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Queensland's Queer Press
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 February 2016
Extract
Since the 1970s, there has been a strong and active gay and lesbian press in the southern parts of Australia. This press emerged later in Queensland than in the southern states but today it reaches many queer Queenslanders and performs a vital and multifaceted role. While this press provides essential representation and visibility for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) population of Queensland, it also embodies a number of tensions inherent in this community. This article charts the development and history of the print media run by and for the queer community of Queensland, particularly focusing on the two major GLBTIQ periodicals currently available in Queensland. These are Queensland Pride, published monthly, and Q News, published fortnightly. The article explores the conflicts that exist in that queer print media, arguing that Queensland's queer press has struggled to adequately represent what has become an increasingly multifarious and diverse GLBTIQ ‘community’.
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Notes
1 The term ‘queer’ has been used throughout this article as it is the inclusive term commonly used by Queensland GLTBIQ community newspapers to refer to GLTBIQ individuals and the GLTBIQ community. Furthermore, the use of the word ‘queer’ is a political act which aims to subvert its previously negative connotations. See Teresa de Laurentis, ‘Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities — an Introduction’, differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies 3(2) (1991): 296–316.Google Scholar
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