Counterculture Publications
Interview excerpt with activist Lorraine Fontana, wherein she talks about her involvement with the counterculture newspaper The Great Speckled Bird and its inclusion of segments on LGBTQ+ events and issues. Copyright Georgia State University Library. Courtesy of Georgia State University. Special Collections, Great Speckled Bird Collection.
-
Volume 9, number 7 of The Great Speckled Bird from August 1976. The cover story concerns conflict after Mayor Maynard Jackson had proclaimed June 16th "Gay Pride Day"; in response, a group called "Citizens for Decent Atlanta" sought an injunction against the proclamation and paid over $6,000 for advertisements decrying the proclamation in mainstream newspapers. CDA organizers and funders included wealthy business owners and politicians who remained anonymous, although the Bird listed the names of those rumored to be involved.
Courtesy of Georgia State University. Special Collections, Great Speckled Bird Collection.
-
Volume 4, number 26 of The Great Speckled Bird from June 1971. The cover cartoon publicizes the upcoming march against gay oppression, the first Pride march in Atlanta's history, by illustrating "The Christopher Street Story" and the harassment faced by queer people in both New York and Atlanta.
Courtesy of Georgia State University. Special Collections, Great Speckled Bird Collection.
-
Issue 5 of Savannah's counterculture paper Albion's Voice c. 1970. The column "Gay Life" in this issue encourages queer readers to "not be left behind" in the sexual liberation movement, pointing to recent injustices in Savannah like the arrests of two drag queens, bombings of the gay bar The Basement, and instances of shootings, beatings, and muggings directed at gay men in the area near the bar.
Courtesy of Lane Library (Georgia Southern University, Armstrong Campus), Albion's Voice.
Before The Barb arrived on the scene as the earliest LGBTQ+-focused news publication, issues of gay liberation found expression in New Left counterculture newspapers that tackled social politics with a directness and action-oriented approach missing from mainstream newspapers. The Great Speckled Bird (1968-76) relied in its early years on support from outside Atlanta’s print and news networks: suggestions for names for the newspaper were taken at local head shops, and staff drove to a press in Montgomery, Alabama, to print the paper each week when no Georgia printers would produce it. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia stepped in on occasion to help the paper fight harassment and discriminatory treatment, like the arrests of hippies selling The Bird and the post office’s refusal to deliver the paper after it ran an advertisement for an abortion clinic. Among subjects like the Vietnam War draft, the civil rights movement, local action of the Black Panthers, and workers’ rights, The Bird published articles on sensuality as an alternative to heteronormative sexual expectations, anti-gay sentiments within leftist groups, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s refusal to print notices about Atlanta Lesbian Feminist Alliance meetings. To the south, Savannah’s counterculture paper Albion’s Voice was established in 1970 by a group of students at Armstrong State College. After producing their first issue, college administrators required that the paper be removed from campus, and production moved to English professor Jim Jones’s basement. Despite having an abbreviated career—funding only enabled the publication of six issues—Albion’s Voice shared The Bird’s willingness to point out corruption across institutions and cultural norms, commenting on environmental damage and the culture of “plantation society” that perpetuated racism in the city. In their fifth issue, as part of a call to fight for sexual freedom, the paper highlighted break-ins and bomb threats targeting the gay bar the Basement and attacks on patrons in the surrounding Madison Square as symptoms of a “cancer of hate and destruction spreading against Gay Life.” When the final issue was printed, looking hopefully towards more change in Savannah, whether the paper existed or not, Albion’s Voice reminded readers via a small hand-drawn advertisement for the Gay Liberation Front to “unite to fight oppression.”