Under the Umbrella Bookstore is a small queer-centered bookstore in Salt Lake City, UT, on the occupied, unceded homelands of the Goshute, Shoshone, Paiute, and Ute peoples. This project was spearheaded by owner and founder Kaitlyn Mahoney in response to the lack of accessible and sober queer spaces in Salt Lake City. Under the Umbrella serves the queer folks of Salt Lake City by supporting all marginalized groups through accessible events, free meeting spaces, and an extensive selection of books in which they can see themselves.

Accessibility is an integral part of Under the Umbrella’s mission statement. We are committed to maintaining and improving accessibility both in person and online for all members of the queer Salt Lake Community. We prioritize stories by and about disabled queer people, and hire ASL interpreters for all of our events with a presentation aspect. We intentionally keep our counters low and our aisle wide and provide metrics of the space on our website to accommodate mobility-aid users. We require masks to keep the space safe for immunocompromised members of our community and have multiple air purifiers running at all times. All images on our site and social media pages include image descriptions and alt text. All of our videos include either subtitles or transcripts, and some also include ASL interpretation. We are always open to feedback from our community, and are happy to provide additional accommodations and accessibility measures as needed.

We recognize the unique intersection of disability and queerness, and seek to provide as many resources as possible to folks who exist in this space. In addition to stocking books by queer disabled writers and with queer disabled characters, Under the Umbrella amplifies disabled voices and facilitates community connection through our monthly disability justice book club.

Under the Umbrella provides a place where people can find comfort by seeing themselves.

What our grantee is saying: "We are ecstatic to be able to provide accessibility services, including ASL interpretation, for our in-store and author events thanks to the grant support from the Awesome Foundation. Fulfilling this service to our community is integral to our goal to uplift diverse stories and experiences through our LGBTQ+ bookstore."