Last week Sydney’s iconic LGBTIQA+ bookshop in Darlinghurst announced it will be closing down after 43 years of serving not just the local community, but LGBTIQA+ people across Australia.
Owner Charles Gregory, who took over the business last year, shared the sad news relay that plays to the move the business to a new space had been repeatedly push backs due to delays in the redevelopment of the building it was hoping to move to.
The space has not just been a book store, but a community hub for LGBTIQA+ people that has provided a place for connection and engagement from the early 1980s until now.
OUTinPerth contributor Colin Longworth remembers the importance of The Bookshop: Darling hurst by reminiscing about some of his favourite books he’s sourced from them over the decades.
Over the decades, I and no doubt many others, have made some of their first LGBTTIQA+ (and continuing) book purchases Sydney icon The Bookshop: Darlinghurst.
Unfortunately, for a combination of reasons as a described in a recent email sent to subscribers, Sydney LGBTIQA+ icon is set to close on Christmas eve. Hopefully they can between now and them, find alternative premises or convert to an on-line bookstore.
Over the decades some of my significant purchases (either in person) over the years include the following:
The Male Couple, by McWhirter & Mattison. (1984)
The first book (and at that stage most expensive) book I bought about Male couples. It has an interesting look at the “stages” male couples go through. In some way’s similar to the Homosexual Identity Formation model, of WA psychologist Dr Viv Cass’ looking at the stages individuals go through in the “coming out” process. (Easily the most cited in the psychological literature.)
I recall when I read the book, I recognised other couples I knew in the various stages and suggested it to various people over the years. I also recall when I bought my own copy, and I was working as a shirtcutter in Midland. I was reading it on the train on the way to work. One of the young guys I worked with, wanted to check something in the morning West Australian I bought going to work. I told him to go get the West out of my work bag. (Which also contained the book.)
He knew I was in a same-sex relationship, but was shocked to see, that there was a book written on the subject, and that I was reading it!
Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality : gay people in Western Europe from the beginning of the Christian era to the fourteenth century, by John Boswell.
Although I’m not a “God-botherer”, I was certainly aware of how the bible had been used to justify opposition to homosexuality. From what was written in Gaze Review of Books, (or the mail order catalogue, the Bookshop posted out a few times a year) it looked interesting.
Little did I know it was such a forensic examination of the various mistranslations over the centuries of this significant publication. Admittedly a “heavy” but interesting read that won significant literary awards and has been reprinted many times and held in many libraries across the country. Certainly, one for biblical scholars.
For those wanting a shorter explanation of why using the bible to justify opposition to LGB people, is a rather selective use of the bible, I refer them to the “Letter to Dr Laura” that circulated on the internet years ago.
Someone You Know: A friend’s Farewell by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli.
I bought a copy at The Bookshop at an author signing there. I’d gone over to Sydney for Mardi Gras and the book signing, was one of various things on my itinerary.
It’s a book about the friendship between the author (then a teacher) and her friend Jon.
The listing on the NLA Trove catalogue, (with listings for 29 library’s) refers to how “Maria and Jon teach together, hold common views; they also share secrets. The threads and entanglements of their lives come together at Jon’s final gathering. We learn what it means to be a gay man and have the virus. Maria reveals a great understanding of AIDS, how it affects the person who has it and the way friends are affected too“.
The Trove listing also notes how the book currently has six editions.
In summary, hopefully this Sydney icon manages to be “saved” one way or another and continue to be a place where LGBTIQA+ people can go to a bookshop where their lives are documented and reflected in fiction and non-fiction books and videos in a bookshop dedicated to this purpose.
Needing to add some more books to your library? The Bookshop: Darlinghurst does mail order too. Why not order all your Christmas shopping now!
Colin Longworth is a Psychologist, long term volunteer with Living Proud and the Volunteering WA 2025 Lifetime Contribution to Volunteering Award recipient.
