working class queers love...
public libraries.

we are of course, notoriously cheap. and, having found refuge in books as a way to make it through high school with our sanity intact, the concept of 'free books' is about as synonymous with working class queer as you can possible get. in toronto, since the toronto public library also will deliver almost *any* book in its collection to your local library, it gives us the perfect excuse to longingly stalk the mysterious hottie who works the weekend shift at the local branch. those little scotch-taped barcodes, as well, are also beacons of cool. they infinitely *adds* to the sexyness quotient when you see a cutie in a cafe engrossed in its pages.

of course, while libraries are a great public institution, they seem to get the short shrift when you have to stack them up against hospitals, schools, or even police stations and the supposedly *more* essential services they provide. it's infathomable to think of a life without libraries. what, we wonder, will we read as we're being tazered at a rally for queer reproductive rights? or going in for an MRI because of the air pollution i've breathed in cause of the poor industrial neighbourhood i've been ghettoized to? (although that we secretly love that industrial chic)

now, contrary to what we talk about health care and education, libraries are much more true to being a true socialist institution - no tuition barriers to keep the poor out, no queue jumping for the wealthy here either. libraries are, in fact, the vacation getaway for us, the working class queers.