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 Curated by Joanna Black and Jeremy Prince
This exhibition was on view at the GLBT Historical Society Museum from March to September 2018

 
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EMPOWERMENT IN PRINT

LGBTQ Activism, Pride & Lust
 
 
The GLBT Historical Society was established in 1985, but its roots lie in LGBTQ public history work dating back to the 1950s in the Bay Area. An important forerunner of the society was an association created by Willie Walker (1949–2004) and Greg Pennington, two of our cofounders. In 1982, they formed the San Francisco Gay and Lesbian Periodical Archives.  
 
The Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Special Collections of the GLBT Historical Society are among the largest and most extensive holdings in the world of materials pertaining to LGBTQ people, occupying more than 3,500 linear feet of storage. Broadl…

The Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives and Special Collections of the GLBT Historical Society are among the largest and most extensive holdings in the world of materials pertaining to LGBTQ people, occupying more than 3,500 linear feet of storage. Broadly speaking, our over 900 collections include personal papers, organizational records, periodicals, oral histories, photographs, audiovisual recordings, ephemera, artifacts and works of art.

 
LGBTQ periodicals at the time were largely unrepresented in public and university libraries, most of which had not yet taken an interest in documenting the community’s history and culture. Recognizing the importance of preserving these materials, LGBTQ publishers and community members offered complimentary subscriptions and made donations. By 1985, the Periodical Archives held over 600 titles, 200 of them from the Bay Area.  
 
 
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“Empowerment in Print: LGBTQ Activism, Pride and Lust” highlights the history and diversity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer periodicals produced in Northern California from the 1940s through the 2000s. The exhibition is but a fraction of the more than 5,000 periodical titles now preserved in the archives of the GLBT Historical Society.

With one title on display for each letter of the alphabet, this exhibition reflects how queer people from diverse communities have used periodicals to form social networks, create culture, express desire and inspire activism. The magazines, newspapers, newsletters and zines in the exhibition — many of them graphically striking — offer a distinctive window into the intersectional identities, culture and politics of LGBTQ people at the high point of print periodicals as a means of mass communication. 
 
 
Continue scrolling down to see the complete exhibition.
Hover on individual images for captions, and click to enlarge photos and read captions and credits.
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From sober to sleek, from coy to explicit, from apolitical to militant, these publications demonstrate some of the myriad ways LGBTQ people have found empowerment in print. 
 
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Anything That Moves, no. 19 (spring 1999); San Francisco: Bay Area Bisexual Network.

The bisexual publication Anything That Moves, produced in San Francisco from 1991 to 2001, proudly announced “We will write or print or say Anything That Moves us beyond the limiting stereotypes,” adding that the publication “is about Anything That Moves: that moves us to think; that moves us to fuck (or not); that moves us to feel; that moves us to believe in ourselves.”

A Anything That Moves, no. 19 (spring 1999); San Francisco: Bay Area Bisexual Network.

BEAR, No. 21 (1992); San Francisco: Brush Creek Media.

BEAR magazine played a major role in shaping the nascent bear consciousness and aesthetic in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly with respect to the idealization and eroticization of the bear body. As stated in the first issue in 1987, BEAR was created because “young, clean shaven body builders with precision-trimmed pubic hair and Naired buttholes don’t do it for [a lot] of guys.” The magazine featured short articles, fiction, classified personal ads and lots of photographs of naked bears, content BEAR described as “hairy faces and furry bodies, slender cowboys and pot-bellied laborers, sensual imagery and down-and-out dirt.” BEAR is currently published as an online magazine.

B BEAR, No. 21 (1992); San Francisco: Brush Creek Media.

CTN Magazine, Vol. 2, no. 1 (spring 1995); Berkeley: CTN.

