Christopher Street Magazine, a Monthly Literary Magazine for the Gay Community, 1977-80 Archive

Christopher Street Archive

Periodical

[LGBTQ]Christopher Street magazine archive of five issues, 1977 to 1980, documenting the attempt to build a monthly gay literary and political magazine in New York during the decade after Stonewall. Founded in 1976 by Charles Ortleb and Michael Denneny and issued by That New Magazine Inc., Christopher Street presented fiction, essays, interviews, reviews, satire, cartoons, and cultural reporting as material for a gay readership that wanted a magazine closer to The New Yorker than to a movement bulletin. The five issues here span the magazine’s first year, with covers and features on Christopher Isherwood, William Burroughs, Ned Rorem, Allen Ginsberg, Gloria Steinem, gay television, San Francisco’s parade, and the cultural visibility of gay men and lesbians in American media.

Christopher Street. New York: That New Magazine Inc., 1977 to 1980. Seven issues, each approximately 8.5 x 11 inches and about 64 pages.

[1] Ortleb, Charles, ed. Christopher Street. May 1977. New York: That New Magazine Inc., 1977. Purple cover headed “Ned Rorem” and “Allen Ginsberg,” with “Excerpts from the Latest Diaries,” an interview with C. A. Tripp, “No Trouble at Sarah Lawrence,” book coverage of Edith Sitwell, The Case of the Gay Twins, John Cheever’s Falconer, and a profile of a women’s record company.

[2] Ortleb, Charles, ed. Christopher Street. April 1979. New York: That New Magazine Inc., 1979. Cover portrait of “Manuel Pug” with the line “Discusses Homosexuality, Sexual Politics in South America and His Provocative New Novel,” plus photographers “Arthur Tress: Photo Gallery of Couples,” “Thomas Eakins and The Enigma of His Nudes,” and a special focus on article “Travels in Gay America: Ed White in Salt Lake City”

[3] Ortleb, Charles, ed. Christopher Street. August 1979. New York: That New Magazine Inc., 1979. “Our Third Anniversary Issue,” with Joan Baez on the cover and the lines “Joan Baez answers the questions you’ve always wanted to ask,” “Crisis and Confrontation in Key West,” and “Seymour Kleinberg's Major New Essay on Passing.”

[4] Ortleb, Charles, ed. Christopher Street. October / November 1979. New York: That New Magazine Inc., 1979. Green cover headed “TRUE OR FALSE: Investigates why straight women and gay men are naturally drawn to each other and why straight men and lesbians are secretly afraid of each other,” and “Special Report on Lesbian Athletes.”

[5] Ortleb, Charles, ed. Christopher Street. September 1980. New York: That New Magazine Inc., 1980. Cover with two figurines of men outdoors under a star patterned sky, with cover lines for “New Fiction by Andrew Holleran,” “The Amoeba Report by Tim Dlugos,” “What Is Gay Limerence?,” “Dr. John Money Talks About Love & Lovesickness With Lawrence Mass."

This collection provides an in-depth look at the LGBTQ+ literary and political landscape of the late 1970s, documenting pivotal discussions on identity, activism, and creative expression. The magazines remain an essential primary source for understanding the evolving representation of LGBTQ+ lives in media and literature. Minor wear to covers. Some minor rippling to interior of August 1977 issue. Overall very good condition.

Item #23544

Price: $280.00