User:BlueRoses30/sandbox

...from 1973 to 1999. The paper published once per week from June 1973 to July 1992, when it temporarily ceased publication, then continued to publish sporadically until its last issue in 1999.

Office Fire
In the early morning of July 7, 1982, a fire broke out at the paper's office at 22 Bromfield Street. The entire office was destroyed, along with that of Fag Rag, another publication to whom GCN subletted part of their office. Glad Day Bookshop, a bookstore across the hall, was spared from significant damage. Both publications were forced out of the Bromfield Street office; GCN moved to 167 Tremont Street until 1992 when it temporarily ceased publication.

The Boston Fire Department Arson Squad investigated the incident, and many staff members of the paper believed the fire to be arson, but it is unclear what the results of the investigation were and the cause of the fire remains unknown. As a result of the fire, much documentation from the paper’s first ten years was lost.

Paper Organization
Gay Community News was established and operated as a collective. At first, most major decisions were made by votes of the entire membership, though by 1978 it had moved to a committee structure for things like hiring new editors. “Membership” was defined very broadly, and local readers and members of the queer community were encouraged to assist in the paper’s production. For example, every Friday evening, volunteers known as “Friday folders” would come to the GCN offices to assist in stuffing the papers into envelopes to be mailed to subscribers.

GCN was primarily funded through subscriptions and through advertising from local queer businesses. Unlike most others in its genre, the paper did not solicit advertisements from gay bars, which was a popular source of revenue for queer newspapers at the time. In another anomaly for its genre, GCN employed and wrote for an audience of both gay men and lesbians. During this time, most queer publications either focused on one group or the other, but GCN was one of a few exceptions along with Toronto’s The Body Politic.