Customers’ corner

“Gay’s The Word has been a friend to me as a reader and as a writer. It’s been a fixed point, caring in a crazy, often hostile world. I don’t know what I would have done without it.”

Charles Lambert

“It’s a beacon, transmitting LGBT+ stories into the world, and a gathering place in which all are welcome. For many, it’s their safest space, where our histories exist alongside current struggles.”

Michael Langan

“As queers, we are not likely to have any immediate offspring to pass our libraries on to, so they end up at Gay’s The Word, where people like me can find them. From the Gay Men’s Press through to vintage soft- core porn, these forgotten treasures map out the political and erotic interests of successive generations in a way that would be hard to find elsewhere.”

Fanny Paul Clinton

“When you enter the bookshop, you are more than a customer: you’re a friend and family member, welcomed home to share in all its legacy.”

Damien Arness Dalton

“The first time I went past Gay’s the Word I was a shy 20 year old and a man cycling by on a bike shouted, ‘ Poofs!’ making me jump and chicken out. But I tried again the next day, and went again and again. I love the shop so much, it’s no coincidence that when I moved to London, I picked the [ Bloomsbury] area. Long live Gay’s The Word!”

Paul Baker