The Tiniest Bookshop owner wants this new venture to be a haven for Savannah's queer community
Tatiana Castro expected two things when she moved to Savannah from Huntington, West Virgina: more gluten-free options and more queer spaces.
The Third Space Collective, a queer bookshop and event venue, dedicated to creating space for gathering, community and resources seeks to be that space. Castro, a burlesque dancer among other things in Savannah, she and the other burlesque troops in Savannah and the surrounding areas are trying to plan a show or charity performance to raise money for both the Collective and First City Pride.
Alex Perry, who has plans to open the space in March, said their vision for the space is to also be a community hub, a co-working space and a gender-affirming care closet with access to binders, packers, makeup and more.
Perry also owns The Tiniest Bookshop, a 125 square-foot bookstore on River Street, the Beach Read Bookstore on Tybee Island and organizes Dyke Nights, which are events focusing on and centering lesbians.
"When I started the book shop a few years ago, one of my main priorities was to be able to offer harm reduction to the community, and as we've grown, I've been able to offer more resources," Perry said. "And as I've started hosting Dyke Nights as well, I've realized that the community is really coming out, and they're really looking for spaces that feel safe for them here in Savannah."
On Jan. 29, Perry posted to Instagram and Facebook the vision and physical building for this radical queer space in the deep south, along with a link to a GoFundMe, with a goal of raising $4,000 in 15 days for the deposit to secure the area. The community rallied, and in just one say, they raised $2,000. By day four, they had the full $4,000.
"I felt pretty confident that we would make the $4,000 within 15 days," Perry said. "All of my other projects have been crowdfunded by the community, so I know we have the support. I did not expect to raise all that money within four days, and if anything, it just verified to me how we needed a space like this here in Savannah, because people are really excited about it."
Castro agreed: people need these spaces. Recently, she hosted the first pop-up of Camp Delicious, a burlesque show at different locations that is meant to elevate the burlesque community. The line for it was out the door, standing room only. Many of the queer events she attended recently had been the same.
"As queer of a city as Savannah is, you can still feel othered when you're in spaces hanging out with straight people versus queer people," Castro said. "You're always cautious, you can never relax, in a way."
Even though they've collected all the money they need for the deposit, the GoFundMe link is still live, and there are still fundraisers planned to raise more money for things they need. On Feb. 15, there will be a Queer Book Swap at the Lite Foot Company from 6-7 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring one to five of their favorite queer books to swap with others. Tickets are $5 and must be purchased before the event.
Perry said they always wanted to do something like this, but it was a culmination of moments that revealed it as a need in this community.
"Specifically when people are coming into the bookshop on River Street, people have walked in in tears saying they are so thankful something like this exists," Perry said. "People are accessing our resources and being so excited that they can access things like free Plan B's, condoms, dental dams, Narcan, fentanyl testing strips. I was realizing more and more that people wanted a space that they can access these things and to actually just be."
But while First City Pride and Club One exist, there are few other spaces where all the shades of the LGBTQ+ rainbow can exist to be unapologetically, authentically themselves.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Third Space Collective, an LGBTQ+ resource, to open in Savannah, Ga.