CTN Magazine (formally Coming Together Newsletter) was a nonprofit community publication whose intention was “to bring together our much scattered Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing-signing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities through information, education and networking.” In response to reading this publication, a subscriber in Utah wrote to the editor, “I actually had tears in my eyes… tears of joy because for the first time I feel ‘in touch’ with my Deaf Gay community! I live in a small town and I am the only Deaf Gay that lives here. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for bringing my community to me!” Another letter from a reader in Dallas added, “I’ve never seen so many Deaf Queers of color anywhere in print!! Bravo to you! Please continue to show the diversity that exists in our small, but wonderful Deaf Queer community!” 

C CTN Magazine, Vol. 2, no. 1 (spring 1995); Berkeley: CTN.

 

Diseased Pariah News (DPN), no. 9 (1994); Oakland: Men’s Support Center.

Diseased Pariah News, or DPN, was a “patently offensive publication of, by, and for people with HIV disease (and their friends and loved ones).” The purpose of this publication was to be a “forum for infected people to share their thoughts, feelings, art, writing and brownie recipes in an atmosphere free of… seronegative guilt.” In addition to preserving copies of issues 1 to 11 of DPN, the GLBT Historical Society’s archives also house the papers of Beowulf Thorne (collection no. 2003-10), one of the founders of the publication.

D Diseased Pariah News (DPN), no. 9 (1994); Oakland: Men’s Support Center.

East Bay OutNOW!, vol. 1, no. 2 (August 22–September 4, 1995); Fremont: East Bay Out Now.

Covering the East Bay counties of Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano, East Bay OutNOW! focused on stories and people both from places like Oakland and Berkeley who affiliated themselves with the San Francisco gay scene, and more distant places like Vallejo and Vacaville who saw “the ‘gay Mecca’ as a curiosity that had little to do with your own lives.” This publication supported the many LGBTQ people whose cultures, concerns, and communities were located in the East Bay. 

E East Bay OutNOW!, vol. 1, no. 2 (August 22–September 4, 1995); Fremont: East Bay Out Now.

Fat Girl, no. 3 (1995); San Francisco: Fat Girl.

Fat Girl, a “Zine for Fat Dykes and the Women Who Want Them,” encouraged dialogue based on the lived experiences of fat women and created a “broad-based dialogue which both challenges and informs our notion of Fat-Dyke identity.” Produced by an eclectic collective of Fat Dykes of all shapes and sizes, and from diverse ethnic cultures and different class backgrounds, Fat Girl was a bold political statement.


F Fat Girl, no. 3 (1995); San Francisco: Fat Girl.

GBM (Gay Black Men), no. 11 (October 1999); San Francisco: Brush Creek Media, Inc.

GBM, short for Gay Black Men, was a “serious, sexual magazine for gay African American men and their fans.”  The lives (and bodies) of gay Black men are exposed, explored and celebrated in the photographs, fiction, and features of these quarterly issues. Editor Graylin Thornton pointed out in the premiere issue that the focus of GBM “is not only to appeal to the erotic mind of the reader but also to showcase the work of some of the most talented artists the African American community has to offer.” The GLBT Historical Society holds the full 12-issue run of GBM, spanning the years 1997 to 2000.

G GBM (Gay Black Men), no. 11 (October 1999); San Francisco: Brush Creek Media, Inc.

 
 

Hermaphrodites with Attitude (Summer 1995); San Francisco: Intersex Society of North America.

The Intersex Society of North America, founded in 1993 and dissolved in 2008,  was a nonprofit advocacy group that aimed to end the shame and secrecy experienced by intersex people and advocated to prevent unwanted genital surgeries. The organization chose the word “hermaphrodite” for its quarterly publication to counter physicians’ assertions that life as a hermaphrodite would be worthless. It was a “way to break the vicious cycle in which shame produces silence, silence condones surgery, and surgery produces more shame… shame perpetuates silence, and silence condemns us (and intersexual infants yet to be born) to hell.”

H Hermaphrodites with Attitude (Summer 1995); San Francisco: Intersex Society of North America.

