In the spirit of LGBT history month, your dedicated editors did a hunt through the Google archives in pursuit of breakthrough magazine covers.
Pioneer print pubs like ONE, The Ladder, and HIM led us down a rabbit hole of early issues of LGBT periodicals.
Here are some of the most intriguing ones we came across from the 1950s to today.
ONE magazine, 1953
Two Magazine, 1964
Two Magazine, 1966
First Issue of HIM Exclusive (now Gay Times), 1974
First issue of Metrosource Magazine, 1990
K.D. Lang in The Advocate, 1992
Out Magazine Issue No. 1, 1992
Interior designer Ty Ross (grandson of former U.S. Barry Goldwater) on the cover of the first POZ Magazine cover, 1994
MLB player Billy Bean, Advocate magazine, 1999
DNA Magazine, 2000
Passport Magazine first issue, 2001
Frank Ocean, The Advocate, 2012
Michael Sam, OUT AFRICA MAGAZINE, 2014
Barack Obama, OUT Magazine, 2015
Aydian Dowling, GT Magazine, 2016
Prince William on the cover of the UK’s attitude Magazine, 2016
Tobi
HIM is the odd one out, it showed full frontal nudity from issue #1.
Sluggo2007
My! My! My! We sure have come a long way!
silveroracle
The guy sat on the log on the issue of Two magazine is absolutely stunning.
BitterOldQueen
This is a very cool piece; thank you, dedicated editors!
ingyaom
Love it… wish we could read the articles (and see the pictures).
jake_hook
Would have been good to see THEGAYUK’s cover with Britain’s first muslim drag queen… The first ever cover to feature an openly gay muslim (and drag queen) on the cover a national mag. https://issuu.com/thegayuk/docs/issue_16_asifa_lahore_final_lq
Mikah92
Very interesting. I’ve been doing a LOT of reading about LGBT history lately.More than I ever have before.I want us young Gay/Bi men to learn more about our history.
It’s a shame how LGBT history and the many contributions from Gay people throughout history is sort of ignored in this country. It’s not taught in most schools like black history for example.
1EqualityUSA
They’ll skip gay history, as some hotels skip the 13th floor.