Learning from our gay literary ancestors

To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of Christopher Street magazine before my brother told me about it a few years back.

The iconic publication, born in the wake of the Stonewall uprisings, was something of a fascination for my brother, a gay academic who had conducted a pile of interviews with former Christopher Street contributors.

But why did my brother pour so much of his free time into researching a dusty old magazine from the 1970s? Well, Christopher Street was not just a gay magazine, but one of the first with serious literary ambitions. It was a sort of “gay New Yorker” that created space for an entire generation of queer authors to hone their craft and gather an audience, at a time when explicitly gay literature was not welcome elsewhere.

“If Christopher Street’s mission was dual—to discover, publish, and discuss high-caliber gay literature and bring to life a gay world—then the magazine was a success, a cornerstone of contemporary gay American history,” my brother writes. “Its catalog of contributors who indelibly shaped American culture is breathtaking.”

To name just a few: Andrew Holleran (“Dancer from the Dance”), Edmund White (“States of Desire”) and Randy Shilts (“The Mayor of Castro Street”).

Shame on me for not knowing my own herstory, especially as a queer author.

I’m happy to say that now, thanks to my brother and others, Christopher Street is having a new moment in the sun, 50 years after its founding (and 31 after its closure).

In fact, my brother recently published an excellent history of the magazine in The Gay & Lesbian Review. You can read it here.

He was also a guest on the new podcast Off Christopher Street, which “dive[s] into the archives of Christopher Street as a window onto the gay life of the past and the gay discourse of the present.” You can listen to the episode here.

In my humble opinion, it’s worth a few minutes of your time to read the article or listen to the podcast. The history of the magazine is fascinating, funny and often surprising. And one thing’s for sure: Without it, you would not be reading a newsletter like Finocchio right now.

Like what you’re reading? Well, Finocchio is kind of like a drag show: It works only thanks to the financial support of the gays who show up and throw dollar bills my way.

This week, I leave you with another photo from London, this in the incredible Hyde Park.