Hue-man Bookstore in Harlem Embraces Gay and Lesbian Literature

My late friend poet/playwright/musician Assotto Saint would've been delighted to see a black-owned bookstore that was not afraid to have a gay and lesbian section. Although the selections at the Hue-man Bookstore and Cafe in Harlem are very limited (I counted less than a dozen titles on the shelves), they should be applauded for acknowledging a much overlooked group by many in the black literary world. And when it is mentioned, more often than not the images are stereotypical or negative. For example, in Chester Himes's All Shot Up (part of his Harlem detective series) the men in a gay bar are referred to as "bitchy" and "girlish." Hue-man's inclusion of gay and lesbian literature shows there is some progress being made.
In 1991, I wrote an article in the Amsterdam News about a picket line that Assotto and Gay Men of African Descent (GMAD) were planning against the Harlem-based Liberation Bookstore because the owner refused to carry gay and lesbian books. She claimed that she didn't carry them because the books did not sell, not because she was homophobic. The only gay author whose books she did carry were those by James Baldwin. When the story ran, supporters of the bookstore expressed outrage about the proposed picketing. The picketing never took place, however. I don't know if it was because Assotto got cold feet or he saw it as a futile effort. Another friend of mine stated that when you have to start picketing or boycotting a bookstore to get them to carry gay books, it's time to start your own store.
Let's hope that Hue-man continues to thrive in this tough economy and won't meet the fate of a black-owned Washington, D.C.- area bookstore called Vertigo that closed its doors. According to an article that appeared on the Afrocentric website theroot.com ("The Recessionary Arts," 05/13/09), it was "a paradise and meeting place for book lovers" and "the must-stop place" for authors such as Barack Obama, John Edgar Wideman, and Edwidge Danticat. Let's hope Hue-man will also continue to sell as well as stock more gay-oriented books.