Gay Print Media’s Golden Era: Australian Magazines and Newspapers 1970-2000 William (Bill) Francis Calder Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2015 School of Historical and Philosophical Studies Faculty of Arts The University of Melbourne Produced on Archival Quality Paper Abstract The late 20th century was a golden era for Australian gay print media: more than five million copies annually of gay and lesbian publications were printed at its peak, with revenues of nearly eight million dollars a year. Yet there was not even a leaflet before 1969 because homosexuals then did not dare to publish in the climate of active oppression. Growing liberal attitudes within sections of broader society, and, at a practical level, reform of censorship laws made gay publishing possible. The remarkable growth of this industry stands as testimony to the dramatic change in mainstream society’s attitudes towards homosexuality, and changes within the gay community itself, during the final decades of last century. From 1970 to 2000 nearly 100 significant magazines and newspapers were produced around the country. Publishers used print media to advance gay movement aims, despite pursuing a variety of visions and goals for how they saw a better world for gay and lesbian people. Their publications allowed discussion of what it meant to be gay or lesbian in Australia; provided an arena to present positive viewpoints regarding homosexuality that countered dominant mainstream attitudes; and brought people together through personal classifieds and information about bars and other community activities. In order to sustain their businesses, publishers took commercial opportunities presented to them. And they needed to expand their operation to attract readers and advertisers. This offered economic viability to the publications, and allowed publishers to sustain a reliable workforce and improve their product. All publishers were forced to deal with the business side of their operation, which often caused tension between their initial goals for a better world and the need to run the business. A key resolution of this tension came through adopting the promotion and defence of community as a primary political project. This allowed publishers to freely develop synergies with advertisers that helped build and develop community infrastructure, such as venues, festivals, and small businesses. Expansion of the sector magnified the impact of this synergy on the community’s growth. It allowed movement ideas and information on community activities to reach and influence a much wider audience, and the day-to-day pursuit of business activity, in particular advertising revenue and distribution outlets led to a myriad of direct ii relationships with mainstream society that challenged prejudice and helped normalise homosexuality. iii DECLARATION This thesis contains only my original work towards the Doctor of Philosophy (History). Due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used. This thesis is fewer than the maximum word limit in length, exclusive of bibliographies and appendices. signed William (Bill) Francis Calder iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisors Graham Willett, who wrote the inspirational book on the gay movement Living Out Loud, and Sean Scalmer for their support. Thanks also to the 30 publishers and editors who offered their time to be interviewed and provided their insights into the industry. Thanks to the volunteers at the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives for their hours of patient assistance, particularly Gary Jaynes. Thanks to the many participants at homosexual history conferences who inspired me through their presentations and thoughtful questions. And finally thanks to my partner Frankie Lee, family and friends for their support. v Contents Introduction: Gay Print Media’s Golden Era Tensions Drive Enterprise and Growth 1 Theoretical Framework 5 Publishers Commit Time and Money to Business 11 The Need for Research 12 Methodology 15 Thesis Structure 18 Only Part of the Story 23 Define Meanings and Definitions 24 Insider Knowledge 24 Chapter One: Gay Liberationists Demanding Change 26 Ending the Secret Shame 27 Role of Liberationist Publications 30 Newsletters Helped Co-ordinate Campaigns 32 Case Study: Starting the Resistance 35 Case Study: New Liberationist Ambitions 44 Conclusion 52 Chapter Two: Male Nude Magazines Entertaining Sexual Desire 54 The Obscenity Wars 55 Role of Male Nude Magazines 58 Commercial Pragmatism Wins Out 60 Case Study: A Magazine to Amuse and Entertain 63 Case Study: Finding the Right Formula 69 Conclusion 74 Chapter Three: Gay Lifestyle Publications Building Community 76 Oxford Street: A Global Gay Precinct 77 Role of Gay Lifestyle Publications 81 Advertising the Gay World 83 Case Study: Party Animal Seeks More Exciting Scene 90 Case Study: The Women’s Weekly of the Gay Scene 98 Case Study: The Journey to National Glossy 103 Conclusion 112 Chapter Four: Lesbian Magazines Finding a Space 114 Developing a Whole New Culture 115 Role of Lesbian Magazines 120 A Communication Link Between Lesbians 121 Case Study: Feminist Collective Publishing 124 Case Study: Sex Radicals Brandish the Whip 130 vi Case Study: Time to Party 135 Conclusion 140 Chapter Five: Free City-based Newspapers Reflecting Diversity 141 Growth of Institutions and Diversity 142 Role of Free City-based Newspapers 145 Local Newspapers Around the Country 148 Case Study: The Community’s Biggest Newspaper 152 Case Study: Perfect One Day, Legal the Next 159 Case Study: The Desire the Expand 164 Conclusion 171 Chapter Six: Pink Dollars Flirting with Corporations 172 Lucrative Niche Market with No Kids 173 Media’s Role in Attracting Business Interest 176 Gay Media’s Market Leader 178 Crucial Role Played in AIDS Message 180 Becoming a Gay Publishing Tsar 184 Crusading for the Corporate Dollar 188 Commercial Battles Drive Innovation, but at a Cost 191 Pink Float Soon Sinks 194 Conclusion 197 Conclusion: New Media for a New Millennium The Internet Age 200 Achievements of Print’s Golden Age 200 Post-Satellite Recovery 203 What Role for Internet? 204 Appendices A: Number of Pages Published Annually 208 B: Number of Copies Distributed Annually 230 C: Revenues at End of 1990s 238 Bibliography Books and Journal Articles 240 Interviews 246 Websites 247 Theses and Unpublished Papers 248 Private and Community-based Collections 248 Ephemera 250 Australian Gay and Lesbian Publications 250 Non-gay Publications 253 Press Articles 254 vii Introduction Gay print media’s golden era She carefully slides a fresh page of thick waxed paper from the box and turns it over, the attached flimsy tissue facing away. She feds it between the typewriter rollers, shuffles through a pile of hand-written notes and starts to type. Her fingers click back and forth across the keys, bringing to life discussions for political action and dates for future events. She pauses to smear a dab of liquid white-out on a typo and blows to speed its drying. When she finishes her friend carefully peels the tissue page and drapes it around the gestetner machine’s ink drum. Slowly turning the handle, she feeds sheets of paper one at a time, and after 100 copies takes them to the bench to collate with other pages printed earlier.1 Tensions drive enterprise and growth The late 20th century was a golden era for Australian gay print media: more than five million copies of gay and lesbian publications were printed annually at its peak,2 with revenues of nearly eight million dollars a year.3 Yet there was not even a leaflet before 1969 because homosexuals did not dare to publish in the climate of active oppression. The first known gay or lesbian identified publications produced in Australia were internal newsletters from 1969. The lesbian group Daughters of Bilitis’ newsletter contained a social calendar, discussion of organisational matters and snippets of writings about life not necessarily connected to being a lesbian.4 Sydney’s Chameleons Social Club in 1969 also produced a six-page typed newsletter with information about upcoming events.5 The first magazine distributed for sale was Camp Ink, published in 1970 by gay activists from the left campaigning against gay 1 Inspired by description of Lesbian Newsletter production from author interview with Liz Ross 2011. 2 See Appendix B. 3 See Appendix C. 4 For more on the group see Graham Willett and Liz Ross, "The Daughters of Bilitis: In Our Lifetime," in Secret Histories of Queer Melbourne, ed., Graham Willett, Wayne Murdoch, and Daniel Marshall, (Melbourne: Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, 2011). Also Liz Ross, "We Were Catalysts for Change," Journal of Lesbian Studies 13 (2009). 5 The Chameleons Social Club Ltd No. 1, January 1969. In ALGA Box 379, Papers of Denis Fuller, Box 1 of 2. Other unconfirmed publications may also have been produced in the late 1960s such as a small 1968 magazine called Camp that was mentioned in Craig Johnston, "Politicization and Community Formation among Male Homosexuals: The Case of Sydney in the 1970s (notes from incompleted Phd thesis, held at ALGA)," (2003), p. 4. 1 oppression, and 500 copies were printed to be “a voice to the outside world”, as its key instigator John Ware later said.6 Growing liberal attitudes within sections of broader society and, at a practical level, reform of censorship laws, made gay publishing possible, and this remarkable growth of an industry stands as testimony to the dramatic change in mainstream society’s attitudes towards homosexuality, and changes within the gay community itself, during the final decades of last century. Written histories exist to document this and the influence of public activism from the gay movement that brought it to bear.7 This historiography will be elaborated on shortly. Suffice to say now the gay movement relied on a wide range of actions to achieve change, and a key instrument it used was media, particularly print.