One area of LGBT history that I feel is often neglected is that of regional gay publications.

Admittedly, I do have a bit of a biased view here given my own involvement in one such publication, Gay East Midlands. But, that fact notwithstanding, I do think these publications deserve some recognition and a greater understanding of their role, especially during the dark years around the demise of Gay News and the emergence of AIDS.

Julian Meldrum highlighted this in his 1984 report, AIDS through the British Media:

“Outside London…magazines such as Gay Scotland, Mancunian Gay (in Manchester) and Gay East Midlands (in Nottingham) have published original articles, often in as much depth and as thoughtful as those in the London gay media. A host of comments and short articles…have appeared in newsletters and bulletins circulated within local and special interest gay organisations, political and social.”

In today’s smart-phoned, wi-fi internet world it’s easy to forget just how disconnected and isolated we were less than three decades ago.

So, herewith a brief, region-by-region overview of 1980s publications. This list is based entirely on my own experience so clearly is not exhaustive nor, obviously, does it include lesbian-specific material. But I’d love to build a more comprehensive listing so please feel free to send me whatever information you have on other publications.

English Midlands

Gay East Midlands (GEM) was initiated at the end of 1982 and published its first issue in June 1983. I know, because I initiated it!

I had had absolutely no experience in journalism or publishing (as anyone who has read GEM will testify) but felt something needed to be done in light of the imminent collapse of Gay News.

And so I called a public meeting in Nottingham, England and a ‘collective’ (very fashionable term at the time) of volunteers was established. From there we went on to publish nine monthly issues until our inexperience (and in-fighting) got the better of us. The final issue was published in March 1984. All nine issues, as well as a bit of the history, are available here.

In the July 1983 issue of GEM we reported that Gay Midlander would be launching that same month. We said that it would cover a much wider area than we did (“from Chester to Luton, and from Gloucester to Lincoln and parts of Wales”). And that it would cost 40p.

Beyond that, we knew nothing. We didn’t know who was behind it, I can’t recall ever seeing a copy in local venues and, indeed, I can’t even confirm if it actually hit the streets at all.

Not that I’m trying to gloat: our own efforts with GEM were pretty short-lived. My guess is that, even if it did launch, it’s ambitious distribution area would have played a role in its demise. But that is just pure speculation and I’m more happy to receive an informed update on that.

Gay Nottingham was the successor to GEM, appearing towards the end of 1984. As can be seen from the logo, it was free (GEM had cost 20p; something that had given us a little bit of income but an awful lot of distribution headaches).

Established by local gay councillor Richard McCance it was, in essence, little more than two or three large sheets of photocopied paper, folded together to produce either an 8 or 12-page document.

As with GEM, it was produced and distributed entirely by volunteers so style wasn’t the key consideration. The main concern was keeping people informed about both local and national events.

Locally, there was a need to keep the pressure on Nottingham City Council to deliver on its gay and lesbian rights agenda. And nationally, of course, we had the rise of AIDS and the homophobia of Thatcher and Co.

Encouraged by the response to Gay Nottingham, the distribution area was increased in 1987 and the paper was re-named Metro Gay.

It didn’t quite cover the area previously covered by GEM but that’s probably why it ran for a lot longer: GEM‘s distribution area had been far too ambitious and unsustainable.

And then, around 1989, Metro Gay was superceded by Outright. My knowledge on this is somewhat limited as I was living in Australia by that time. The content and layout of Outright suggests that it was better resourced than Metro Gay – both in terms of number of people and levels of skill – but, again, this is pure conjecture on my part.

My understanding is that it ran for a couple of years or so before folding due to financial reasons. Again, I’m more than happy to be corrected on that.

London and the South East

Capital Gay was born in June 1981, the brainchild of Graham McKerrow and Michael Mason (a former director and news editor of Gay News).

It’s main distribution area was London and Brighton. Following the collapse of Gay News in 1983, its distribution area was temporarily expanded to cover gay venues in towns such as Newcastle, Manchester and Nottingham. This was done on the assumption that Gay News, or something like it, would rise from the ashes. When this failed to happen Capital Gay reluctantly returned to its original distribution area in July 1985.

