Avatar Sept/Oct 1977

San Jose, California: Phoenix Publications, 1977. Very good. 11" x 8½". Bifolium. pp. [12]. Very good: light edge wear; toned and dust-soiled.

This is the first, and presumably only, issue of a periodical and promotional for the Gay Task Force of Central California (GTFCC). All we know about the GTFCC is found in an article in this issue which was apparently reprinted from the September 1, 1977 issue of the Bay Area Reporter ("BAR"). The GTFCC was originally founded by Eladio "Lucky" Guerrero in 1976 as "The Gay Liaison Task Force of Santa Clara County." After functioning for a year as an adjunct of the Human Relations Commission of Santa (truncated) Clara County, it re-formed as this new entity in the hope of better "serv[ing] the needs of the gay community more effectively as a political association." That article also stated that The Avatar would grow to a sixty page magazine with a monthly press run of 10,000 copies. The printer of this issue, Ms. Atlas Press, was founded in 1975 by Johnie Staggs and Rosalie Nichols as a commercial printing operation and bookstore in San Jose. They also published a literary quarterly, Lesbian Voices, as well as a local LGBTQ+ paper, Lambda News.

The first page contains an editorial which described the purpose of the periodical:

"We are striving for a maximum of dialogue on every subject of interest to gays, with a minimum of 'editing.' We will no doubt be a 'controversial' publication—by design. We do not subscribe to the unity-at-any price theory that some 'gay leaders' have been selling so vigorously of late. The ideal of unity is certainly commendable, however, the reality of the 'unity' being peddled locally is a bullshit scam designed to silence any discussion of the rip-offs and schemes being perpetrated by the unity-peddlers themselves! It's about time someone rattled their cage."

Some of the articles include one on the organization "Parents of Gays and Lesbians," another on the formation of the Gay Rights Chapter of the ACLU; a call for a gay tax protest and more. The last page also has a membership form for the GTFCC.

This was Paul Mariah's copy, though it is not noted as such. OCLC locates five holdings.

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