LESBIAN CONNECTION

Lesbian Connection is the longest-running lesbian publication in the United States. Launched in October 1974 by the Ambitious Amazons, a Lansing, Michigan, collective, the magazine was designed to create grassroots networks and to provide a forum for all lesbians.

Editorial contributions are solicited and welcomed from all lesbians, and the magazine is written in great part by its readers. In Lesbian Connection's premiere issue, the collective's members urged readers to contribute to future issues. They requested event announcements, letters, and personal reactions, and they solicited any and all items that might be of interest to lesbians (excluding literary contributions such as poetry and short stories).

Its founders conceived of Lesbian Connection as a national clearinghouse of information and ideas, and themselves as caretakers of that information, rather than as editors or publishers who might speak with a single editorial voice. Instead, they encouraged the inclusion of a wide variety of voices, drawn from their readers.

Humble Beginnings

The magazine began as a mimeographed, ten-page publication in an 81/2-by-11 single-staple format. Its original print run was four hundred, and its budget $110. It was free of charge and distributed by mail to individuals and organizations throughout the country. To keep costs down, the Ambitious Amazon collective urged groups that received issues to reproduce and distribute them to lesbians on their own mailing lists.

The collective's members also tried to stretch dollars as much as possible, attempting, for instance, to make a one-thousand-copy mimeograph master last for three thousand copies. During the first several years, the collective held fundraisers and sponsored lesbian potluck dinners and dances to raise operating funds.

Lesbian Connection, also known as LC or Elsie, was a success from its first issue. In the two months between the printing of the first and second volumes, circulation tripled to 1,200. By 2003 the collective was printing twenty-five thousand copies of every issue, and the cost of producing and mailing a single twenty-eight-page issue had risen to $70,000.

With success came the challenges of producing an ever-larger magazine and maintaining an ever-changing mailing list. For nearly ten years, the staff worked with only a donated typewriter, until a special fund drive raised enough money to buy two computers. For several years, collective members trained themselves to do the printing in-house on a donated (but ancient) offset printing press. Lesbian Connection was produced completely by volunteer labor for its first seven years. In 1981 the collective began to pay a handful of workers to help produce it, while others continued to donate their time.

Founded on Feminist Principles

Lesbian Connection was launched at a time when lesbian feminist activism was emerging, and both the gay and lesbian and feminist movements were beginning to find greater voice. The first Ms. Magazine had been published in 1973, a year earlier, marking a new direction for feminism in periodical publications. Lesbian Connection joined other 1970s lesbian publications such as Lavender Woman, The Furies, Amazon Quarterly, Lesbian Tide, and Sinister Wisdom in creating a means for building networks and a safe place for lesbians to learn about themselves and their communities.

From the beginning, the Ambitious Amazons collective insisted on adhering to lesbian feminist principles in the creation and production of its magazine. Members were committed to the magazine's being inclusive in its content and to providing an open forum for all lesbian experience. Reader submissions are edited only for clarity and length, and the sole restriction on content is that it be lesbian-positive. When members of the previously all-volunteer staff began receiving a salary in 1981, all workers were paid the same wage, whether they were responsible for filing, typing, editing, printing, or distributing. Each was considered equally valuable to the production of the magazine.

The magazine has also been egalitarian in its out-reach. It has been "free to lesbians" since its first volume. By 2003 the suggested annual donation was $27 ("more if you can, less if you can't"), but no one is required to pay. Adhering to the "pay if you can" principle, the publishers have emphasized in every issue that the subscription price is a voluntary contribution.

Reader-Created Content

The lesbian feminist principles of its founders is what drove the decision to have the magazine written primarily by its readers. In the Ambitious Amazons' view, all women are experts at their own lives, and their individual expertise can be shared to create a greater good for all lesbians.

Lesbian Connection prints information about music festivals, conferences, and cultural events, as well as reader reviews of books, music, films, and television shows. The magazine also runs reader-written articles about issues and problems of concern to its audience. Over the years, the magazine has published numerous articles addressing health issues, alcoholism, lesbian parenting. child custody, legal problems, and many other relevant topics.

After receiving a great number of submissions concerning lesbians in the military, the magazine launched a regular section entitled "Uncle Sam Doesn't Want You." Another regular section, called "How To," prints reader-written articles explaining how to do nearly anything, from caulking a bathtub to artificially inseminating.

Lesbian Connection also strives to build national and international lesbian networks through its "Contact Dykes" section, which lists lesbian-friendly establishments such as restaurants and hotels, as well as the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of women who are willing to help other lesbians traveling in their area.

Lasting Impact

Since its inception, the magazine has aimed not to turn a profit, but to reach out to a wide variety of lesbians and provide them with information that can improve their lives. For longer than any other national publication, Lesbian Connection has nurtured a grassroots network that has allowed lesbians from around the world to communicate and connect, and throughout its history, the magazine has provided a lifeline to women who are isolated from lesbian communities.

Lesbian Connection is a continuing example of lesbian feminist principles in action. From its egalitarian treatment of its staff to its insistence on allowing readers to control its content, the magazine's success has demonstrated that publications founded on principle can coexist with slick for-profit magazines—and even thrive.

Bibliography

Gross, Larry P., and James D. Woods, eds. Columbia Reader on Lesbians and Gay Men in Media, Society, and Politics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999.

National Museum & Archives of Lesbian and Gay History. The Lesbian Almanac. New York: Berkley Books, 1996.

Streitmatter, Rodger. Unspeakable: The Rise of the Gay and Lesbian Press in America. Boston: Faber and Faber, 1995.

Jane R. Ballinger