Lesbian Book Club: July Edition
2026-07-11 11:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
We’ll be reading fiction and non-fiction — classic, contemporary, revealing and visionary. As a group we will decide what to read each month, focusing on lesbian authors and/or related topics. Co-founded by lesbian book lovers Judi Komaki and Piper Olsen.

For our July 11th meeting, we’ll read Joan Schenkar’s book, The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith

This event will take place in person at The Bureau, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required.

Histories of the Queer 90's
2026-07-14 18:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join authors Valena Beety, Tina Luongo, and Hugh Ryan for a night of personal histories through the queer 90s, from the US to Cuba, into the working place for women in criminal law, and landing at the criminalization of queer people today. We’ll tie these threads together for a wide-ranging discussion on what gender and identity mean in different places and times, how we can be marginalized and silenced, and what we can do to speak up and not be erased.
RSVP TO THIS EVENT
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A former federal prosecutor, Valena Beety is the McKinney Professor of Law at Indiana University-Bloomington Maurer School of Law and a co-founder of the Indiana Innocence Project. The author of Manifesting Justice and Pink Crime: Fighting Against the Criminalization of Motherhood, Pregnancy, and Queer Identity (The New Press), she lives in Indiana.
Tina Luongo (they/she) has served as the Chief Attorney of the Criminal Defense Practice since 2014 where they are responsible for the daily operation of all of the practice’s trial, appellate, post-conviction, law reform and parole defense work conducted on behalf of over 200,000 clients. They lead a citywide team of 12 senior managers who, in turn, manage the practice’s over 1100 staff.
Hugh Ryan is a writer, historian, and curator in New York City. With the multi-talented Peppermint, he is also the host of Queer History 101, the bookclub & podcast from Allstora.com.
His most recent book, THE WOMEN’S HOUSE OF DETENTION: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison, is a queer history of the Women’s House of Detention in Greenwich Village. It is the story of one building: the people it caged, the neighborhood it changed, and the resistance it inspired. It is the winner of the 2023 Stonewall Book Award/Israel Fishman Award for Nonfiction from the Publishing Triangle of the American Library Association, as well as the 2022 Warren Johansson Award from the W.A. Percy Foundation.

Celebrating Chosen Family: Book Giveaway
2026-07-22 16:00 - 19:00 | NY
Who would we be without our chosen family? This afternoon we’re celebrating the people in our lives who started as friends and lovers and became vital members of our chosen family.
We’re giving away copies of a new novel that explores this uniquely queer topic: Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray. Stop by the Bureau for a free copy of the book (while supplies last). We’ll have a table set up where you can write postcards of love and appreciation for your chosen family members. Leave them with us and we’ll put them in the mail for you!
Bring members of your chosen family with you and everyone will receive a 15% discount off any purchase in the bookstore.
About Chosen Family
An exuberant and irreverently funny novel about one gorgeously messy friendship-feud-unrequited-love-affair set in Sydney across eighteen years. Chosen Family is a queer modern classic that reminds us that sometimes the most fulfilling and life-saving relationships are the ones that are the hardest to define.
Nell Argall and Eve Bowman are both brilliant, odd, and friendless. When they meet on the brutal battlefield that is their posh all girls’ high school during their first year there, both their lives are changed forever. From school, to university, to careers, Nell and Eve’s relationship is a life raft that is also a Medusan stare, frozen in time.
When the passion, guilt, shame, and joy that perpetually twists and turns between them finally implodes, Nell abruptly walks away, leaving Eve alone at the helm of the gloriously unorthodox family they’ve built with their seven-year-old daughter, Lake. Eve finds herself left wondering: Can the wounds of adolescent betrayal ever really heal? Can we ever really understand what’s going on in someone else’s head? And what’s love got to do, got to do with it?
About Madeleine Gray
Madeleine Gray is the author of the novel Green Dot. She has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the Guardian, the BBC, Electric Literature, and Sydney Review of Books, among other publications. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

