Fag Rag: Boston’s Radical Gay Men’s Newspaper

Fag Rag was a Boston-based gay men’s newspaper published from 1971 until approximately 1987. Its final known issue was number 44. The paper was produced by the Fag Rag Collective, a group described as bringing together radical writers, artists and activists.

The publication grew out of an earlier project called Lavender Vision. That periodical was organized for both gay men and lesbians, with space divided between writing for men and writing for women. After several issues, the lesbians involved departed to create a separate publication. The remaining men then developed the newspaper that became Fag Rag.

The collective included Larry Martin, Charley Shively, Michael Bronski, Thom Nickels, Kevin McGirr and John Mitzel. Their work placed the newspaper within Boston’s network of LGBTQ writers, artists and political organizers, while its distribution extended beyond the city. In its early years, Fag Rag had between 400 and 500 subscribers. It also circulated another 4,500 copies through newsstands and bookstores, as well as through free distribution.

Fag Rag’s pages featured interviews with and writing by a wide range of gay and bisexual authors. The contributors and interview subjects listed in the source include William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, Christopher Isherwood, John Wieners, Arthur Evans, Allen Young, Maurice Kenny, Gerard Malanga, John Rechy, Ned Rorem and Gore Vidal.

That roster connects the Boston publication to a broader literary and cultural world, but Fag Rag remained rooted in the work of its local collective. Its format brought together journalism, literary material and activist perspectives rather than treating those areas as separate. The available record identifies the newspaper’s run, organization, circulation and contributors, while leaving many details of individual issues undocumented.

For Boston LGBTQ history, Fag Rag offers a record of how a locally produced publication could combine community circulation with participation from nationally and internationally recognized writers. The newspaper’s history also reflects a division within an earlier coed organizing project: Lavender Vision began as a shared gay and lesbian publication, then gave way to separate men’s and women’s projects. With issue 44 the last known edition, Fag Rag’s documented publishing period closes around the late 1980s, after more than a decade of activity.

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Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://vimeo.com/fagrag/videos - https://books.google.com/books?id=pCzqrKzbGWkC&pg=PA7 - https://books.google.com/books?id=wb5bBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT159 - https://www.cjr.org/special_report/great-magazines-fag-rag.php - https://web.archive.org/web/20210512072617/https://www.phillypressreview.com/opinion/columnists/city-safari-the-beat-gay-poet/article_0f54f25c-4179-11eb-bf60-93d242ce9d42.html - https://www.phillypressreview.com/opinion/columnists/city-safari-the-beat-gay-poet/article_0f54f25c-4179-11eb-bf60-93d242ce9d42.html Image rights Photograph description: 2 lollypop style bike racks in front of Grove Hall Community Center, Boston MA Creator: IlPinguinoOSM. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). Original image page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2_lollypop_style_bike_racks_in_front_of_Grove_Hall_Community_Center%2C_Boston_MA.jpg. The image was resized for display; no other changes were made.