History

White heterosexual cis-gender males in the U.S currently make up the largest sector of the workforce and on average have always been paid higher salaries than their LGBTQ+ female , ethnic minority and differently-abled co-workers ,for doing the same exact jobs. While the wage between white heterosexual cis-gender men and women has always exsisted within the workforce, the fact that it is different for people of different ethnic minorities, is wrong within itself. An in-depth report on the financial penalty for LGBTQ+ women in America, done in 2015 by the Center for American Progress (CAP) co-authored by Movement Advancement Project (MAP) provides a snapshot of how the LGBTQ+ women are affected by the wage gap in comparison to their male identifying counterparts. The survey found that nearly half (48%) of LGBT women under 50 years of age were raising children, with higher rates of childrearing reported by African American, Hispanic, and Asian LGBT women compared to white LGBT women."

In an attempt to combat any workplace discrimination they may have faced members of the LGBTQ+ community have often turned to owning their own businesses, particularly bookstores and bars. With the earliest example of a gay bar in San Diego Califorina 1957 when straight ally Lou Arko bought the popular lunch club of the 1930's, the Brass Rail, and extended it into a meeting spot for gay people at night.”While the Post World War II era heralded the opening of many more bars, that catered to the independent men and women who had moved to the bustling port city for military jobs, it was during this time, when homosexuality was criminalized in the area, and it was even against the law for two men to dance together, the bars provided a meeting place for LGBTQ people who were otherwise isolated." However, it wasn't until the early 1960's that Gay Rights Movement began to make some small progress. Four years before the Stonewall Uprising in the summer of 1967, Craig Rodwell, vice president of the Mattachine Society, a gay male political group decided that he wanted to open a bookstore. With the idea of trying to get members of the Society, “to be out dealing with the people instead of sitting in an office,”Rodwell told author Kay Lahusen in an interview in her book, The Gay Crusaders. “We even looked at a few store-fronts. I wanted the Society to set up a combination bookstore, counseling service, fund-raising headquarters, and office. The main thing was to be out on the street.” However, when the Mattachine Society rejected Rodwell’s plans to open a bookstore, he then resigned from the group and decided to open a bookstore on his own. Rodwell's intent in opening a bookstore was to "Provide LGBTQ people with intellectual engagement. He also wanted the store to offer psychological-counseling services because, in 1967, the American Psychiatric Association still listed homosexuality as a mental illness in its diagnostic and statistical manual. For many queer people in the 1960s, the search for books, which offered some clues about homosexuality, was how they navigated their way out of the closet." The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop had its grand opening weekend on November 18-19, 1967. In 1973, Rodwell decided to open a second store on Christopher Street, close to the center of gay life in New York and also called the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop. He kept the Mercer Street store open for several months, for “sentimental reasons,” but finally closed it in May 1974.