Talking to Rev. Grant Ford
about GayLife ...
The beginnings of GayLife ...
"I grew up in a small town in Oregon, then I came to the Chicago area in 1970, actually to Hammond, Ind. In 1974, I came to Gay Pride in Chicago, and I was totally overwhelmed, seeing that many gay people in that concentrated an area. There was a newspaper that pre-dated GayLife, it was called the Gay Crusader. It published periodically, which meant they did it by typewriter, justified it, reduced it, and when they had enough news ready to paste up, and they had enough money to do it, then they went to press. It was really a valiant effort, but it was primarily based on a gay activist's need to get the word out.
"I was a typesetter in Chicago at the time, so I called the Crusader and offered my services. I was a supervisor and I had all this typesetting equipment available, so I could have typeset their articles at night after work. My company, good Jewish firm that they were, didn't care. Well, I talked with Michael Bergeron, and he talked to Bill Kelley, and the report that came back to me was, 'We're not interested in doing that, but why don't you think about starting a newspaper, and if you start one and it succeeds, we can quit printing.' So about four months later I did just that.
"I thought, 'Well, why not, let's just try it.' Of course, we came out with our first issue, which I was able to typeset at work. In fact, the good folks who worked there helped me design the newspaper. They all got into it. All these wonderful middle-aged Jewish men and women hanging around saying, 'No, you've got to move this over here,' and, 'GayLife, what's GayLife, who's having a good time?' It was wonderful, they knew what it was and they didn't care.
"So we published the first issue and the first paid advertiser was Jim Gates from Little Jim's, and we needed a lawyer to incorporate and do all that stuff, so somebody recommended Paul Goldman. He said, 'Yes, I'll be your lawyer and you won't pay me anything, but I'll write a column every week. I want to write "The Law And Us,"' which I think he also wrote for the Gay Crusader. ... There were two ads in that first issue. We passed it out before Gay Pride, the picnic.
"I'd had experience with typesetting and working for a newspaper in Hammond ... . So the technical end of putting out a newspaper was a snap, even though we worked all night putting it together the day before going to press. I was working a full-time job, and everybody was volunteering. It was a labor of love."
Patrick Townson ...
"Patrick Townson was not a spectacular person, but he was the right person at the right time to catch his 15 minutes of glory. He had a little office on the south end of the Loop. It was one room with a divider, and he had a phone line, The Free Spirit ... something or other. You could call the phone line to find out what was going on.
"Well, he invited us to come into that office, knowing that if we combined our effort, we could be stronger for it. We came in, he got into financial trouble, we got him out of financial trouble, and we took over the phone line. We made it a part of our business. So our advertising salesperson sold time on the line, sponsorships, as well as ads in the newspaper. I believe that our only sales person at that time was Ralph Gernhardt, later of Gay Chicago. Although, he may have come along a few months after all this took place.
"The end of the Townson story is that at some point he got so difficult to work with, we said, 'Look, you can take the phoneline back and pay your own bills, or you're out.' So he was out."
GayLife v Gay Chicago ...
"You see, GayLife was every other week at the beginning, and then Gernhardt started Gay Chicago; he published on the opposite week, and that was wonderful. He published one week, we published the next. It was a nice little rivalry but still friendly. But he was engineering a little larceny in his heart, and all of a sudden Gay Chicago came out every week. What he didn't know was that we'd been socking money aside for the eventuality. I learned from the Israeli's, you put something aside in case you get attacked. So the next week we came out once a week, and about four weeks later, he went under.
"Then he came out with a map with advertising, which re-established him and that was when Gay Chicago came back as a bar magazine. And since the two of us were so different, there was not any real competition. ... We succeeded in staying friends through all of that."
Future historians take note: The memory section in this column contains just that—memories—and are only to be used as a starting point for your research. Send your stories to Sukie de la Croix at Windy City Times/ Outlines. He also interviews by phone or e.mail sukiedelacroix@iname.com
What a Difference a Gay Makes
The Gay/Lesbian Movement, 5, 10, 15 & 20 Years Ago
1995: 5 Years Ago
U.S.: k.d.lang on 'coming out,' tells The New York Times: "It's eliminated a lot of unspoken tension. It's really a fantastic feeling; I highly recommend it to anyone in my situation, to live the truth." * Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., changes his tune and now says it was wrong for his presidential campaign to return a $1,000 contribution from the gay Log Cabin Republicans. * In Rockford, Ill., a jury found Willette Benford guilty of first-degree murder. Benford, 30, was accused of running her car over her friend and former roommate, Patricia Phillips, 25, after a jealous quarrel over each other's dance partners. * All My Children launches a landmark storyline when Michael Delaney ( Chris Bruno ) , the heartthrob school-teacher, comes out as gay. * An editorial in The New York Times urges the Supreme Court to strike down an amendment to the Colorado Constitution repealing ordinances in three cities protecting gays against discrimination. * Do What I Say: Ms Behavior's Guide to Gay & Lesbian Etiquette by Meryl Cohn is in stores.
1990: 10 Years Ago
U.S.: The 9th Convention of PFLAG takes place in Garden Grove, Calif. * Lt. Orlando Gotay, 26, who was forced to resign from the U.S. Navy for being gay ( no evidence was found ) , is told he must repay the cost of his Annapolis training. * The Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation agrees to donate 20 percent of its annual gross revenues to the American Foundation for AIDS Research ( AmFar ) , an amount that could total as much as $3 million. * The Advocate changes its tag line from "The National Gay Newsmagazine" to "The National Gay and Lesbian Newsmagazine." t Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein dies in New York City aged 72.
1985: 15 Years Ago
U.S.: A California judge denies a motion to limit evidence in the suit of body guard/chauffeur/ partner Scott Thorsen against former employer Liberace. Thorsen is trying to prove that the entertainer reneged on a lifetime contract to provide services. * An undercover police officer who voluntarily told his chief he was gay is fired, and subsequently files suit in federal court challenging Arizona's sodomy law. Rand "Steve" Horn received a Bronze Star for heroism as a Marine in the Vietnam War. * The faculty of Stanford Law School votes to ban employers who discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation from interviewing through the school's services [ CIA and the armed forces included ] . * Singapore: The Billy Boys of Bugis Street are looking for a new area to parade before Singapore tourists, as the bulldozers demolish what once was a nighttime spot for transvestites. * Australia: The army purchases 54,000 condoms; Sen. Gareth Evans says: " ... while the practice of placing condoms over rifle barrels is not formally recommended ... it is understood to be an effective means of waterproofing."
1980: 20 Years Ago
U.S.: Lavender Horizons in Marblehead, Mass., makes available "Women-Loving-Women," a 25-minute film which explores popular misconceptions about lesbians.
