| Type | LGBTQ weekly |
|---|---|
| Owner(s) | The Bromfield Street Educational Foundation |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Language | English |
| Ceased publication | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts |
Gay Community News was an American weekly newspaper published in Boston, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1999. Designed as a resource for the LGBT community, the newspaper reported a wide variety of gay and lesbian-related news.
Founded as a collectively-run, local newsletter, early in the struggle for gay liberation, it was soon expanded into a major newspaper with an international readership. The publication saw itself as part an important vehicle for debating gay rights, feminism, antiracism, multiculturalism, class struggle, prisoners' rights, AIDS, and other causes. The newspaper's influence was such that it enjoyed a "national reach that was considered the movement's 'paper of record' throughout the '70s, and whose alumni at one point occupied so many leadership roles around the country that they were called the 'GCN mafia'".[1]
The newspaper's political stance was reflected throughout its reporting. It often served as a place in which liberals and radicals in LGBT groups debated conflicting agendas. An article entitled "Gay Revolutionary", published in 1987, led to claims from the conservative right that the newspaper promoted a "homosexual agenda" to destroy heterosexuality and traditional values.[2]
The collective published the paper once per week from June 1973 to July 1992, when it temporarily ceased publication. It was then revived with a much smaller staff of new editors and student journalists, who published issues sporadically until its last issue in 1999.[3]