The bookshop owner’s TikTok went viral, with over a million likes. (TikTok/ thedogearedbook)
When a bookshop owner exposed the petty homophobic customers that come to her store, she was overwhelmed with orders for LGBT+ books.
Last month, Carrie Deming, owner of The Dog Eared Book in Palmyra, New York, revealed to her TikTok followers that bigots were coming into her shop and hiding the covers of books with LGBT+ themes.
She posted a video of herself going around the shop and flipping books the right way round, while explaining: “People don’t always agree with all of the books we have on display.
“So we have to run around whenever the store is in-between customers, and make sure that people haven’t taken books that they don’t agree with and turn them around so that the back is facing the front instead of the cover.”
@thedogearedbookBookstores are for everyone!!! ##booktok ##lgbtqbooks ##bookstore ##queerbook ##censorship ##bookseller ##bookworm ##book♬ original sound – The Dog Eared Book
The books that had been flipped by anti-LGBT+ customers included Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, a young adult novel about a trans teen, and Pumpkin by Julie Murphy, which follows a gay boy in Texas whose audition tape for a drag TV show is shared with his entire school.
Deming added in a comment underneath the TikTok: “This doesn’t happen every day, but it happens shockingly often!”
The bookshop owner’s TikTok went viral, receiving over a million likes, as commenters expressed their shock at the pettiness of the homophobic customers.
One wrote: “Imagine caring THAT much about someone else’s relationship… even when the people aren’t real.”
“I didn’t realise this was a thing and I’m so mad,” said another.
The bookshop targeted by bigots received overwhelming support after posting the viral TikTok
Luckily, independent bookshop owner Carrie Deming revealed that the story of the bigoted customers had a happy ending.
In an update on TikTok, she said: “Wow… I cannot believe how much it has resonated with everyone.
“The amount of orders that came in through our website last night for LGBT+ books is absolutely incredible.
“By the time I’m done I don’t think there’s gonna be a single BIPOC or LGBT+ book left in the store!”
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She said that following the huge surge in orders, she was rushing to reorder queer books that had sold out.
“I promise we stock them for a very important reason,” Deming added. “Because bookstores are for everyone.”