Gay community news boston

Gay Community News at The lgbtq+ outlet that went from Boston to the world

Field Guide to Boston

Even ardent consumers of gay Boston media might not hold taken much notice of the five-page mimeographed publication that made its debut on June 17, Called the Gay Community Newsletter, it listed a handful of local events including a softball game and a meeting about trans issues, the phone numbers of local LGBTQ organizations, and the few TV and radio shows that covered gay and lesbian issues (including “Gay Way Radio” on WBUR).

But within a year, GCN became Gay Society News, tripled in size, and featured news stories, commentaries, personal ads and letters to the editor that provide a glimpse of what queer life was like in New England in the immediate post-Stonewall era. The paper would enjoy a year run. Many of its staff members and contributors became leaders of major LGBTQ organizations. Now, The History Project and the Massachusetts Historical Society are exploring GCN’s legacy with a three-part series of live and virtual events called Gay Community News at

“Boston gets

Digital Transgender Archive

Collection:Newspaper and Periodical Clippings () Institution:Northeastern University Archives and Special CollectionsCreator:Schneiderman, Jo, Leigh, Joanna, Lynn, Merissa SherrillDate:May 5, Topics: Camp (Gay culture), Clothing, Crossdressers, Drag, Drag bars, Drag community, Drag queens, Femininities, Gay community, Gender affirming surgery, Gender statement, LGBTQ+ events, LGBTQ+ relationships, MtFs, Sexual assault, Transsexual people Subject: Eve's Garden, Fire and Ice Review, Gay Community News, Jacque's, Norell, Roberta Dearborn, Tiffany Club, Tina Lea Description: A compilation of interviews with drag queens, transsexual women, and crossdressers. Touches on the drag scene in Boston, presenting and passing as a girl, the threat of sexual assault, and relatio

Gay Community News at Defining GCN

MHS Event

Co-sponsored with The History Project

Loie Hayes

Gordon Gottlieb

Russ Lopez

Moderated by Richard Burns

This is a hybrid event. FREE. The in-person reception starts at and the program will begin at

In , a small group of gay men and lesbians founded "Gay Community News," a local Boston newsletter to report on LGBTQ+ events. That community-driven newsletter grew into a major newspaper with an international readership. Unite us to examine the arc of GCN's history and its influence on LGBTQ+ activism.

Hybrid Event

The in-person reception starts at and the program will begin at

Masks are optional for this event.

The virtual program begins at PM and will be hosted on the video conference platform, Zoom. Registrants will get a confirmation note with attendance information.

Introduction to Gay Community News

Founded in by a team of eight lesbians and gays in Boston, Queer Community News (GCN) was initally conceived as a newsletter to increase visibility of events and programs across the gay group in Boston. As the first issue, in , states:

There has been a long-standing need in the Boston gay community for improved communication between the various gay organizations and the gay individual. The lack of coverage in the "straight" press has added to this difficulty of getting necessary knowledge to our community…The Queer Community Newsletter is meant as a means to solve this problem. The purpose will be to list all of the events and information of interest to the queer community in one publication.

By the second issue, however, GCN staffers were already desiring a more robust publication and they upgraded from a two-page mimeograph to an eight-page, offset printed newsprint. In under two years the sheet expanded distribution and coverage significantly, becoming a regional voice for the homosexual community across the Northeast. The impact of the paper