Neal Broverman

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The Nation’s Oldest LGBTQ+ Bookstore Is Ready for 50 More Years

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Katherine Milon was strolling Philadelphia’s picturesque Pine Street when she saw the awning for Giovanni’s Room. Wait, that’s a gay book, Milon thought. This is a gay bookstore! Soon after, Milon began volunteering at the venerable queer and feminist bookseller — named for James Baldwin’s classic 1956 novel — becoming co-manager a few years later. In the past five years, Milon has witnessed COVID decimate business, the store’s pivot to e-commerce during the pandemic, the return of foot traffic in 2021, and, just this summer, the 50th anniversary of Giovanni’s Room, which is the oldest continuously operating LGBTQ+ bookstore in the nation. A […]

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Flipping the Script on Stories of Black Trans Women

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It can often feel like joy and optimism went on sabbatical around 2015 and have yet to reappear. Counter that despair with the Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, a young organization building community and mobilizing resources for underrepresented artists. Since its founding in 2019 by Jordyn Jay, the grassroots organization has raised over a million dollars to support Black trans artists. Members of the collective have appeared on HBO Max’s Legendary, staged exhibitions at Los Angeles’s Armand Hammer Museum, and performed on Broadway. Jay says their organization is necessary because disparities of funding and safe spaces, and the general inaccessibility of […]