Some thoughts on what Pride month gets right, what it misses, and why the store treats the other eleven months the same way.
Every June, the flags come out, the brands swap their logos, and Davie Street fills up. We love it. Pride is a party this community fought for, and we're not going to be precious about celebrating it.
But here's the thing about a store like this one: the reason we exist doesn't take eleven months off. The person who walks in nervous and newly out doesn't check the calendar first. The kid looking for a book that reflects their life needs it in February as much as in June. The community that gathered here through the AIDS crisis, through three bombings, through a fifteen-year court fight — that community didn't show up seasonally, and neither did we.
So we treat Pride month as the loud version of what we already are. The shelves don't get more queer in June and less queer in July. The staff who'll talk you through a first read, point you toward a resource, or just let you browse in peace are here on a rainy Tuesday in November too. The community board still fills up. The events still run.
Pride month gets a lot right. It makes the community visible, it brings people together, it reminds the city we're here. What it can miss is that visibility isn't a campaign — it's a place you can walk into any day of the year. Corporate rainbow logos come down on July 1st. We don't. We try to be that place on all 365 days, and to be the same store in the quiet months that we are during the parade.