The size of both the LGBT population and commercial gay scene within its distribution area undoubtedly contributed to its long life. To my knowledge, it was the only regional publication that was produced by paid staff rather than volunteers; an achievement in itself. But, apparently all good things must come to an end and Capital Gay closed in 1995, a few weeks before its 14th birthday.

Northern Ireland

Gay Star was launched by the Northern Ireland Gay Rights Association (NIGRA) in 1982. Like many gay publications, it had a number of predecessors, beginning in 1974 with Burnt Offering then the GLS [Gay Liberation Society] Information Sheet, NIGRA News, Northern Gay and finally Gay Star.

By 1984 Gay Star had become a quarterly publication. This was felt insufficient to respond to the various crises of the time such as AIDS and police harassment so an additional paper was launched. This free weekly began life as Update then changed its name to upstart (apparently the lower case ‘u’ came about because they couldn’t fit an upper case one onto the logo).

Both Gay Star and upstart have recently been revived online as Upstart Publishing.

North West England

My first contact with The Mancunian Gay was in 1982 when two MG representatives attended the first GEM public meeting in Nottingham.

Partly as a result of that, we went on to have relatively strong ties with them during and beyond GEM‘s lifetime. We occasionally shared content and, on one occasion, MG helped us secure advertising from one of Manchester’s gay clubs.

Those earlier ties notwithstanding, I never really knew the history of Mancunian Gay and have struggled to uncover any additional information even now.

I believe the magazine was first established in 1981 by staff and volunteers at Manchester’s Gay Centre. By the time of my first contact it was being published as a 16-page glossy-cover magazine with pretty high production values (especially when compared to GEM!). Given the thriving state of the commercial gay scene in Manchester and surrounding areas it did feature a lot of ‘scene’ content. However, this did not prevent it from maintaining a strong and unapologetically political focus.

In June 1986, MG transformed itself into Gay Life.

With the strapline ‘The Magazine for the Gay North‘ it covered a much wider area than it’s predecessor, taking in places as far afield as Leeds and Darlington.

Whilst the distribution area changed quite radically, the content and appearance remained much the same as its predecessor.

I understand that, in 1989, Gay Life was replaced by Scene Out, which as the name suggests, was more focused on the commercial gay scene and a lot less ‘political’. And I’m afraid I have no idea what happened to Scene Out.

Scotland

Gay Scotland has got to be one of the longest running LGBT publications in the UK.

It began life in 1971 as the newsletter of the Scottish Minorities Group. As the group grew and changed its name (to the Scottish Homosexual Rights Group), so too did the newsletter. In October 1978 it became Gay Scotland.

I’m not sure at what point is stopped being a members-only publication and went ‘mainstream’ but I certainly remember seeing it in places like Gay’s the Word bookshop from the early 80’s.

As with publications like Gay Nottingham, it had a dual social/political role. It sought to ensure that Scottish lesbians and gay men weren’t isolated at a time when that country’s legislation was even more punitive and anachronistic than England’s. For example, in Scotland, sex between men over the age of 21 was only de-criminalised in 1980.

The passage of that legislation – due in no small part to the activities of SHRG – was the trigger for some wider changes and a commercial gay scene quickly began to develop. With this increased open-ness, membership of SHRG began to decline, although Gay Scotland continued publication until August 1997.

As with all of the other publications mentioned here, it’s been superseded by a mix of websites, social media, new publications and a general ‘mainstreaming’ of both social and political LGBT issues.

LGBT people are no longer in the shadows and the ease and economy of constantly developing communications technology means we are no longer isolated. But does that mean there is no longer a need for local gay publications? Personally, I’m inclined to think there is – but the economics and organisational requirements militate against that. Cyberspace seems the cheapest and easiest option.

My thanks to Jaime Valentine from OurStory Scotland, Sean McGouran from upstart Publishing, and Richard McCance for their assistance with this article.