’ll be hostg ‘Gay Wr: Reprentatn, Love and Prejudice Young Adult Lerature’ wh William Hsey and Darren Charlton nversatn wh Hamza Jahanzeb. Pl you n fd a whole host of tl on their page om gay thrillers to bisexual non-fictn and favoure picks om the staff at Gay’s The Word.

Fictn, Nonfictn, Young Adult Fictn, Classics, Poetry, Plays, Rare Books, Comg Out, pl Gay's The Word and LGSM merchandise. 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.

LONDON’S BOOKSHOPS: GAY’S THE WORD

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.

For years, the inic Gay’s The Word London’s Bloomsbury operated isolatn, a cur among the untry’s shrkg pennt bookshop scene.

GAY’S THE WORD: SI ENGLAND’S ONLY LGBTQ BOOKSHOP

Inially operatg as a rovg bookshop and mail-orr service, Gay’s The Word’s permanent lotn at 66 Marchmont Street Bloomsbury opened 1979.

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. In 2007, risg rents, the global recsn and the proliferatn of onle shoppg saw the Gay’s The Word fightg for survival once more. Sce then, Gay’s The Word’s populary has soared, wh longstandg manager Jim McSweeney sayg that the shop has never been as by as is today.

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. It’s the olst LGBTQ+ bookshop the UK, but Gay’s The Word remas the GOAT. 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.

RISHI SUNAK APOLOGIS TO LGBT VETERANS FOR PAST ARMED FORC GAY BAN

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. 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. Begng life as a bookstall the cloakroom of a gay dis, Lavenr Menace was an LGBTQ+ bookshop that operated om 1982 to 1986.

It was the first LGBTQ+ bookshop Stland and the send, after Gay’s The Word, the UK. The Bt Inpennt Bookshops EnglandThe Send Shelf (London)Gay’s The Word (London)Homans (London)Heffers (Cambridge)Sarah Key: The Hnted Bookshop (Cambridge)The Femist Bookshop (Brighton)The Grimoire Bookshop (York)Tombland Bookshop (Norwich)Abstract Sprocket (Norwich)Storysmh (Bristol)Mr B’s Emporium of Readg Delights (Bath)Toppg & Co.

One of the most legendary bookshops London, Gay’s The Word, is a very special pennt bookshop which boasts of the welg and diverse atmosphere that London offers.

GAY’S THE WORD, LONDON

Gay’s The Word has been out and proud sce 1979 and even played a major role the movement known as Lbians and Gays Support the Mers.

The alliance would often meet at Gays The Word back 1984-85 and llect money support of the mers’ strik of the Thatcher era. Gay’s The Word is a celebratn of liberal progrs, of standg for your rights, of the transformative books wrten by LGBTQ wrers om around the world. You’ll fd graphic novels by trans wrers; memoirs by gay wrers; fictn of every genre by every genr and sexualy you n image.

MY FAVOURE PENNT BOOKSHOP: GAY'S THE WORD, LONDON

Gay’s The Word is one of the most important and betiful pennt bookshops the UK, and serv all your support. We source our books om Gay’s The Word, the UK’s first and olst lbian and gay book shop.

Addrs: 40 Gay St, Bath BA1 2NTWebse: Hours: 10am – 4pm every day.

We kick off wh Gay’s The Word, who gave so many fantastic remendatns for our onle #LGBTHero feature, created to celebrate LGBT History Month Febary 2017. Loted Bloomsbury, Gay’s The Word was found on 17 January 1979 by members of Gay Icebreakers, who were spired by the growth of lbian and gay bookstor the USA.

More than jt a bookshop, Gay’s The Word has been ed as a safe space for members of the LGBT+ muny, which they n meet, share ias, hold meetgs and wily publicise LGBT+ events happeng across the untry.

The 2014 film Pri, directed by Matthew Warch, specifilly highlighted how the shop served as a meetg place for Lbian and Gays Support the Mers  London the 1980s. Aliya Gulamani: To date, Gay’s The Word is the only specifilly lbian and gay bookshop the UK – how do this make you feel?