"An Exclusively Gay and Lesbian Bookstore for Chicago"

Time travel with us to a very special place in episode four of Unboxing Queer History!

Between 1988 and 1997, Carrie Barnett and Brett Shingledecker founded and ran People Like Us: Chicago’s only exclusively LGBTQ bookstore, located just north of Belmont at 3321 N. Clark Street.

The bookstore was unique at a time when many queer spaces were segregated into women’s or men’s spaces. Carrie and Brett did not separate lesbian and gay male literature, but instead shelved everything together by genre. Erotica was separated out, but otherwise the collection was integrated. This created an overlap; an interaction between two cultures that were often polarized even within the queer spectrum.

Of course, People Like Us became much, much more than just a bookstore - it was a cultural center: an everyday anchor for Chicago’s queer community, a tourist hotspot for queer visitors to Chicago, and a foundation for the development of queer literature by publishers. PLU even hosted an incredible number of queer legends and icons–polaroid photos from events show speakers from Alison Bechdel and Lea DeLaria to Rupert Kinnard, John Preston, Leslie Feinberg, Greg Louganis, Rita Mae Brown, and beyond.

Listen in to learn more about this incredible space and to hear from Carrie, Brett, and patrons of People Like Us on why having an exclusively LGBTQ bookstore was so important for the Chicago LGBTQ community, as well as where to find that touchstone today.

Unboxing Queer History is created by Ari Mejia, Jen Dentel, and Erin Bell. Produced by Ari Mejia with Hannah Viti. Artwork by Mere Montgomery & theme music by Danny Robles! And special thanks to Jules Gordon for co-producing the episode on People Like Us books and Alyssa Edes for producing the episode on Lorrainne Sade Baskerville! Special thanks to RAILS (Reaching Across Illinois Library System) for the "My Library Is... " grant that funded this project