Body I Movement I Writing: A Workshop
2026-07-23 19:00 - 21:00 | NY
Join us at the Bureau, for a free 90 minute writing workshop centering queer experiences on and around the dance floor. Hosted by writers McKenzie Wark and Jules Wernersbach. The workshop is free, however, advance registration is required.
Register for this workshop on Eventbrite.
The queer dance floor and the spaces around it are often sites of intense experiences, as well as many very ordinary moments that can sustain or frustrate us—and sometimes at the same time.
What kinds of writing can express what all of this feels like? What are the cliches to avoid? How do the unique experiences of queer life in motion call for their own modes of written expression? These are some of the questions we’ll be looking into in this workshop.
We will work with short extracts from our favorite texts as prompts, followed by timed exercises and opportunities for discussion in breakout groups, as well as among the larger group.
Both fiction and nonfiction writers are welcome, beginners and experienced. Materials will be provided, though feel free to bring your own notebook and pen, or laptop.
This workshop is hosted by the Bureau, Manhattan’s Queer Bookstore, located inside of the NYC LGBT Center in Room 210.
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McKenzie Wark is the author, among other things, of Raving (Duke University Press), Reverse Cowgirl (Semiotexte) and Love and Money, Sex and Death (Verso). She co-curates the reading series Writing on Raving and co-edited the anthology from the series, published by O/R Books. She co-edited the “Black Rave” issue of eflux journal with madison moore in 2022.
Jules Wernersbach is a writer and bookseller in Brooklyn. Their debut novel is Work to Do was published by University of Iowa Press. Their short fiction has been published in Bennington Review, Heavy Feather Review, and other journals. They are the author of Vegan Survival Guide to Austin and The Swimming Holes of Texas. Jules is co-founder of Hive Mind Books, a queer independent bookstore and coffee shop in Bushwick, Brooklyn. They have been a bookseller for a long time and also served as literary director of the Texas Book Festival.
The Bureau is Manhattan’s queer bookstore, founded in 2013, hosting a wide variety of queer literary and art events and programming.

Exhibit Opening: Our Existence is Resistance: Trans Advocacy Abounds
2026-07-26 15:00 - 17:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us at the Bureau for the opening of the NYC Trans Archives Exhibit.
RSVP HERE!
To be trans is to cross boundaries, to challenge trivial norms, and to refuse categorization; to be trans is to resist. Trans advocacy splatters itself across the spectrum of demands for liberation to quotidian expressions of self. From the protest poster to the decorative button, the NYC Trans Archives’ first public exhibit provides a sneak peek into our growing collections. “Our Existence is Resistance” highlights the explicit and subtle ways in which resistance manifests in trans life and art.
The NYC Trans Archives (NYCTA) preserves transgender culture in the New York City region and beyond. Founded in 2023, NYCTA evolved out of a dual need for independent and community-led trans archives. It is entirely independent and run by and for trans people. Dedicated to trans liberation and social justice, NYCTA focuses on ephemera from those too often left out of traditional archives: trans women of color (particularly Black and Brown femmes), migrants, disabled people, youth, poor and working-class people, and community organizers.

Ambient Reading Night
2026-07-30 19:00 - 20:00 | NY
Register for Ambient Reading Night
Turn some pages with us while we turn down the vibe for a chill night of quiet reading at the queer bookstore.
Join us for an hour of quiet solo reading time set to low key, queer ambient music. We’ll shift the energy in the Bureau with calm lighting and relaxing vibes. (Don’t worry, it won’t be too dark to read.) Let this be a way to wind down after work.
Bring your own book or find one on our bookshelves. All books are 10% off for those who participate.
Padded folding chairs and a few small tables will be provided. Yoga mats and pillows are welcome. After we read, there will be time for people to share what they’re reading, though this socializing is not required. This night is hosted by Bureau booksellers and music lovers.
Free to attend, but please RSVP so we know what to expect.

BOOK LAUNCH: Cloudy with a Chance of Starships
2026-08-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us at the Bureau for the launch of Seven Rasmussen’s new book, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF STARSHIPS!
Dr. Rasmussen will be reading, speaking, and signing copies of their book – which will be available for purchase at the Bureau.
RSVP TO THIS EVENT

Cloudy with a Chance of Starships: How the Drake Equation Reveals the Odds of Life in the Cosmos takes readers on an irreverent expedition through the marvelous world of astrobiology, using as a guide the most important equation in science since E=mc2. With an irresistible blend of wit, insight, and the latest cutting-edge research, astrobiologist and author Seven Rasmussen looks at the thrilling possibilities of life in the cosmos through the lens of the Drake equation, a seven-variable mathematical expression that calculates the number of civilizations in our galaxy that humans could potentially contact. Science (and science fiction) enthusiasts of all ages are invited celebrate this extraordinary book and its tantalizing vision of the dawning era of space exploration.
Join us at The Bureau (on the second floor of the LGBT Center) to celebrate Seven’s launch and hear excerpts from the book!