Icon (September 1995); San Francisco: Dykespeak/Icon.

Icon, described as “the thinking lesbian’s newspaper,” was originally entitled Dykespeak. When the title was changed, many wrote letters to the editor—known as “femail”—expressing their disappointment at the change. One writer argued that the former title “showed pride and boldness in retaking the work ‘dyke’ and infusing it with power and voice.” Icon consisted of art, poetry, photographs, news, cartoon strips, ads and services, editorials and personals.

I Icon (September 1995); San Francisco: Dykespeak/Icon.

 
 

Join Hands, no. 13 (January–March 1978); San Francisco: Join Hands.

Join Hands was a San Francisco-based collective that advocated for the rights of gay men in California’s state prisons. Articles were written by prisoners, ex-prisoners, and advocates on a variety of issues and topics related to the experiences of gay men in prisons.

J Join Hands, no. 13 (January–March 1978); San Francisco: Join Hands.

Kalendar, vol. 5, no. 16 (August 19, 1977); San Francisco: Kalendar Publications.

At a time when San Francisco had several periodicals covering gay nightlife and news, Kalendar managed to hold its own against the competition for six years. Produced from 1972 to 1978, it focused on the emerging scene frequented by young gay men in the city—with ads for gay bars, bathhouses, restaurants and shops complementing the coverage of activities. The GLBT Historical Society archives hold a near-complete run of Kalendar. 

K Kalendar, vol. 5, no. 16 (August 19, 1977); San Francisco: Kalendar Publications.

Lavender Reader, vol. 6, no. 3 (spring 1992); Santa Cruz: Lavender Reader.

Based in Santa Cruz, Lavender Reader featured content written by and for queer people, including poetry, book reviews, news articles, original art and “a sex story (every time).” It welcomed topics that pushed boundaries and described its own content as “always original and never dull.” Distributed for free in Bay Area coffee shops and universities, it became an important way for local LGBTQ people to find community resources, queer-friendly businesses and events.

L Lavender Reader, vol. 6, no. 3 (spring 1992); Santa Cruz: Lavender Reader.

Mach, vol. 2, no. 6 (1983); San Francisco: Brush Creek Media.

Mach was created by San Francisco leather scene legend John Embry, who created nearly a dozen publications aimed at gay men, including Drummer, Foreskin Quarterly and Manifest Reader. All of his publications featured a similar format and leather-related content.

M Mach, vol. 2, no. 6 (1983); San Francisco: Brush Creek Media.

 
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INTRO

 
After the foundation of the GLBT Historical Society, Walker and Pennington integrated their project’s holdings into the society’s, forming the nucleus of our Periodicals Collection. Today, the GLBT Historical Society’s holdings of magazines, newspapers, newsletters, zines and other periodical publications has grown to approximately 5,000 titles, many of them exceptionally scarce.

The Periodicals Collection of the GLBT Historical Society focuses primarily on Northern California. Because few of the LGBTQ titles published before 1970 are available in other research institutions, we also preserve national and international LGBTQ periodicals from that era. Our collection continues growing with the addition of both historic and new publications.
 
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Noodle, no. 1 (2002); San Francisco: ML Productions Inc.

Even though he didn’t come from a publishing background, Max Lau created Noodle in 2002 to increase the representation and visibility of queer Asian and Pacific Islander people. The magazine featured a variety of content, all tailored to LGBTQ Asian Americans. 

N Noodle, no. 1 (2002); San Francisco: ML Productions Inc.

Our Stories, vol. 14, no. 1 (Winter–Spring 1999); San Francisco: Gay & Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California.

In 1991, the GLBT Historical Society (then known as the Gay and Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California) changed the name of its newsletter to Our Stories. Over the years, the newsletter took many forms, but it always served to educate members and the public about the society by featuring highlights from the archives, articles by members and staff and calendars of local events.

O Our Stories, vol. 14, no. 1 (Winter–Spring 1999); San Francisco: Gay & Lesbian Historical Society of Northern California.

