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Outcast (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
' magazine in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It was launched as a non-profitmaking project by Chris Morris
Chris Morris (activist)
Chris Morris is an activist who, with Euan Sutherland, successfully challenged the British Government in the European Court of Human Rights and secured an equal age of consent for sexual activity between males...
in 1999.
Contributors included Mayor Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
, Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
, Foreign Office minister Ben Bradshaw
Ben Bradshaw
Benjamin Peter James Bradshaw is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Exeter since 1997, and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport....
, Mark Simpson
Mark Simpson (journalist)
Mark Simpson is an English journalist, writer, and broadcaster specialising in pop culture, media, and masculinity. He has been described by one critic as "the skinhead Oscar Wilde" Simpson is a frequent commentator on British television shows....
, John Hein, David Borrow
David Borrow
David Stanley Borrow is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for South Ribble from 1997 to 2010.-Education:...
and Peter Tatchell
Peter Tatchell
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British political campaigner best known for his work with LGBT social movements...
(amongst many others).
Taking on the gay establishment
The magazine lampooned the 'softly softly' approach of StonewallStonewall (UK)
Stonewall is a lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity in the United Kingdom named after the Stonewall Inn of Stonewall riots fame. Now the largest gay equality organization not only in the UK but in Europe, it was formed in 1989 by political activists and others lobbying against section 28 of the...
and ran a series of exposés about the business dealings of London Mardi Gras (formerly Gay Pride
Gay pride
LGBT pride or gay pride is the concept that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people should be proud of their sexual orientation and gender identity...
).
In June 2000, it ran its most controversial article, accusing the owners of a rival magazine, The Pink Paper, of running a corrupt HIV charity.
It told the story of how David Bridle and Kelvin Sollis set up Positive Lives
Positive Lives
Positive Lives was a HIV charity set up by two well-known gay businessmen, David Bridle and Kelvin Sollis, and three other trustees, William Curry, Simon Brycesson and Glyn Maddocks, in 1996....
"to educate and support gay men living with HIV". Their stated aims were to run a helpline, produce information videos, provide housing and promote safer sex. In reality, Outcast claimed the charity had "done no charitable work whatsoever" and alleged that all the money raised by the charity had "mysteriously disappeared".
Bridle and Sollis threatened to sue the magazine, its printer, its website host and others. Libel expert David Price acted for Outcast pro bono
Pro bono
Pro bono publico is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service. It is common in the legal profession and is increasingly seen in marketing, technology, and strategy consulting firms...
and successfully defended the magazine from all claims.
The Charity Commission
Charity Commission
The Charity Commission for England and Wales is the non-ministerial government department that regulates registered charities in England and Wales....
investigated the allegations made in the article and concluded:
- The Commission found little evidence that any charitable activity had ever been undertaken by Positive Lives
- The accounts produced for Positive Lives did not show a true and fair view of the charity’s activities
- The charity’s accounts suggest that [The Pink Paper] donated £55,300 to the charity but the reality is that little or no money changed hands
- The Commission found that the trustees of Positive Lives failed in even the most basic duties that would be expected of them
Positive Lives was shut down by the Commission. Bridle and Sollis sold The Pink Paper shortly after.
Other notable stories
In November 1999, Outcast published an article about Post-exposure prophylaxisPost-exposure prophylaxis
Post-exposure prophylaxis is any prophylactic treatment started immediately after exposure to a pathogen , in order to prevent infection by the pathogen and the development of disease.-Rabies:...
(PEP) entitled The Secret HIV Drugs. It condemned the government for offering PEP treatments to doctors and nurses exposed to HIV by needle accidents but not to rape victims or people who had unprotected sex. The article led to a Channel Four documentary. The Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust
Terrence Higgins Trust is a British charity that campaigns on various issues related to AIDS and HIV. In particular, the charity aims to reduce the spread of HIV and promote good sexual health ; to provide services on a national and local level to people with, affected by, or at risk of...
now runs adverts that encourage people to ask about PEP in these circumstances and the Department of Health has changed its guidelines as a result.
The magazine published a series of articles by openly gay foreign office minister Ben Bradshaw and his former advisor Philip Taylor, who believed the Labour government was not doing enough for gay rights. Entitled "Conversations", the two discussed gay rights from their different perspectives - inside and outside the government.
Political leaders such as London Mayor Ken Livingstone
Ken Livingstone
Kenneth Robert "Ken" Livingstone is an English politician who is currently a member of the centrist to centre-left Labour Party...
and Liberal Democratic Party leader Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....
also contributed articles.
Activists in Zimbabwe, Gibraltar, America and Iran shared stories about conditions around the world.
Campaigns
Outcast was the first gay magazine to get a press passPress pass
A press pass grants some type of special privilege to journalists. Some cards have recognized legal status; others merely indicate that the bearer is a practicing journalist...
to the British House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
and, in its typical irreverent style, it used the opportunity to have a 'queer picnic' in the press lobby and interview MPs on their views about gay rights.
It also organised debates, including the first gay rights meeting at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
. It sponsored community projects such as the Equality Alliance and produced a free newsletter, Queer Update, for activists.
It was instrumental in organising opposition to the commercialisation of London Mardi Gras.
Closure in 2001
Outcast published its last edition in October 2001, just 26 months after it was launched. In a closing statement on the magazine's website, Chris Morris wrote:- "Our articles poked fun at respected people, challenged long-established ideas and disproved widely-accepted 'facts' - not because these points were especially important in themselves but because they got people to think about queer things in new ways. Ideas come and go, but our beliefs about the bigger picture will always affect how we respond to new ideas in the future. I think Stonewall will be a very different organisation in a couple of years, I think the gay press will be different and I think London Mardi Gras will be a thing of the past. None of that will be down to Outcast directly, but we've done our bit. We've contributed to the debate, and the debate goes on."
Note
Outcast Magazine should not be confused with "The Outcast" magazine, a magazine that was established in 1998 and is dedicated to singlespeed mountain biking. Though the magazines shared the same name, and the mountain bike magazine appeared first, the editor of The Outcast, Chipps ChippendaleChipps Chippendale
Chipps Chippendale is a mountain biking journalist in the UK. After a stint as a bicycle messenger his journalistic career started in 1994 with UK magazine MTB Pro which he worked on for five years...
sent a letter of camaraderie to Outcast Magazine reflecting his view that both were suitably anti-establishment and anti-stereotype that they complemented each other. The Outcast (singlespeed magazine) is still in print.