Glad Day Lit

Glad Day Bookshop is a genuine piece of queer history, founded in Toronto in 1970 by activist Jearld Moldenhauer as Canada's first gay and lesbian bookstore, and recognized today as the oldest surviving LGBTQ bookstore in the world. After eight years anchoring the Church-Wellesley Village with a beloved bookstore-café-bar combination that hosted hundreds of events a year, from drag brunches to trivia nights, rising rent forced a move in 2025 to a smaller, community-funded space on Lisgar Street in Queen West. The new spot keeps the soul intact: a curated collection of queer books, comics and zines you won't find at chain stores, a café counter, a communal lounge, an event space, and even a small park out front. It's meant as a stable, lower-cost home base rather than a permanent one, as Glad Day continues working with the City of Toronto toward a sustainable "forever home," ideally back in the Village it helped build. A must-visit piece of living queer history, wherever it lands next.