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Dr. Seven Rasmussen is an author, astrobiologist, and science communicator based in Brooklyn. She is an instructor at Columbia University and various CUNY institutions. Dr. Rasmussen’s debut non-fiction, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF STARSHIPS: HOW THE DRAKE EQUATION REVEALS THE OFFS OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE, comes to shelves August 4th of this year.

Sapphic Fandom Celebration & Mixer!
2026-08-07 18:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Calling all Sapphic Fandom nerds!!!
RSVP TO THIS EVENT (Pay What You Can)
Let’s keep sapphic stories alive and revive fandoms by creating community! Come and mingle, pet some dogs, and geek out! (also! if you have a dog and would like to bring them, you’re more than welcome!)
Come talk about the stories you wish were told, commiserate with fellow romantics about sapphic ships (both lost and alive), mourn lost shows and ships at the vigil, learn more about our venture, find out how you can contribute directly to the new landscape of entertainment and media, and build queer community!
Any and all sapphic fandoms welcome!
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lightcore is a new media company hoping to revolutionize the entertainment industry by putting artistic integrity over profit. For more events, check out: lightcore.subscribepage.io
Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/QhrcuyR
lightcore is founded by NYC-born-and-raised actor and entrepreneur, SouJee Han (they/them). Go to https://www.soujeehan.com for more info

Lesbian Book Club: August Edition
2026-08-08 11:00 - 13:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
We’ll be reading fiction and non-fiction — classic, contemporary, revealing and visionary. As a group we will decide what to read each month, focusing on lesbian authors and/or related topics. Co-founded by lesbian book lovers Judi Komaki and Piper Olsen.

For our August 8th meeting, we’ll read Gertrude Stein’s book, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas

This event will take place in person at The Bureau, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.
Registration is not required.

IN CONVERSATION: Terrell J. A. Winder & Theo Greene
2026-08-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us for a discussion on the value of Black Queer Placemaking in shaping belonging and community in an era of shifting gay geographies.
RSVP HERE

Join Terrell J. A. Winder (Shameless: The Making of Black Gay Identities in LA) and Theo Greene (Not in My Gayborhood: Gay Neighborhoods and the Rise of the Vicarious Citizen) for a conversation on Blackness, Queerness, visibility, and their intersections.
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Terrell J. A. Winder received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2017. An urban ethnographer, Dr. Winder’s research areas include race & ethnicity, sexuality & sexual health, qualitative & quantitative research methods, and education. His current research examines stigma response processes among stigmatized populations negotiating more than one stigma simultaneously. His research has been published in Qualitative Sociology, AIDS Patient Care & STDs, the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, and the Journal of Medical Internet Research. His work on mobile applications as a health intervention has also been covered in the Los Angeles Times. His book, Shameless: The Making of Black Gay Identities in LA, is a multi-method examination of anti-gay stigma response among young Black gay men in Los Angeles.
Theo Greene is an Associate Professor and Chair in the Department of Sociology at Bowdoin College. His research and teaching interests focus on the intersection of sexuality, urbanism, and culture. Greene’s research broadly explores how sexual communities help us understand how urban redevelopment shapes and redefines how individuals think about, identify with, and participate in local communities. His book, Not in MY Gayborhood! Gay Neighborhoods and the Rise of the Vicarious Citizen recently received the 2026 Outstanding Book Award in Community and Urban Sociology from the American Sociological Association. In addition to his ongoing work on gay neighborhoods and queer placemaking in Maine, Theo is currently Chair-Elect of the Community and Urban Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association and serves on several boards that support LGBTQ communities in Portland, Maine, including the Frannie Peabody Center and the Equality Community Center.

Radical Queer Reading Group: Miss Major Speaks
2026-08-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Bureau of General Services–Queer Division, 208 West 13th Street, Room 210, New York, NY, 10011, United States
Join us as we read radical leftist texts with a focus on queer liberation, anti-capitalism, and anti-colonialism. For August 12th, we’re reading Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary by Toshio Meronek and Miss Major.
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We’ll meet on Wednesday, August 12th, at The Bureau, in room 210 of The LGBT Community Center in the West Village, 7-8 PM.
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Copies of Miss Major Speaks are available to purchase at the Bureau. Purchase the book before July 8th and receive 15% off. Just mention the Radical Queer Reading Group when you check out.
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Thank you for supporting The Bureau by purchasing books from us!
