LGBT History Project of the LGBT Center of Central PA Located at Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections http://archives.dickinson.edu/ Documents Online Title: Gay Era (Lancaster, PA) Date: May 1977 Location: LGBT-001 Joseph W. Burns Collection Periodicals Collection Contact: LGBT History Project Archives & Special Collections Waidner-Spahr Library Dickinson College P.O. Box 1773 Carlisle, PA 17013 717-245-1399 [email protected] vol.3 no.3 5Oc MAY 1977 inside: FLORIDA FOLLIES DISH DEMONS Barry Kohn & William Kaff Staff Deserts Office to Fly Kites BLANK PAGES and more items in questionable taste 3 WHAT IS OBSCENITY? This question will haunt the lives of every citi­ THE POLITICS OF GOVERNMENT. ITS SUPPRESSION IS EN­ zen IN THIS COUNTRY UNTIL IT IS FINALLY RESOLVED OR TWINED WITH ATTEMPTS TO REGULATE HUMAN BEHAVIOR THE WORD IS COMPLETELY DISCARDED. THROUGH CONTROL OF IMAGERY, ARE WE GOING TO GIVE After recently reading countless articles regard­ THE GOVERNMENT THE POWER TO BECOME MORAL POLICEMEN? ing THE CASES OF LARRY FlYNT, PUBLISHER OF HUSTLER The DEBATE IN THE LITERARY FIELD CONTINUES:CONTINUES HOW magazine, Al Goldstein, publisher of Screw magazine, FAR SHOULD THE FIRST AMENDMENT BE APPLIED? Ml1EAN- and Harry Reems who starred in Deep Ihroat, I can while, Larry Flynt will be in jail. only reflect on the incident that took place when n Harry Reems; , ."Deep Throat s” pretty. Harry the Gay Era took the January issue to our printer. Reems was paid $1UO to._ star. .............. in "___Deep Ihroat" WITHi I WILL TRY TO OUTLINE THE FOUR CASES AS BRIEFLY Linda Lovelace. ....He volunteered for the male lead AS POSSIBLE THOUGH PAGES COULD BE WRITTEN DETAILING WHEN THE FILM WAS BEING SHOT IN NEWNl YORK DUIIURING THE INCIDENTS. anuary 1972. e was___ _________indicted ...in ___uly I FOR . PUBLISHER OF SCREW MAGAZINE: SEND- J H J _1974 Al Goldstein CONSPIRACY. Rreems and eleven others were charged „ ing Obscene..... i.*I lATERIALat THROUGH THE MAIL. SCREW MAGA- WITH CONSPIRACY,CY TO TRANSPORT PRINTS OF DEEP THROAT PUBLISHED IN NEW YORK WITH HALF OF ITS ACROSS STATE LINES. WlCOPIES_______ SOLD THERE. THE.... U.S. ATTORNEY IN Reems, unlike Goldstein, fares a much better. New York would not prosecute the mIAGAZINE< BECAUSE CHANCE IN GAINING PUBLIC SUPPORT. 1N GOLDSTEJ.N S HE DOUBTED WHETHER A JURY OF NEW Yl'ORKERS WOULD PRO- OWN WORDS, "H"FLarry‘."'.' RP"eems............. is a‘ sweet, puppy """dog. DUC^ A^yNVICTION. IELIBERATED FOR FIVE HOURS AND 35 MIN- FOUR POSTAL WORKERS FROM KANSAS WERE The jury deliber( UTES, AND ON April 30 convicted Reems AND HIS CO- GIVEN MONEY ORDERS BY THE J. ustice Department and DEFENDANTS. "Deep Throat" lawyers have since won a TOLD TO TAKE OUT... .......SUBSCRIPTIONSions to Screw and Smut DELAY IN SENTENCING. (another Goldstein publication) under assumed names. Six issues of Screw and five issues of Smut were The Gay Era: OC__________bscene and Pornographic? This SENT TO THE NEW SUBSCRIBERS AND WERE SENT BACK UN­ INCIDENT BEGAN LONGING BEFORE CHRISTMAS WHEN WE WERE OPENED TO A POSTAL INSPECTOR IN NfW YORK. THERE PLANNING TO DO A "H............oliday SI___________upplement for____ the- .pub — - WAS ESTABLISHED FACT THAT f'Screw--........ had been............ mailed LICATION. We solicited poetry, graphics, drawings : ELSE" WOULD SUBMIT. andAND receivedRECEIVED inIN KKANSASai AND NOWi ALAl Goldstein could AND ANYTHING ELSE THAT ANYONE ELSE WOULD SUB"! BE PROSECUTED IN 'W._ ICHITA........... The three staff members of the 6/>ay "Era mysteriously The trial lasted four weeks. Larry Schauf, the BECAME ILL AND WE PUT IT OFF UNTIIil....................................... January thinking PROSECUTING ATTORNEY AND NATIVE OF" Wichita, managed ...IT WAS . BETTER LATE THAN NEVER. WVe received a draw­ TO USE THE WORD "DECENCY" 42 TIMESTIM£S IN HIS SUMMATION. ing from Ken Burke which depicted a male torso. On Naming Goldstein... the_ mayor of 42nd Street -----leading Dec. 29 our printer decided that the drawing was AN ADVANCE PARTY OF PORNOGRAPHERS INTO WICHITA, HE OBSCENE AND PORNOGRAPHIC. NEEDLESS TO SAY, IT WAS SAID THE ISSUE WAS ONE OF CLEAN-LIVING IN KANSAS NOT PRINTED. VERSUS MORALLY BANKRUPT NEW YORK, JUDGE THEIS A- WE TRIED IN VAIN TO REASON WITH THE PRINTER, TRY­ GREED THAT SCHAUF'S SUMMATION WAS INFLAMATORY BUT ING TO CONVINCE HIM THAT IT WAS HARDLY PORNOGRAPHIC. WHEN ASKED FOR A MISTRIAL, HE WOULD NOT AGREE TO There was not much use in this tactic since the ONE. HE EXPLAINED IN CHAMBERS THAT THE DEFENSE HAD ADAGE OF "The power of the press belongs to those TRIED THE CASE WELL, BUT WHAT COULD THEY DO WITH WHO OWN THE PRESS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE. MATERIAL TH.T(-|AT............ WAS SO.. PATENTLY. _ OBSCENE? A DOZEN „ Our printer acted a bit more reasonable when we Greenwich Village queers would find this obscene, HAVE TAKEN THE PAPER TO BE PRINTED SINCE THEN.;7" MMAa­ HE SAID. The jury deliberated for SEVEN IHOURS ON TERIAL WHICH I WOULD CONSIDER MORE OBSCENE THANthan THE 1/TH AND 18TH OF JUNE AND HANDED DOWNI A GUILTY THE GRAPHIC DIDN'T EVEN RECEIVE A BAT OF THE EYE. (AS A SECOND VERDICT. CHANCE, WE HAVE PRINTED THE GRAPHIC KNOW WHAT Goldstein was out on bail and awaiting SENTENC- ON PAGE 7 ■ If THAT SPACE IS BLANK, YOU ing. On Dec. 1 Judge Theis was asked, for A NEW HAPPENED. TRIAL AND THE MOTION WAS SUSTAINED. LAST MONTH My concern at this point, with regard to the NATIONALLY KNOWN OBSCENITY COURT CASES, IS THAT WE TheisS wasWAS askedASKED thatTHAT theTHE trialTRIAL beBE moviMOVED TO New York. ___ __ ______ ..... _______ _________ 13 AS THE T....he miMOTION WAS DENIED AND THEIS SET APRIL HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THE PERPETRATORS OF MORAL STAND­ DATE FOR TH]IE NEW TRIAL. ON THAT DAY GOLDSTEIN WILL ARDS IN THIS COUNTRY WILL STOP. BE______ BACK ____ IN WICHITAI FOR THE NEW TRIAL. NoNO ONE IS HAULING PEOPLE OFF THIT^E----------------- STREETSTO . _ SIT... I.arry Flynt, publisher of Hustler magazine: Free- AND: WATCH A PORNOGRAPHICr„.;...