1980 · Raleigh, North Carolina
by Baxter, Jim
Raleigh, North Carolina: Bugle Publishing, Inc, 1980. Very good. 15" x 11½", folded at center. Newsprint. Most pp. 12, a few pp. 16-20. Publication sequence: Vol. 1, Nos. 1 (Oct 25 1979), 4 (Dec 6-19 1979), 5 (Dec 20 - Jan 9 1979), 6 (Jan 10-23 1980), 7 (Jan 24 - Feb 13 1980), 10 & 11 [one issue] (Mar 20 - Apr 9 1980), 12 (Apr 10- 23 1980), 14 (May 8-20 1980), 15 (May 21 - Jun 11 1980), 16 (Jun 12-26 1980), 17 (Jun 27 - Jul 9 1980). Generally very good: a few issues with light wear, toning and dust-soiling, predominantly at edges; a bit of scattered spotting and a few small stains.
This is a group of eleven rare early issues of The Front Page (TFP), known as "The News & Entertainment Paper for N.C.'s Gay Community." TFP was founded and produced for over 26 years by North Carolina native Jim Baxter.
Jim Baxter entered college in North Carolina in the early 1970s and volunteered for a monthly publication called the Greensboro Sun. In his words, "The Sun came along too late to be 'underground' and too early to be 'alternative.'" He wrote a column called "On Being Gay," which was "scandalous at the time, and helped with production." In 1979, Baxter started TFP, a free biweekly publication for the gay and lesbian community. He subscribed to a clipping service, receiving any story about homosexuality that appeared in any North Carolina newspaper, and would cull the newsworthy items down to 200 words or less, with attribution. Over the years, the regularly published TFP offered the North Carolina LGBTQ+ community a way to spread news, announce meetings and run personal ads. In 1984, the writer John Preston called TFP one of the "great bulletin boards of the gay world" with "marvelously inventive and creative advertisers" and a "great source of amusement and assignations." TFP published its final issue in May 2006 after a 26 year run, then merged with Q-Notes. Based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, Q-Notes is the largest print publication serving the LGBTQ+ community in the American Southeast.
On offer here are eleven of the scarce first 17 issues of TFP, spanning October 1979 to July 1980. The "Editor Emeritus" for each issue was listed as "Hildy Johnson," Baxter's clever tribute to the main "ace reporter" character of Broadway play (and 1931 film) The Front Page. That film was the inspiration for His Girl Friday, released in 1940, which used the exact same plot but switched Hildy's character from a gay man to a straight woman.
Each issue was filled to the brim with North Carolina and national news covering legal issues, acts of Congress, marches and protests, advancements (and regression) in civil rights. The paper also covered lifestyle, entertainment, sexuality and venereal disease. There were music and book reviews, social calendars, and a plethora of fantastic illustrated advertisements for local gay-friendly bars, clubs, churches, art galleries and bookstores. TFP ran small cartoons and photographic images revealing noteworthy players in the fight for gay rights such as Captain Robert Coronado, who was dishonorably discharged from the United States Air Force for "consensual sodomy with an Army enlisted man," and the North Carolina winner of the "Man of the Year" contest. There were reports connecting gay rights to immigration, the Holocaust and the press, as well as headlines covering a memorial held for Harvey Milk, actions of the National Gay Task Force, the "Christian right" and the "Morality" march on Washington. While most of the issues were printed and folded like a standard newspaper, four were printed to include a full-page illustrated ad on the rear cover, including two with photographic images of half-dressed men. The issues also ran directories of groups and services as well as classified ads.
A fantastic trove of news, activities and resources available to the North Carolina LGTBQ+ community. OCLC shows 19 institutions with holdings of The Front Page. Checking individual catalogs revealed that only five institutions have all of the first 17 issues (and at least three of these appear to be bound volumes). There is also one other institution with issue no. 7, one with no. 12, and two with nos. 14-17. (Inventory #: 7847)
This is a group of eleven rare early issues of The Front Page (TFP), known as "The News & Entertainment Paper for N.C.'s Gay Community." TFP was founded and produced for over 26 years by North Carolina native Jim Baxter.
Jim Baxter entered college in North Carolina in the early 1970s and volunteered for a monthly publication called the Greensboro Sun. In his words, "The Sun came along too late to be 'underground' and too early to be 'alternative.'" He wrote a column called "On Being Gay," which was "scandalous at the time, and helped with production." In 1979, Baxter started TFP, a free biweekly publication for the gay and lesbian community. He subscribed to a clipping service, receiving any story about homosexuality that appeared in any North Carolina newspaper, and would cull the newsworthy items down to 200 words or less, with attribution. Over the years, the regularly published TFP offered the North Carolina LGBTQ+ community a way to spread news, announce meetings and run personal ads. In 1984, the writer John Preston called TFP one of the "great bulletin boards of the gay world" with "marvelously inventive and creative advertisers" and a "great source of amusement and assignations." TFP published its final issue in May 2006 after a 26 year run, then merged with Q-Notes. Based out of Charlotte, North Carolina, Q-Notes is the largest print publication serving the LGBTQ+ community in the American Southeast.
On offer here are eleven of the scarce first 17 issues of TFP, spanning October 1979 to July 1980. The "Editor Emeritus" for each issue was listed as "Hildy Johnson," Baxter's clever tribute to the main "ace reporter" character of Broadway play (and 1931 film) The Front Page. That film was the inspiration for His Girl Friday, released in 1940, which used the exact same plot but switched Hildy's character from a gay man to a straight woman.
Each issue was filled to the brim with North Carolina and national news covering legal issues, acts of Congress, marches and protests, advancements (and regression) in civil rights. The paper also covered lifestyle, entertainment, sexuality and venereal disease. There were music and book reviews, social calendars, and a plethora of fantastic illustrated advertisements for local gay-friendly bars, clubs, churches, art galleries and bookstores. TFP ran small cartoons and photographic images revealing noteworthy players in the fight for gay rights such as Captain Robert Coronado, who was dishonorably discharged from the United States Air Force for "consensual sodomy with an Army enlisted man," and the North Carolina winner of the "Man of the Year" contest. There were reports connecting gay rights to immigration, the Holocaust and the press, as well as headlines covering a memorial held for Harvey Milk, actions of the National Gay Task Force, the "Christian right" and the "Morality" march on Washington. While most of the issues were printed and folded like a standard newspaper, four were printed to include a full-page illustrated ad on the rear cover, including two with photographic images of half-dressed men. The issues also ran directories of groups and services as well as classified ads.
A fantastic trove of news, activities and resources available to the North Carolina LGTBQ+ community. OCLC shows 19 institutions with holdings of The Front Page. Checking individual catalogs revealed that only five institutions have all of the first 17 issues (and at least three of these appear to be bound volumes). There is also one other institution with issue no. 7, one with no. 12, and two with nos. 14-17. (Inventory #: 7847)