VANCOUVER - One of Canada's most iconic symbols of the gay community's fight for acceptance and freedom of expression is up for sale.
Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium , which will mark its 25th anniversary April 15, has been described as "more than just a bookstore" and "the nerve center of the gay and lesbian community." Owners Jim Deva and Bruce Smyth said they never considered selling their shop until, while planning Little Sister's' silver jubilee, they realized they were ready to make a change. In addition, Smyth's health has deteriorated recently, leaving Deva with more responsibilities than he can handle alone, he said.
"I really liked the partnership concept of it, and that hasn't really been working due to [Smyth's] health," he told the Canadian gay news and culture publication Xtra . "I'm doing it more on my own, and I really don't care for it. I'm finding myself stressing over non-stressing things like payroll, rent, taxes - all of those things."
No potential buyers have emerged yet, and any who do have quite a tradition to continue.
"...I don't want any business that just focuses on men. I don't want somebody that just wants to focus on women," Deva told Xtra. "I still believe that [the store's mission] should be universal to our community and try to meet the needs of not all of them, but the majority of people.
"The staff wants to continue, and I think that's fabulous," he continued. "It's an asset to anybody who wants to sort of pick up the reins and continue. We're going to have to be able to just give it up and pass it over and say, ‘Do the best you can.'"
Actually, that's a pretty tall order, considering Little Sister's' history. For most of its 25 years, the store has played a pivotal role in dealing with issues that impact the gay and lesbian community. In 2001, Deva and company spearheaded the response to the murder of Aaron Webster (an event that galvanized gay Canadians in much the same way as the brutal death of Matthew Shepard galvanized their American counterparts). The store also has been active in community policing and housing issues and has served as a gathering place and resource for all things queer.
But it was Little Sister's' battle with Canada Border Services Agency (then Canada Customs), which began in 1984 and continues to this day, that brought the store the most notoriety. After having a number of imported products (including gay lifestyle magazine The Advocate) seized at the border because they were deemed "obscene" in their presentation of gay themes, Deva and Smyth in 1987 sued the agency for unfairly targeting gay content. Thirteen years later, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered customs officers not to discriminate against Little Sister's.
In 2001, the store took the customs agency back to court over the seizure of new material, some of which comprised comic books that depicted sadomasochistic themes. In January 2007, the Supreme Court denied Little Sister's' request for government funding to aid it pursuing grievances about Customs' continuing seizures (possibly in contempt of the earlier ruling). The store now is trying to raise the approximately $150,000 it believes it will need to finish its quest.
"Only Little Sister's had the guts and the tenacity and the staying power to take on Canada Customs, and indeed, they made history, I think, by taking them all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada twice," Little Sister's' attorney Joe Arvay told Xtra.
"I consider Little Sister's to be much more than a bookstore," he continued. "As everybody knows, it's the nerve center of the gay and lesbian community in this city. Little Sisters can probably take a great deal of credit for the increased awareness and sensitivity and tolerance and respect that the gay and lesbian community has."
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