Just received this e-mail from White Crane and felt compelled to post it here. Gay Independent bookstores are going the way of the dinosaur, and it’s a real shame considering the (general) lack of depth of the big chains in regard to LGBT literature.
I remember my first time at A Different Light in NYC. I was blown away by entire bookshelves filled with mysteries, science fiction, poetry anthologies, and tons of non-fiction on so many subjects. Anyway, here’s the message, and while the only branch that’s left is in San Francisco, I’m going to support the appeal by ordering some books on-line.
A Different Light Bookstore and ADLBooks.Com
A Different Light Bookstore opened it’s doors in November 1979. As with all of the independent gay bookstores during that time, our stores became meeting places to promote GLBT writers, as well as gathering places for GLBT activists. And our independent gay bookstores served us well in working towards the equality we have achieved today and are working for in the future.
As you are aware, from surfing the net to reading the few newspapers and magazines that are still in print, our gay community bookstores, publishers and many other gay community small businesses are closing their doors. It is a fact that businesses are only as good as their customer and vendor bases. And as history as shown us, change is inevitable.
It is my belief that the GLBT community is the best read and highest achieving groups of people anywhere in the world. I also believe that in the future when the digital revolution has settled down that community based businesses will again serve as a place of social interaction that the human condition needs so badly.
In saying this, A Different Light Bookstore and ADLBooks.com “need your help and support” to continue to be a presence in San Francisco and online for our communities that we ship to all over the world.
If every customer in our store and online who receive our new product updates would commit to investing $10, $20 or more each month in purchasing our products, that would be an enormous step in continuing to preserve this very important part of our community.
The effect of this action is more then just keeping our business operational, but it also trickles down to our vendors. Equally important, your support will help keep and create local jobs that are so important to our community.
There are two actions that I would like you to consider. The most immediate action is of course stopping by our store or signing onto our website and buying a great book, gift, movie, magazine or DVD’s.
A more serious request, and one that I think would set a stage for preserving GLBT literature for the future is that you might consider buying 1-10 copies of each Queer Classic and “donating” it to a school, university, GLBT Center Library, local libraries or any of your favorite organizations. In addition to our GLBT archives around the world, this would put our literature in the hands of readers who might otherwise not have access or are being censored.
We are asking for your support. We sincerely appreciate and are thankful for our customers who visit and buy from us on a regular basis.
Thank you for your consideration and taking the time to read this note.
Bill Barker
A Different Light Bookstore and ADLBooks.Com
Hey, I searched for this blog on Bing and just wanted to say thanks for the excellent read. I would have to agree with it, thank you again!
Thanks Cherie. Glad you made it over here.
If you keep on posting articles such as this then I am going to continue returning back to your blog. Wonderful information.