Gay’s The Word – London’s Inic Queer Bookstore Contu To Thrive

The knapsack perd was the first for the Glad Day Bookshop, which then operated out of Molnher’s apartment along wh The Body Polic, one of the untry’s first gay perdils. “The realy was that I was a full-time gay radil, ” Molnher said, “one who wore many hats at the same time. Gay’s The Word, which opened London 1979.

Gay’s The Word, London’s queer bookshop, opened 1979 on Marchmont Street, a few blocks om the Brish Mm. In 1984, ctoms officers raid Gay’s The Word on multiple ocsns and nfisted all imported publitns.

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

The shipments, many of which had e om Gvanni’s Room (who had begun wholalg to stor abroad), clud 144 tl such as novels by Gordon Merrick and Armistead Mp, The Joy of Gay Sex by Charl Silverste and Edmund Whe, a French weekly newspaper, and a 14th-century votnal book thored by a nun.

Durg a pre-trial hearg, the lear of the operatn admted that officers were given guil to nfiste work alg wh homosexualy.

In the early years of the AIDS crisis, most medil and ernment tablishments refed to share the most up-to-date rmatn for fear of promotg or associatg wh homosexualy.

A BOOK LOVERS PRI: FOR ALMOST 40 YEARS, GAY’S THE WORD HAS BROUGHT LGBT+ LERATURE TO THE STREETS OF BLOOMSBURY

A person ught wh such lerature, even if they were not fected, uld be fired om their job or ostracized their muny, so bookstor such as Gay’s The Word, acrdg to longtime manager Jim MacSweeney, gave people a protected environment to take the rmatn. At the height of the epimic, when newspapers and society were savage their fear and loathg of gay people and people affected by HIV/AIDS, we managed to reta our sany and provi a welg environment. And openly gay celebri wrote memoirs, among them the diver Greg Louganis, whose 1995 effort Breakg The Surface beme the top seller for many queer bookstor that year.

GAY’S THE WORD: 5 LGBTQ+ BOOKS TO READ FOR PRI

“I well remember the Osr Wil Bookstore downtown NYC, wanrg there as a sort of baby dyke and beg closely observed by the gay man behd the unter. Whout gay and lbian bookstor, and the many femist bookstor of youth, I would never have found my people, my muny, never had the enuragement and mentary of other gay and lbian wrers.

In the mid-’90s, as the first HIV dg cktails emerged, cha booksellers like Borrs had spread across the untry and, vetg a foothold a burgeong market, opened gay and lbian sectns their stor. Gay’s The Word is an LGBTQ bookstore London – you’ll fd Bloomsbury.

LONDON’S BOOKSHOPS: GAY’S THE WORD

When was Gay’s The Word tablished? Inspired by the emergence and growth of lbian and gay bookstor the Uned Stat, a small group of people om Gay Icebreakers – a gay socialist group – found Gay’s The Word 1979.

When the shop was found 1979, gay books were not generally available mastream bookstor – you had to source them om specialist publishers via mail-orr, generally om the US.

London’s Bookshops: Gay’s The Word – Spread the Word

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Contents:

GAY'S THE WORD

GAY IS THE WORD: A HISTORY OF LGBTQ BOOKSTOR AROUND THE WORLD

GAY’S THE WORD – LONDON’S INIC QUEER BOOKSTORE NTU TO THRIVE