People Like Us: So Much More than a Bookstore

"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 cul ...