On November 24, 1967, the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop was founded. Opening up as a Bookshop for LGBT literature, the bookshop was used for shopping, browsing the literature, and a meeting place for LGBT rights groups. The group that mainly used the bookshop was the Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhoods group, also shortened to HYMN (Craig). This group was started by the bookshop owner Craig Rodwell who had been involved in many homosexual rights activist groups before opening his bookshop. The HYMN was most known for leading rallies within their neighborhood of New York City, advocating for their rights. Once the Stonewall riots happened, the Homophile Youth Movement in Neighborhoods created leaflets that encouraged the police and mafia to stay out of gay bars.

The opening of the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop created a place for organizations to meet and a community to form. Since the 1960s, homosexuality was illegal, and many felt outcasted and had nowhere to find those with like minds. While there were gay bars, not everyone was of drinking age, therefore couldn’t go to places like gay bars (Villemez). Queer bookstores started because of the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop and created an entire queer literature community for those who were not straight. These bookshops still suffered from vandalism and harassment like any other place that was not fitted to societal norms but created an environment where people could feel accepted. The opening of the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookstore caused a chain reaction of advocacy for the queer community and helped push the homosexuality rights movement forward.

Works Cited

Craig Rodwell Papers, https://archives.nypl.org/mss/2606.

Jason Villemez, et al. “Authors and Activism: A History of LGBT Bookstores.” Out In Jersey, 29 Sept. 2019, https://outinjersey.net/authors-and-activism-a-history-of-lgbt-bookstores/.

“LGBTQIA+ Studies: A Resource Guide: Before Stonewall: The Homophile Movement.” Research Guides, https://guides.loc.gov/lgbtq-studies/before-stonewall.