Do you believe Barack Obama will show support towards the GLBT community?

Gay fiction never existed as a distinct genre until the 1970s, and any study of pre 70s gay culture through literature usually looks at the same handful of mainstream novels with gay themes that had been published. Unfortunately, an entire body of literature, that of gay pulps, has been ignored. Gay pulps offer a fascinating glimpse into gay culture of the 1950s and 1960s, and although they might be viewed as stereotypical and negative, they are probably the largest body of overtly gay writings of the time and cannot be ignored. Gay exploitation titles first started appearing in the 1950s, taking advantage of growing postwar gay visibility. The number of pulps, including gay friendly titles, exploded in the 1960s for a variety of reasons.

. Besides the increasing visibility, the courts also played a major role in changing the style of pulps being written. While not the only case, Grove Press had been defending William S. Burrough's novel Naked Lunch against charges of obscenity since the early 60s, and when the Massachusetts Supreme Court declared it not obscene in 1966, a virtual deluge of pulps followed. How directly these two events are related could be debated, but this victory certainly was a signal that the times were more liberal and that writing that would have previously been considered obscene would not be considered such by the courts.

1969's Stonewall riots in New York City marked another milestone in gay culture that impacted gay pulps. These few years between Attorney General vs. A Book Named "Naked Lunch" and Stonewall were the watershed years in many respects. The doors had been opened, but every literary formula had not yet been exhausted. Stonewall began the process of removing many societal barriers for gays, but also ended up removing much of the character from 60s pulps. The taboo, shame and fear surrounding homosexuality created these pulps, as repression breeds rebelliousness. The strange titles that flourished in the 60s disappeared as gay fiction became mainstream and gay positive. With a few exceptions before this change like The Grove Press and publisher Greenberg, pulps were often the only mass market medium for any gay fiction. Because of the perceived negative images, stereotypes and changing attitudes towards sex (and of course mainstream gay publishing) the pulps were swept under the rug after Stonewall and became just another aspect of the sex industry.

The literature on gay pulps is scant, but several good books point in the right direction. Unlike straight and lesbian pulps, both of which appealed and still appeal to heterosexual readers and collectors, gay pulps were more limited in their appeal and are unexplored. Barbara Grier's The Lesbian in Literature (Naiad, 1981), is justly famous for being an early chronicle of lesbian novels, including hundreds of lesbian pulps. Gay pulps have had no chronicler, but coming closest is Ian Young's The Male Homosexual in Literature (Scarecrow, 1982). While it claims to omit pulps, many are actually included, including real names of authors when known. Unfortunately, its bibliographic format requires the user to know what they are looking for, as the pulps are not identified as such. The Secret Record, (William Morrow, 1976 reprinted by Masquerade 1992) a classic study of erotic writing by Michael Perkins, has an excellent, though cursory chapter on gay porn. Culture Clash (South End Press, 1984), Michael Bronski's book on "the gay sensibility" also includes a chapter on pornography, including pulps.

Gay pulps fall into three broad categories: exploitation novels, "sociological studies" and pornography, both hard- and soft-core. These divisions are arbitrary and indistinct, but for the sake of organization they will each be discussed separately. While the emphasis here is on the later works, a few words should be said about pre-1960s exploitation novels and other gay pulps, as they set the stage for the literal deluge of gay pulp fiction from 1966-69. Secondly, some 60s pulps were really no different from 50s exploitation novels in tone; they just had more sex.

While this is only a brief overview, it should point in some useful directions to the various publishers, genres, authors, and titles that make up the world of gay pulp fiction. Unfortunately, this is not definitive or complete--the information available is just too scant--but it is a representative sampling based on what I have seen, what seems to have been widely circulated and what can still be found in the dark corners of bookstores. Undoubtedly some publishers will be left out, but consider this study a work in progress