Forty-Six Years Later: Maine's Pioneering LGBTQ+ Publication Returns for One Final Issue

Portland, Maine — In the mid-1970s, a small group of volunteers in Portland did something that had never been done before in Maine: they created the state's first publication dedicated to queer culture and activism.

What began as the Maine Gay Task Force Newsletter in 1974 evolved into Mainely Gay magazine in 1977, serving as a vital communication hub for the state's LGBTQ+ community at a time when such visibility was rare and often dangerous. Though the magazine ceased publication in 1980, its legacy endured—and now, nearly five decades later, the original volunteers have reunited to produce one last commemorative issue.

"We always called it a collective organizer, because it informed people what was going on here and around the country," said Steve Bull, 78, of Kennebunkport, who was among the publication's earliest contributors. "I think it's important to bring this back because today's generation knows little about these newspapers."

The final edition features a color photograph on its cover, along with articles recounting the magazine's origins and reprinted pieces from the original publication. Among the historical content: a 1975 story about an arson attack that caused more than $40,000 in damage at the Stage Door, a gay bar in Wells, and a report about a picket line at an Ogunquit restaurant that was discriminating against LGBTQ+ customers.

The magazine's creation story itself reflects the courage of early activists. Bull, then a member of the Wilde-Stein Club at the University of Maine in Orono, had to come out to his parents so he could serve as a spokesperson for the group during its public fight for official student recognition—a battle that drew opposition from state lawmakers and put LGBTQ+ perspectives in mainstream newspapers.

The first Maine Gay Symposium, held on the Orono campus in 1974, drew approximately 300 participants from across the state and gave rise to the Maine Gay Task Force and its newsletter. Volunteers operated from an office on Middle Street in Portland's Old Port, painting the furniture pink and welcoming everyone who walked through the door.

Peter Prizer, another volunteer who now lives in Bisbee, Arizona, recalls one particularly memorable encounter from those early days.

"One day this guy came in and said, 'I just want to kiss another guy before I die,'" said Prizer, now 78. "He came right over to me at my desk and gave me this big wet kiss in front of everyone, and I thought that was really great. And then he left."

The original publications were assembled using a mimeograph machine, with pastel-colored pages stapled together beneath a professionally printed cover. Articles were typed, illustrated with simple black ink drawings. Funding came primarily through donations, including $1,000 specifically used to purchase a state-of-the-art IBM Selectric typewriter.

Susie Bock, director of the Jean Byers Sampson Center for Diversity in Maine at the University of Southern Maine, said the newsletter and magazine inspired others to launch their own LGBTQ+ focused publications.

"The first Maine Gay Task Force newsletters were distributed at gay bars and people said, 'This is great, we're sharing information' and other people started doing it," Bock explained. The Sampson Center now houses more than 40 Maine-based LGBTQ+ publications in its collection, along with personal letters and papers from activists involved in the movement.

Before the internet and social media, the newsletter helped create a statewide network connecting small, independent groups scattered across Maine. It published listings of protests, demonstrations, and events for a statewide audience, and exchanged subscriptions with queer publications from other regions so readers in Maine could follow national developments.

Copies of the final Mainely Gay issue will be distributed free of charge at the Pride Portland celebration in Deering Oaks on June 20. A panel discussion featuring Bull, Prizer, and other former volunteers is scheduled for June 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at USM's McGoldrick Center in Portland.

Prizer hopes the commemorative issue and its story of grassroots activism might motivate younger generations.

"I always think setting an example is the best way to get people to do things," he said. "So maybe people in their 20s and 30s will say, 'If these old geezers can get together and do something positive, we can too.'"