This is a fascinating question. Coincidentally, or perhaps serendipitously, we published a short article this morning by a Canadian man who observed something roughly similar about his experiences with gay material in bookshops in his late 70s/early 80s conservative community.

The material was "everywhere," and somebody was buying it. Same in Iowa where I went to high school at about the same time.

The queer demimonde was practically bursting at the seams trying to find freedom or at least connection. And bookshops were a good place to look for ingress.