Phoenix Monthly International, vol. 3, No. 11 (October 1983); San Francisco: Gateway Gender Alliance.

Originally titled The Gateway, Phoenix was the magazine and newsletter of the Gateway Gender Alliance, a social and support organization for transgender individuals. Originally the publication was mainly aimed to male-to-female readers, but under the editorship of Lou Sullivan, a founding member of the GLBT Historical Society, the magazine added more coverage of and resources for female-to-male transgender people. Phoenix provided practical advice for its readers, from how to use makeup to cover up stubble to advice on legal name changes.

P Phoenix Monthly International, vol. 3, No. 11 (October 1983); San Francisco: Gateway Gender Alliance.

Que Pasa? Newsmagazine, December 1977; San Francisco: Que Pasa News.

Calling itself “a journal of opinion,” the bilingual Spanish-English newspaper ¿Que Pasa? covered many subjects, many of them controversial. This 1977 issue was devoted to “The World of the Homosexual,” and the articles argued that LGBTQ people practically constituted another species. One article concluded that “the world of the homosexual must be seen… as a whole world, a culture or way of life uniquely its own.”

Q Que Pasa? Newsmagazine, December 1977; San Francisco: Que Pasa News.

 

Rubyfruit Readher: A Lesbian Communiqué, no. 11 (June 1977); Santa Cruz: Rubyfruit Reader.

Rubyfruit Readher was run by a small collective in Santa Cruz from 1976 to 1978. It began mostly as a way to organize events and circulate ideas, but eventually featured poetry, classifieds, op-eds and even crossword puzzles. The fiercely political content consistently used terms such as “womyn” and “herstory.” The subscription price could be applied to a number of women-related charities, although the magazine declared that “if any lesbian can’t afford 35¢, then Ruby is free.”

R Rubyfruit Readher: A Lesbian Communiqué, no. 11 (June 1977); Santa Cruz: Rubyfruit Reader.

Seasons, Summer 1991; Oakland: The National Native American AIDS Prevention Center.

As the newsletter of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center, Seasons was designed to provide AIDS education, support, resources and prevention help to Native communities. The quarterly publication’s title was chosen to reflect the passage of time and the community’s ability to weather the changes and keep going in the face of the AIDS crisis.

S Seasons, Summer 1991; Oakland: The National Native American AIDS Prevention Center.

TNT: Transsexual News Telegraph, Summer 1993; San Francisco: Anne Ogborn.

Originally published under the name Rites of Passage, TNT was aimed at a specific audience: “anyone whose gender identity falls outside the bipolar gender system.” Its readers and contributors included many prominent transgender activists. TNT played a significant role in exposing the controversy surrounding the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, which was criticized for excluding transgender women.

T TNT: Transsexual News Telegraph, Summer 1993; San Francisco: Anne Ogborn.

Ultra Violet, vol. 5, no. 2 (September 1994); San Francisco: Lesbians & Gays Against Intervention.

UltraViolet is the newsletter for LAGAI, a group which was originally founded as Lesbians and Gays Against Intervention to oppose U.S. involvement in Latin America, but now describes itself as “anti-authoritarian, anti-militarist, pro-feminist and anti-racist, [demanding] that queer issues never be put on the back burner.” UltraViolet is distributed quarterly for free and includes a large audience of LGBTQ prisoners. One of its goals is to spotlight “political issues and actions you don’t hear enough about in the mainstream” and to organize activists and protesters.

U Ultra Violet, vol. 5, no. 2 (September 1994); San Francisco: Lesbians & Gays Against Intervention.

 
 

Vanguard, vol. 1, no. 4 (February 1967); San Francisco: Vanguard.

