Category Is: A Mobile Queer Bookshop — Help Us Open Denver's First

Denver has never had a queer bookshop.

It has queer sections. It had one queer-owned shop which closed in April 2026. What it has never had is a store built entirely around queer and queer-centered literature, staffed by queer people, curated by queer people, and rooted in queer community as its whole purpose.

Category Is: is that store. And it comes to you.

We're a mobile queer bookshop operating out of a custom-outfitted trailer across the Denver metro — selling, buying back, and giving away queer books at every event we attend. All ages. All genres. All available languages. And at every single stop, a standing section of free books. No application. No income verification. No questions. You take what you need.

That free books section isn't a campaign with an end date. It's a permanent feature — because at a time when nearly 23,000 book bans have swept through U.S. schools since 2021, a queer kid finding themselves on a page is not a luxury. It's infrastructure.

Here's what your $40,000 builds:

A fully outfitted trailer with built-in shelving, a point-of-sale station, and a visible free books section ($5,500–$15,000)

Opening inventory — for-sale books and free books both, stocked and ready from day one ($3,500–$6,000)

Licensing, insurance, permits, and LLC costs to operate legally and safely ($800–$1,700)

Branding, website, and launch materials ($800–$2,100)

Technology and point-of-sale setup ($1,200)

Operating runway for the first six months while revenue builds ($12,000–$18,000)

The runway matters. It's what lets us say yes to events, replenish the free books section, pay our artists on consignment, and show up consistently — not just when the numbers are comfortable.

Why us. Why now.

Category Is: is founded by PJ Culley — MFA-credentialed writer, decade-long operations leader, drag performer (Lacey Drawers), and member of the Denver queer community. This isn't a concept built from the outside looking in. It's built from inside the community, for the community, by someone who has needed this shop their whole life.

The name is an homage to ballroom culture. Category Is: Romance. Category Is: Banned. Category Is: For the Kids. Category Is: Whatever You Need.

Every dollar you give goes toward making sure that the next queer kid who needs a book that sees them — can find one. For free. At a trailer that showed up in their neighborhood, no questions asked.

This is the shop Denver has never had. Help us build it.

Category Is: is a registered Colorado LLC. EIN: 41-5177481.

Category Is: Let's Build This Thing