Gay Men's Press
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Gay Men's Press was a publisher of books based in London, United Kingdom. The company published from 1979 until 2006.[1]
Launched in 1979, the publisher was a welcome company for gay writers attempting to get published. The book business was unwelcoming to such writers, publishing only works of a homosexual nature where they were felt to have a literary provenance.[1] The company published the children's book Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin in 1983. The book prompted the introduction of the Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988[2], which forbade the "promotion" of homosexuality by local government, [3] after the Daily Mail, a tabloid newspaper, reported that a copy of the book was provided in the library of a school run by the left-wing, Labour-controlled Inner London Education Authority.
The company closed in 2006 due to dwindling sales caused in part by a lack of exposure in the big chain bookstores.[1]
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ a b c Smith, Rupert, "Swimming against the tide". The Guardian, Saturday April 29, 2006.
- ^ Lords Hansard text for 6 Dec 1999 (191206-10)
- ^ An article about Section 28 in The Times of May 29, 1988 [1] notes the then-current notoriety of the book.
