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Bairn, Tracy. Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth ofLGBT Community Newspapers in America. Chicago: Prairie Avenue Productions/Windy City Media Group, 2012. 468 pp. $25.
Gay Press, Gay Power is the first major history of the United States lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) press since Rodger Streitmatters Unspeakable: The Rise of the Gay and Lesbian Press in America in 1995. So immediately, scholars, journalists, activists, and others interested in the United States LGBTQ news media should be thankful for whatever contribution this book makes to the literature. Second, the book covers a tremendous amount of ground both in terms of period, genre, geography, audience, and more.
It is divided into five main sections. The first section contains one chapter on how the mainstream news media have covered LGBT issues. It is updated from, but merely an outline when compared with, Edward Alwood's Straight News: Gays, Lesbians and News Media. There's a four-chapter general history of the LGBTQ press, including one on only Chicago, 1965-85. Chapters 6 to 23 are...