ACOMSDave

Community Journalist

Gay Magazines

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In 2000 I was in contact with the gay-libn group part of the USC, and a request came up about ‘what was the first gay magazine or gay magazines’?  Obviously, the US had the first [?] and it was called ‘One’ published in 1952.  This was not an auspicious time for a gay magazine anywhere, but in the USA Dwight Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450, and it said:

 

…gays and lesbians were perverts, criminals, mentally ill, and must be blocked from any kind of federal employment…JSTOR Daily

Gay Magazines

This soon led to the FBI monitoring all the magazines posted through the USA postal system, and for employers being ‘advised’ to no longer employ these deviants.

But, in 1954 a new magazine hit the UK newsstands, Film & Filming magazine!  Not an inspiring title or magazine at first glance, but as Dr Bengry, senior lecturer in queer history at Goldsmiths University of London, said:

 

…If you go through it, for many of us, it will tweak our gaydar looking at those 1950s issues – because there seems to be more bare-chested men than you’d expect…and also the personal ads of young bachelors looking to meet other young bachelors…

 

It was in 1885, that “gross indecency” between two men was made illegal, and believe it or not, in 1921 a similar law was discussed for women as well.

Last week we saw the demise of Gay Times as a print magazine, it is still available on the internet, but like its predecessors Gay News (which ran from 1962 to 1970, and Capital Gay which ran from Jun 1981 to June 1995, it is no longer something tangible you can get hold off from the newsstand, supermarket or other outlets.  This is a large blow, because we fought to have gay magazines removed from the top shelf and available for everyone to get hold of, and it was no small fight.  By moving the magazine from the top shelf (and even in some cases out of the plastic bag) we provided visibility to all of the reading population, and also enabled those who were in the closet or to frighten or to stretch for it, to be able to get a copy and purchase it along with their ordinary magazines and newspapers.

Gay Magazines Gay Magzines

When you look back at these old newspapers and magazines you realise that the standard of news capture was of extremely high quality, and these outlets covered the news across all of the UK, and even indeed other parts of the globe.

The question is how in today’s world of almost instantaneous news through ‘social media’ and supposed 24-hour news coverage can we be sure that the news we are getting is accurate and relevant to the area we live in.  It is up to all of us to report the news to a responsible outlet or journalist  – remember that the print newspaper and magazines will want to sell papers and magazines – so what is news to you may not be news to the, or indeed they may even flip the story and give it a totally different slant.

There are gay journalists, I am one and I operate through my blog ‘ACOMSDave’, I write reviews of books and movies, and also articles relevant to us in Northern Ireland – so write and let me have your stories.

 

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Far Right

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The ‘faFar Rightr right’ continue to use whatever methods work for them, and there is little reason to believe that an appeal on moralistic grounds will work, remember, they believe they are on the moral high ground. If we need to beat them then we need to adopt strong tactics within the law, but we have to be as smart if not smarter than them.

‘Conservative Candidates Promoted Petitions That Sent Personal Data to European Far-Right Group’

In an article by Philip Baldwin, in the Gay Times [now no longer a print-based magazine, I am sorry to say] he said that

…the British Government is increasingly moving towards an agenda which, in his view, is profoundly lesbophobic, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic…

[Are LGBTQ+ people under siege in the UK?] (dated 

Then we have William Koenig who claimed that the LGBTQ people are prepping children to be”groomed and sexualized” and that COVID is God’s “judgement” for U.S. being “so pro-LGBT”

You, no matter where you turn you can see what appears to be a backlash against the LGBTQ+ community and the affirmation of our rights. 

Tonight EMMA POWYS MAURICE , has reported in the Pink Paper ‘ Police are investigating after three people were reportedly whipped with belts by a group of men in a suspected homophobic attack.‘, and before this ‘The Independent‘ reported that attacks on LGBT people have surged by almost an 80% increase in the UK over last four years.

For so many in the LGBTQ+ community we have been living through what appears to have been an enlighten ‘rosy’ period; we have been legally recognised [though at different times in the various parts of the UK], different sectors have recognised us within the working world [i.e Gay and lesbian citizens have been allowed to serve openly in the Her Majesty’s Armed Forces since 2000], same-sex marriage has been recognised and performed in England and Wales since March 2014, in Scotland since December 2014, and in Northern Ireland since January 2020.

And because of these wins, we in the LGBTQ+ community have become complacent.  We go on our Pride Parades, and forget that these were originally Marches to fight for our rights!  IN the past we also had local magazines and Gay News was a fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), this ran until 1983.

We don’t have these resources anymore, we depend on social media outlets, but remember in the main these are written by ordinary people and not journalists.  It also means that we are limited often in the in-depth research articles that we need.

Protection of our community is down to you the community, you need to report things of consequence to our community, to take a stance against things that are wrong (and let others know about your stance), and lastly, yes enjoy Gay Pride when it comes around, but remember this is to show everyone that we are not going away and that we have a right live as equal people.

 

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