Lambda Rising, a bookstore serving the LGBT community in the nation’s capital for 35 years, is closing its Washington DC store in Dupont Circle and its remaining out-of-town store in Rehoboth Beach, Del., in January, reports DC Agenda.
The closings, announced Friday, mark the end of the city’s only exclusively LGBT bookstore and becomes another in a series of gay bookstores that have closed in recent years in other cities.
Deacon Maccubbin, 66, the store’s founder and co-owner, told D.C. Agenda in an exclusive interview that he plans to retire soon and that he and co-owner Jim Bennett, his domestic partner of 32 years, decided they would rather close the stores than sell them to a new owner who might change their focus and mission.
Rick Rosendall, vice president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, called Lambda Rising a “landmark” for the LGBT community.
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“It will certainly be a major loss for our community,” he said.
Maccubbin said the store will begin a holiday sale as early as this weekend for many of its books and other products, such as gifts items. He said a “huge liquidation sale” will begin immediately after Christmas, with the store expected to close in early January.
Last month, Out Word Bound, Indianapolis’ only gay bookstore, also announced it was closing.
Read about Lambda Rising’s history, full story at DC Agenda.
