Co-founders and couple Reese Steiner (left) and Lauren Branch (right) behind the Little Gay Bookstore booth at the North Market in Bridge Park’s annual Holiday Market, located in Dublin, Ohio, on Dec. 16. Credit: Abby Gongwer
While on a trip to downtown Los Angeles, Reese Steiner and Lauren Branch happened upon a labyrinthine bookstore they were eager to explore.
Steiner said she was on the hunt for a section dedicated to queer books amongst the vast corridors of shelves but was disheartened to realize none such sections existed.
The couple joked about opening their own “gay little bookstore” to fill the void where they lived in Columbus. The joke soon turned into a serious conversation.
Steiner, an Ohio State fourth-year in English, and Branch, a 2020 North Central State alum, are working to open a queer-focused bookstore and an accompanying coffee shop at a to-be-determined Short North address, titled Little Gay Bookstore and Queer Beans, respectively. Since growing up without a safe space to explore their own identities, the couple aims to create that environment for their community.
“Literature aside, even if it was just a queer space that like, it’s not a bar, teenagers can come to even just see other gay people and interact,” Steiner said.
The pair said they fell in love with the Short North’s accepting atmosphere, which earned the neighborhood its historical title as Columbus’s “gayborhood.” With the area having a variety of LGBTQ+ attractions including bars and nightclubs, Steiner and Branch said they want to provide a sober option.
“Columbus is definitely great, and we’re definitely grateful that we have any queer spaces, but I think it’s important and time that there is a sober one,” Steiner said. “I’m also really excited to do the coffee shop and just have a space where people can exist, be sober, just hanging out.”
In the process of opening their shop, Steiner said she and Branch created an Ohio State student organization titled Little Gay Book Club, which meets every other Thursday to read and discuss queer literature. Steiner said the club was made to accompany the bookstore, holding the same value of uplifting queer writers, artists and the LGBTQ+ community at large.
Steiner said the goal of opening Little Gay Bookstore is to enable any queer person to find a book that represents themselves and their journey, which stems from a personal place for both Steiner and Branch.
While growing up in Mansfield, Ohio, both Steiner and Branch said they struggled with their community’s not-so-accepting environment, which Steiner called “lukewarm homophobic.” Branch specifically said she didn’t feel comfortable coming out until she went to college and still struggles with the internalized homophobia she developed throughout childhood.
“[This bookstore] definitely would have been very life-changing for me specifically to have a space like that in my youth,” Branch said. “I think it would have kind of sped up my process of figuring myself out.”
Similarly, while Steiner’s parents were accepting of her queer identity, she said she too struggled to fully explore her sexuality before leaving Mansfield. Steiner said her personal experience in this regard is one reason she is eager to open the bookstore, which she hopes will serve as a welcoming space for those in need of identity support.
“I just spent most of my life questioning,” Steiner said. “I think if there was a space like what we’re trying to do, that could have really helped me find some answers.”
The pair said they found comfort within each other, and they hope a brick-and-mortar Little Gay Bookstore will help bring similar assurance and validation to others. Branch said opening a business together essentially feels like a trial marriage, as it comes with both excitement and a new set of challenges.
“If we get through this without breaking up or anything then we’re golden,” Branch said. “We’ve learned a lot, not only about us as individuals, but just us and how we work as a couple.”
The couple said The Little Gay Bookstore will serve as a nonprofit and target funds for organizations like the Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a local nonprofit that supports LGBTQ+ youth. In the long run, Branch said she and Steiner also aim to establish a foundation funded by the bookstore to combat ovarian cancer in honor of her close friend’s mother.
Branch and Steiner said they ultimately look forward to creating a comfortable environment that enables members of the queer community to explore their identities, which will in turn allow them to explore their own.
“We’re going to be surrounded by queer people on a day-to-day basis and just feel very comfortable being able to explore that,” Branch said.
While the shop waits to open its doors, Steiner said the Little Gay Bookstore has gone mobile. Patrons can shop online on the bookstore’s website, and more information about local markets the shop will attend — such as the North Market Bridge Park in Dublin — can be found on its Instagram page.
