''Capital Gay'' was a weekly free

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

published in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

founded by Graham McKerrow and Michael Mason. The first issue was published on 26 June 1981, during Pride Week, and folded with the issue dated 30 June 1995. Despite its name it was also distributed in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and had a combined circulation, in the two cities, of around 20,000 at the time when publication ceased. McKerrow and Mason met while working at ''

Gay News ''Gay News'' was a fortnightly newspaper in the United Kingdom founded in June 1972 in a collaboration between former members of the Gay Liberation Front and members of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). At the newspaper's height, circul ...

'' and designed ''Capital Gay'' as a complementary publication. ''Capital Gay'' had a shorter production time, 24 hours, and came out more frequently, every week, compared with ''Gay News'' which was fortnightly. The aim was to provide a news service for London and Brighton particularly for users of the growing commercial lesbian and gay scene and to provide a link between the political movement and the commercial scene and facilitate swifter political responses by the LGBT movement than had previously been possible. The news pages covered politics and non-political news while regular contributors provided comment and analysis. ''Capital Gay'' sponsored the

London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard Switchboard is the second-oldest LGBT+ telephone helpline in the United Kingdom, launched the day after Edinburgh Befrienders (later known as Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard). Switchboard was launched in March 1974 as the London Lesbian a ...

and involved itself in events in the wider gay community in London; its editorial line tended to be strong. It is credited by the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

'' with being the first publication in the world to use the term

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

, (the second being the international science journal ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

''), with the first regular column on

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

in the world being written in ''Capital Gay'' by Julian Meldrum in 1984. For some years, with no reliable information on the threat of AIDS publicly available in the medical or national press, ''Capital Gay'' widened its distribution to cover cities with large gay populations including Manchester and Brighton. Copies were sent by rail and distributed to local clubs, bars and hotels by volunteers. During the controversy over

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

in December 1987, the paper's offices were targeted in an

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

attack. After being accused by Labour MP Tony Banks of legitimising the incident,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Dame

Elaine Kellett-Bowman Dame Mary Elaine Kellett-Bowman, DBE (née Kay; 8 July 1923 – 4 March 2014) was a British Conservative Party politician, serving as Member of Parliament ( MP) for the constituency of Lancaster for 27 years from 1970 to 1997. Life and care ...

was quoted in ''

Hansard ''Hansard'' is the traditional name of the transcripts of parliamentary debates in Britain and many Commonwealth countries. It is named after Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer and publisher, who was the first official print ...

'' as saying: "I am quite prepared to affirm that it is quite right that there should be an intolerance of evil."Andrew Pierc
"Cheers ring out as David Cameron lays Tory history of homophobia to rest"
, ''Daily Telegraph'', 2 July 2009

Editors

* Graham McKerrow * Michael Mason * Gillian Rodgerson *

Simon Edge Simon John Edge (born 25 December 1964 in Chester, England) is a British novelist and journalist. Educated at the King's School, Chester, he went on to receive a master's degree in Philosophy from St Catharine's College, Cambridge and has a ma ...

References

{{Newspapers in London 1981 establishments in England Buildings and structures in the United Kingdom destroyed by arson Defunct newspapers published in the United Kingdom LGBT culture in London LGBT-related newspapers published in the United Kingdom London newspapers Newspapers established in 1981 Publications disestablished in 1995