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Gay News
Gay News was a pioneering fortnightly newspaper that was first published in London in June 1972 by collective of activists from the Gay Liberation Front, the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) and Scottish Minorities Group. At the newspaper's height, circulation was 18,000 to 19,000 copies.
The paper played a pivotal role in the struggle for gay rights in the UK in the 1970s and was described by Alison Hennegan (Assistant Features Editor and Literary Editor
from June 1977) as the movement's "debating chamber". As well as reporting on discrimination and political and social advances, it campaigned on a number of fronts, including against religious hostility and those sectors of the the medical profession which regarded homosexuality as a pathology, and for equal rights in employment (notably in the controversial area of the teaching profession) and the trades union movement. Its pages included cartoons, culture from a gay perspective, gay group listings, adverts for gay businesses and, at a time when other publications had been prosecuted for their contact listings, personal ads which enabled readers to contact each other.
The original Gay News ceased publishing in 1983. Rights to the name were bought by another company that published a short-lived magazine until
1985.
Most of the above information is adapted from a much longer Wikipedia article.
Arbery Books has the following copies for sale.
Copies are in reasonable condition after being stored for almost forty years. Unless otherwise stated, all copies are complete but may have creases, small tears and stains; ink may have rubbed onto adjacent pages. More images and information are available on request.
Prices on this page include postage and packing in the UK, with discounts available for three or more items.
Contact us
for more information / images of any item or to purchase.
No 2, no date (1972)
12 pages, including interview with David Hockney, release of gay spy William Vassall, report of New York bank raid that later became filmed as Dog Day Afternoon, Gay Liberation Front
dispute with feminist group Spare Rib £25
No 6, no date (1972)
16 pages, including front page article on New York bank raid that later became filmed as Dog Day Afternoon, ideas of gay liberation, launch of group supporting parents of gay children,
sado-masochism back page severely stained but all text legible £20
No 7, no date (1972)
12 pages, including front page article on anti-gay law, report of trial of Gay News collective member (later editor) Denis Lemon, trolling in Capri, profile of homophobic
Edinburgh Councillor Kidd, homosexual woman and venereal disease small tears on front page making a few words illegible £20
No 8, no date (1972)
16 pages, including Lord Longford report on pornography, gay militant Rev Troy Perry, controversy at gay pub The Champion in Notting Hill Gate,
trolling in Russia, feedback on transvestism and sado-masochism £20
No 9, no date (1972)
16 pages, including front-page interview with queer-basher, men-only marriage in Texas, eviction of Gay Liberation squatters in Notting Hill, death of Paul Goodman, homoerotic films at the ICA,
Miss Female Impersonator (International) 1972 competition large stain on front page, but all words eligible, section of column on pages 15/16 missing £10
No 10, no date (1972)
16 pages, including Hollywood films of gay interest, readers comments on sex with 15 - 20 year olds, gay life behind bars, pages 3/4 and 13/14 missing £5
No ?, no date (1972)(see picture)
20 pages, plus pull-out Christmas game, including gays and Christmas, Judy Garland, Christmas parodies, short story front page badly torn and stained, other pages stained £5
No 15, no date (1973)
16 pages, including gay spies, Danny La Rue, gay words £15
No 16, no date (1973)
16 pages, including rent boys on Piccadilly, Joe Dallessandro interview, straight integration, bisexuals front page badly torn and stained, other pages stained £15
No 17, no date (1973)
16 pages, including rent boys on Piccadilly, serial killer in New York, women demand human rights, court case on Andy Warhol documentary,
more words from the Queen's Vernacular £15
No 18, no date (1973)
16 pages, including gay newsagent bans News of the World, rent boys in New York, women-identified women, £15
No 19, no date (1973)
16 pages, including sex change for (later known as Dog Day Afternoon) man (see above), Teach-In on Homosexuality in Edinburgh, Joan Baez's female lover,
Mae West, Christianity £15
No 20, no date (1973)
20 pages, including upcoming Campaign for Homosexual Equality first annual conference, Sylvia Miles profile, David Cassidy appreciation, £15
No 29, 9 - 22 August 1973
20 pages, including the splintering gay movement, Happiness Club controversy, male stripper controversy, gay travel to Tunisia, hermaphroditism,
Virginia Woolf £15
No 29, 9 - 22 August 1973
20 pages, including the splintering gay movement, Happiness Club controversy, male stripper controversy, gay travel to Tunisia, hermaphroditism,
Virginia Woolf £15
No 32, 20 September - 3 October 1973
20 pages, including US Air Force witch-hunt, weak links in gay-police relations, photographs from Mr Fire Island 1973 contest, cruising in the Biograph cinema,
the madness of myths and homophobia £15
No 33, 4 - 17 October 1973
24 pages, including what price a gay candidate? gay life in Sweden, short story, insight into personal adverts, Rev Emmanuel Bradford (1834-1894), £15
No 34, 18 - 31 October 1973
20 pages, including Alan Whicker documentary on gay life in Los Angeles, Gay Liberation confrontation in London, Gay Switchboard planned, death of
W H Auden, gothic gays £15
No 35, 1 - 28 November 1973
24 pages, including the politics of kissing, Peter Tatchell at East Berlin Festival of Youth, gay students conference, gay old age pensioners, male
secretaries, New York Dolls double page photograph, interview with Adam Darius £15
No 37, 13 December 1973 - 9 January 1974
24 pages, including Scottish Minorities Group delegation to Parliament, interview with Howarth Penny of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality, review of
gay movement, interview with Dr George Weinberg, gays and Christmas, fashion, pantomime dames £15
The following issues will be catalogued shortly: nos 45, 47, 48, 64, 169, 170, 171, 172, 217, 218, 219, 262, 263
Gay News 2
Gay News 10
Gay News number uncertain
Gay News 16
Gay News 20
Gay News 34
Gay News 35
Gay News 37
Prices on this page include postage and packing in the UK, with discounts available for three or more items.
Contact us
for more information / images of any item or to purchase.
For other gay magazines and newspapers from the 1970s, from the UK and elsewhere, click here.
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Gay News 2
Gay News 10
Gay News number uncertain
Gay News 20
Gay News 34
Gay News 35
Gay News 37