Vanguard was originally the newsletter of the Tenderloin-based organization of the same name, which is often cited as the first gay liberation organization. In 1967, Keith St. Clare took over as editor of the magazine and disassociated it from the organization, which he declared had become too disorganized. St. Clare wanted Vanguard to be an informal publication that would help “to figure out what we could accomplish. What people were talking about, what their objectives were and how they could accomplish them.” This version of Vanguard ran until 1978. In February 2011, the GLBT Historical Society created a new issue of the magazine as part of its “Vanguard Revisited” project which brought together original members of Vanguard.

V Vanguard, vol. 1, no. 4 (February 1967); San Francisco: Vanguard.

Whorezine, no. 13 (June 1992); San Francisco: Whorezine.

Sex worker Vic St. Blaise was the sole creator of Whorezine, a quarterly publication about sex work. The zine was handmade and published in black and white, with articles, drawings and handwritten notes that St. Blaise collaged together.

W Whorezine, no. 13 (June 1992); San Francisco: Whorezine.

 
 

XY Magazine, no. 12 (April–May 1998); San Francisco: XY Magazine.

Created in 1996, XY features all the standard teen magazine requirements, such as movie reviews, reader contributions, and pull-out posters. However, it also provides invaluable resources to its audience of young bisexual and gay men, including guides on coming out and safe sex. XY provided a sense of community and normalcy for gay youth. The magazine ceased publication in 2008, but it was relaunched in 2016 and continues to publish quarterly.

X XY Magazine, no. 12 (April–May 1998); San Francisco: XY Magazine.

Yellow Silk: Journal of Erotic Arts, no. 8 (summer 1983); Albany: Verygraphics.

Yellow Silk was a quarterly literary publication created by Lily Pond. It strived to integrate the erotic into literary culture, including eroticism featuring people of all genders, sexualities and races. Focusing on love and not pornography, Yellow Silk published essays, short stories, poetry and illustrations.

Y Yellow Silk: Journal of Erotic Arts, no. 8 (summer 1983); Albany: Verygraphics.

Zoömorph, no. 2 (circa 1999); Union City: Zoömorph.

Zoömorph was a fanzine devoted to zoophilia and bestiality. Its stories, drawings and poetry all centered on the theme of sex with animals. In a letter to the editor, one reader wrote that Zoömorph “was mystical, magical, erotic and wonderful… a sign that there are indeed others like me.”

Z Zoömorph, no. 2 (circa 1999); Union City: Zoömorph.

 
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Curators
Joanna Black is the archivist at the William E. Colby Memorial Library at the Sierra Club’s National Headquarters in Oakland, California. She was director of archives and special collections at the GLBT Historical Society from 2016 to 2018. Black holds a B.A. in creative writing from San Francisco State University and a master’s in library and information science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Jeremy Prince is the Collections Specialist at the San Diego History Center in San Diego, California. He began volunteering at the newly opened GLBT Historical Society Museum in 2011. From 2014 to 2019, he served as the society’s director of exhibitions and museum operations. Prince holds an M.A. in early modern European history and museum studies from San Francisco State University.
Acknowledgements
Empowerment in Print: LGBTQ Activism, Pride & Lust was on view at the GLBT Historical Society Museum from March to September 2018. The exhibition included periodicals from the following Northern California cities: Albany, Berkeley, Fremont, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Union City.
2018 Museum Exhibition Team
Curators: Joanna Black, Managing Archivist, and Jeremy Prince, Museum and Exhibitions Manager
Exhibition Manager: Elisabeth Cornu
Communications Coordinator and Editor: Gerard Koskovich
Graphic Design: Jeff Raby, Creatis Group, Inc.
Nalini Elias, Director of Exhibitions and Museum Experience, Website Design
Mark Sawchuk, Ph.D., Communications Manager, Editor 
Ramón Silvestre, Ph.D., Museum Registrar and Curatorial Specialist 
Contact, GLBT Historical Society
Copyright © 2021 The GLBT Historical Society; all rights reserved.
The contents of this exhibition may not be reproduced in whole or part without written permission.
 
 
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GLBT Historical Society.
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