Australia’s oldest LGBT bookshop began life as a mail order business before moving into premises just off Oxford Street in Sydney in 1982.

Two years later it moved into premises on Taylor Square, placing itself at the centre of Oxford Street’s transformation into Sydney’s gay ‘Golden Mile’. Known simply as The Bookshop, it has remained there ever since.

Like other LGBT bookstores around the world it has served as much as a community centre as it has a bookshop: there has been a regular stream of people in need of information and advice. Young gays and lesbians moving to Sydney in search of a more open lifestyle, parents seeking information after one of their offspring has come out and, in the early days of the AIDS crisis, just about everyone in search of information about this frightening new condition.

It also serves as a ‘Safe Place’ – a bolt hole for those seeking refuge from abuse or violence from homophobes looking for trouble in one of Sydney’s best known gay areas.

Such was its early success that a second branch was opened in the emerging gay neighbourhood of Newtown in 1986.

But, as with other LGBT bookstores around the world, the rise of the online book market has caused serious financial problems for the Bookshop. So much so that the Newtown branch closed its doors in 1998 whilst the Darlinghurst branch works hard to keep its head above water.

It’s a particularly bitter irony for LGBT bookshops everywhere. Thirty years ago they were the only places that would stock gay positive material – other booksellers wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole. And it was their presence then that was a key factor in achieving the political and social gains we enjoy now.

But now they’re being undercut by the likes of Amazon – who’ll stock anything if they see a profit in it (including books on how to cure homosexuality). And, as Amazon’s massive tax avoidance scams have shown, we’re not going to be seeing them stepping up to support any community initiatives.

So we may be able to get our books a lot cheaper, but that may still come at a cost to at least some sections of our communities.