It might sound like a little thing, but still, for people like me, who read lesfic and almost always have to pay for it as most public libraries do not carry it...it hurts a lot to see hundreds and hundreds of straight romance paperbacks in libraries, bookstores, Walmart and even the grocery store.
There is no such outlet for gay and lesbian readers of romance who, even now in 2017, mostly rely on ebooks for their 'stash,' not only because that is predominantly how gay and lesbian romance novels are most available, but also because iPhones and ereaders and tablets offer the most safety...safety in terms of being judged for what you are reading or, worse, literally fearing that you will somehow be outed. Unless it is a specialized book store, in a very big city like San Francisco or New York, there are just no places to easily access this kind of fiction
Attitudes towards anything that is not traditional or mainstream romance are still very much exist, outdated and offensive but no less alive because of that. They remind me of an episode of Ellen's sitcom that aired in the 90s. In it, her character approaches the vendor of a newsstand and she asks for the latest issue of the Advocate. He points to a section and says, "over there with the other porn." Advocate, by the way, is not considered porn, but, sadly, some people think of LGBTQ fiction and publications in that way.
It breaks my heart.
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