The Spaces In Between

I am excited to announce that I was recently elected president of the Board of Directors for a queer children’s bookstore that will be opening in Eugene, Oregon. The Invisible Strings Bookstore will provide a community space for LGBTQ youth and their families, using the sale of books and cafe goods to fund support groups, youth programming, open mics, and more.

We recently became a registered non-profit, and officially elected Finn Smith, who is our founder, to be the executive director. Our board is made up of 5 folks who are engaged in LGBTQ organizing in various locations across the US and have experience working with LGBTQ youth. Our members who are located in Oregon will soon be tabling at Eugene Pride, and we will be starting our fund-raising efforts soon, with the plan to open a brick-and-mortar store in 2020.

I am really excited to be a part of this project, as I know how important community is for young LGBTQ people, and how difficult it can be for them to find safe spaces to gather in. As Finn writes on the Invisible Strings website: “The queer community is (almost) unique in that we are one of the only communities whose culture is not passed down through our families. There is a long history of young queers seeking out older queer mentors to act as guides in learning their history and culture. However, there are some barriers to those crucial relationships. First, there is a stigma that paints all queer identities as inherently pedophilic, which leads to young queers being discouraged from seeking out those mentors. Second, the AIDS genocide of the Reagan era eliminated almost an entire generation of queer people, leaving the current generation without mentors and the next with a significant gap in knowledge. We want to provide a safe space for queer kids to find community and find connections to their culture. We want to bridge that gap.”

This bookstore will be an important resource and physical space to gather for youth. And, as someone who has worked with many families of LGBTQ youth, I know how important it will also be for families and parents who are seeking information and resources to help them understand and support their LGBTQ kids. I am also excited to be a part of the resurgence in independent bookstores that is happening in the US and to be part of a long legacy of LGBTQ bookstores that have existed over time.