Why Glad Day is North America’s oldest surviving gay bookstore

Glad Day is more than just a bookstore, and it hosts a wide variety of events
(Photo: Glad Day)

It’s sad to think that a couple of decades ago, there were dozens of LGBTQ bookstores around the world. Thanks to the internet, and rising rent prices, that number has dwindled significantly.

Glad Day in Toronto, Canada, is believed to be the oldest gay bookstore in the world.

Its history dates back to 1970 before there was much of an established gay scene in Toronto. It began life with activist Jearld Moldenhauer becoming a mobile library and hauling LGBTQ books around in a backpack to community meetings.

In 1981, Glad Day took over a small, cramped second-floor space on Yonge Street. Despite the lack of space, it gained a loyal following who returned, again and again, to browse the books, magazines and comics, listen to readings, hold activism meetings or check the community bulletin board.

However, like other booksellers, the turn of the century brought fresh challenges. In 2012, 23 local LGBT community members pooled their resources to buy Glad Day in order to avoid closure. In 2015, the new team created Naked Heart – The LGBTQ Festival of Words which has become the largest LGBTQ literary festival in the world.

The new management and fresh injection of energy didn’t manage to solve all of the small store’s financial problems. In 2016, it was decided that…

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