„r.;.?:::c movieMOVIE . No one is forcing DOM OF THE PRESS.LAST... .._MQNTH.... IN ClNCINNATI , Larry PEOPLE:?lz toTO BUYo., MAGAZINES such! as Hustler, Screw, OR Flynt was sentenced 7 1TO _ “25 YEARS_...... IN. JAIL FOR PAD­ DERING OBSCENITY AND ENGAGING IN ORGANIZED CRIME. During the teens and 20's of this century Mar-­ The latter charge as a result of a conspiracy-like garet Anderson edited the Little Review which pub­ STATUTE IN STATE LAW. lished THOSE TALENTS THAT THE COMMERCIAL PUBLISHERS A PETITION WAS CIRCULATED ON FLYNT S .EHALF SPON- would not touch: Stein, Pound, Eliot, Joyce, etc. n sored by "Americans for a Free Press." HE ADVER- When Jane Heap (her co-editor) and she tried to TISEMENT APPEARED IN MANY NEWSPAPERS ON lUNDAY, FebEB.. serialize Ulysses by James Joyce, Ulysses was banned 20. It was boldly headed Larry Flynt: American from this country. There was a controversial court Dissident" and noted President CBarter 's concern for BATTLE WHICH THEY LOST. In HER AUTOBIO­ dissident writers .....and ....artists in tthe::z SS.oviet Union GRAPHY, THERE IS A REMINISCENCE ABOUT THAT TRIAL! AND URGEDunrrn HIM<itm "I" T KIn THETUC I.IAl/CWAKE OFAC RECENTDE/'EMT EVENTS...TO Suppose I am forced to stand trial by jury. TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT THE RESTRICTIONS OF FREEDOM Who will be chosen as my peers, where will they OF EXPRESSION IN AMERICA ITSELF. BE FOUND? How MANY OF THEM ARE THERE? WILL THEY BE LIKE THE THREE JUDGES WHO^CONDEMNED^ AND In another advertisement which appeared in the FINED,i, .AND FINGERPRINTED ME FOR PUBLISHING mes arch 6, there was an open letter HekJ ’ . M lyssesES IN THE I ITTI E REVIEW’ TU1„ „ TNF llinrF<. .ARRY lynt t was headed ear resident U Hl IHAT ... TRIAL- . (DURING WHICH TWO OF THE JUDGES FROM // F . I "D P At THAT TRIAL Carter:". In the text which addressed the President FFI I ASlEEP AND THE THIRD—A NORWEGIAN SAID Flynt says The absurd law that was used to convict AFTERWARD THAT HAD HE KNOWN THAT JANE A JOR- me in Cincinnati could even be used against you. You WEGIAN HE WOULD HAVE CHANGED THE VERDICT), WE COULD HAVE BEEN INDICTED AND POSSIBLY CONVICTED FOR MIGHT POSS I BLY HAVE FOUND TWELVE JURORS WHO WOULD CONSPIRING TO PROMOTE PORNOGRAPHY BY SUBMITTING TO UNDERSTAND JOYCE (THOUGH I "eN0J,^?E]OLITL. D the Playboy interview. Hypothetical example? Thfy wnill D HAVE BEEN MY PEERS> SINCE 1 TOO COULD __ .N THIS COUI.............. I HEY WOULD HAVE B^EN THERE HAVE B£EN Hardly! There are communities in this country where UNDERSTAND HIM ::z, possibly incinnati Playboy could be found obscene, C , NO TRIAL. WE IWOULD HAVE RENOUNCED ULYSSES. A BECAUSE IT IS A CITY WHERE Rl... BECAUSE IT II ichard Nixon could be MASTERPIECE, AND I1 WOULDN'THAVEWOULUN ‘ BEEN^CRIMINAL."Bv RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT. RE-ELECTED Pl It would be even beTIeLIocBE au?uPFR?oi The petpetition. has caused quite a controversy SUPERIORS THAN BY ONE S PEERS____ ..’ ________SUPER 1IOR01 MAN WITHIN THE LITERARY WORLD REGARDING THOSE WHOio WOULD IS ONE WHO KNOWS WHAT S WHAT, ^ppoR^HI^SU-A MAN WHO UNDER ­ SIGN THE PETITION AND THOSE WHO WOULD,""> not’ . Film Al I THINGS. IN A TRIAL BEFORt Hlb bu PER I ORS ANY CRIMINAL WOULD STAND A CHANCE OF critic Judith Crist pointed out that Civil liber- PUBL! SHERS^THEM^&!XMAN ‘ WOULDN ’ ™HAVETBEENAAMONG TAR I ANS CANNOT MARCH ONLY TO THE SOUND OF THEIR OWN drum." Jann Wenner, editor of Rolling Stone gave a HUKEMORE tnENTHUSIASTIC i nuoiho i iu cwuiwtnui.iENDORSEMENT: . A GUY IS BEING JAILED BY A LAW PROMULGATED BY THE HIXON lOURT.