Source: Canadian Press
VANCOUVER — They've been bombed three times, received death threats and stood before the red-robed justices of the Supreme Court of Canada.

No, Jim Deva and Bruce Smyth are not killers or terrorists.

The soft-spoken Vancouver men sell books.

And in some peoples' eyes, Deva says, that made the gay owners of Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium dangerous.

"Because we were (openly gay) and we were very, very blatant about being open . . . we were threatening to homophobes," Deva says.

Only two years after the store opened in 1983, the owners took on a fight that bolstered and exhausted them, lasting until just last year and challenging Canada's censorship laws.

After 23 years of fighting Canada Customs' seizures of books bound for the gay and lesbian bookshop, the partners have put Little Sister's up for sale.

It's time to do something else, Deva says as he plans to get a choir booked for the store's 25th anniversary celebrations.

"It's probably time to pass on the torch hopefully to some younger, energetic people who are willing to work with our store," he says. "I'm not in a rush. We're going to take our time."

The fight against Customs put the store at the forefront of the battle against censorship in Canada.

Among books seized were Jean Genet's Querelle, Quentin Crisp's The Naked Civil Servant, Joe Orton's Prick Up Your Ears, The Joy of Gay Sex and The Joy of Lesbian Sex.

With support from the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and writers such as Pierre Berton and Jane Rule, the store would not back down.

"I think it's our tenacity. We just wouldn't give up and came back again and again at them from every angle we could figure out."

But after all the court battles, Deva believes Canada Customs has developed a respect for the gay community's literature and imagery.

"They know that . . . when they make a sort of pronouncement on a book that they may well have to defend that. We still disagree with the process but it's certainly fairer than it was 20 years ago."

But that's not the legacy Deva wants.

"Hopefully, we have contributed to the growth and vibrancy of our community."

John Dixon of the civil liberties association, thinks Deva is being modest. He sees Deva and Smyth as liberators of the human spirit.

"When you look at the trial record of Little Sister's . . . what it was about wasn't just about gay sex, it was about the freedom, the right, to not only imagine your sexuality but to talk about your sexuality with other people."

Before it became a national cause celebre, Little Sisters was just a struggling little store, its shelves sparsely populated with books.

As they struggled to make ends meet, Deva and Smyth often slept in a room not far from the counter. With them was the store cat, Little Sister.

"Looking back, they were very good times," Deva says. "The secret is to enjoy part of the journey you are on without being overwhelmed by the stress."

The store became a focal point for the city's gay community. People dropped in for a coffee, to chat, to play pinball.

It soon became - and has remained - the community's unofficial community centre even after a move to larger premises in 1996.

"I think that small bookstores perform - as this one has - as sort of a soul in a community," Deva said. "When we lose all of our small bookstores . . . the books that are important, that are on the edge that change our world, (they're) not going to be printed published or sold.

"It is way too dangerous."

Full article: Feisty Vancouver gay bookstore that challenged Canada Customs up for sale | Canadian Press