five LGBTQ-themed tote bags against a rainbow prism background

The Goods

Totes Need: 14 Queer Tote Bags

Sure you have tote bags, but are they queer tote bags? What better way to carry all of your LGBTQ+ books around than one of these?

Jamie Canaves Aug 26, 2024

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Jamie Canaves

Contributing Editor

Jamie Canavés is the Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator and Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter writer–in case you’re wondering what you do with a Liberal Arts degree. She’s never met a beach she didn’t like, always says yes to dessert, loves ‘80s nostalgia, all forms of entertainment, and can hold a conversation using only gifs. You can definitely talk books with her on Litsy and Goodreads. Depending on social media’s stability maybe also Twitter and Bluesky.

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The theme for my bookish product roundups is usually built around one product that I saw and loved or found so amusing that I wanted to share it. That’s how I ended up collecting tote bags for Halloween season last year, and did a mini dive into the history of tote bags. This time I was first and foremost inspired by the amount of fantastic queer books I’ve read recently—seriously, off the top of my head I can hit every major genre/category: Bellies by Nicola Dinan (litfic/contemporary); Bathe the Cat by Alice B. McGinty and David Roberts (picture book); Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson (fantasy); We See Each Other: A Black, Trans Journey Through TV and Film by Tre’vell Anderson (essays); How You Get the Girl by Anita Kelly (romance); Horse Barbie by Geena Rocero (memoir); Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans (mystery); The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado and DaNi (horror).

What better way to carry your LGBTQ+ books around than in a queer tote bag! Below you’ll find a wide range of clever, funny, punny, weird, activist, and pride tote bags. I’ll also put links to more queer book roundups at the end so you can stock up on more books!

a beige tote bag with "totes gay" printed in black letters — Image by JeganMonesArt on Etsy

Totes Gay Tote Bag ($15): We are not awarding tote bags but if we were, a punny gay one would certainly win.

a tote bag with a graphic illustration of an alien eating a rainbow colored banana and text saying gaylien — Image by TinasGshop on Etsy

Gaylien Tote Bag LGBTQ by TinasGshop ($15): If you’re a fan of turning heads with your tote bag, may I suggest gaylien?

tote bag with an illustration of a frog standing like a person in a rainbow colored sweater — Image by TheMiaTime on Etsy

Pride Frog Tote Bag ($20): Or maybe you like frogs more than aliens!

a tote bag with a graphic illustration of a frog in a rainbow cowboy hat that says howdy queers — Image by TongueInCheekPrints on Etsy

Howdy Queers Tote Bag by TongueInCheekPrints ($34): There was no way I was choosing between frogs.

a tote bag with an illustration of a rainbow colored book that says the gay agenda — Image by TwistedImpactDesigns on Etsy

Gay agenda tote bag by TwistedImpactDesigns ($12): The gay agenda’s out of the bag!

a black tote bag with white all caps lettering that says binares are for computers #proudenby — Image by AllPrideThings on Etsy

Nonbinary tote bag by AllPrideThings ($31): It’s always the perfect day to respect people’s pronouns.

a tote bag with an illustration of two people in crowns kissing inside a heart with text saying All Pride No Prejudice — Image by OpalandJuneShop on Etsy.

All Pride No Prejudice Tote Bag ($20): Fairy tale endings for all.

tote bag with an illustration of a spray bottle that says terf repellent — Image by RainbowandCoUK on Etsy

TERF Repellent Tote Bag ($20): Now someone work on making the spray.

black tote bag with rainbow colored lettering saying Equal Rights For Others Does Not Mean Less Rights For You. It's Not Pie — Image by ness7boutique on Etsy

LGBTQ Justice Tote Bag ($25): The tote bag speaks the truth. (I tried to find the source for the quote and with search being what it is now the closest I came is a tweet in 2017 by Jesse Williams.)