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Finding aid of the Gay Sunshine records, 1955-2005, bulk 1970-2005 Coll2011.011
Coll2011.011  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Separated Materials
  • Deaccessioned Materials
  • History
  • Access
  • Publication Rights
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Arrangement
  • Scope and Contents
  • Processing Information

  • Title: Gay Sunshine records
    Identifier/Call Number: Coll2011.011
    Contributing Institution: ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 57.7 linear feet. 18 record boxes, 52 archive cartons, 9 clamshell photograph binders, 8 flat boxes, 1 map-case drawer
    Date (bulk): Bulk, 1970-2005
    Date (inclusive): 1955-2005
    Abstract: The records, 1955-2005, comprise the publications, editorial records, audio-visual materials, and administrative and personal records collected, used and/or created by Winston Leyland as the publisher of Gay Sunshine Journal, Gay Sunshine Press, and Leyland Publications, 1970-2005. The records include the works, interviews, and/or correspondence of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, John Giorno, Lou Harrison, Christopher Isherwood, Taylor Mead, John Rechy, Ned Rorem, Samuel Steward, Gore Vidal, and Tennessee Williams among others.
    creator: Gay Sunshine Press.
    creator: Leyland Publications.
    creator: Leyland, Winston, 1940-

    Separated Materials

    Publications annotated by Winston Leyland, autographed to Winston Leyland, or essential for archival context have been maintained in the collection. The following publications did not fall into these categories and have been separated from the collection, but they may still be accessed in the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives periodical and book collections.
    Separated serial publications
    Agape and Action, volumes 1-7 (1970-1971).
    All Hands Abandon Ship!, volume 3, issue 4 (September 1972).
    Another Voice, issue 29 (November 5, 1989).
    B.A.R. Bay Area Reporter, volume 1, numbers 7, 8, 10 (1971); Arts & Entertainment section, volume 32, number 1 (2002).
    Bay Times, volume 18, number 7 (1996); volume 22, number 32 (2001); volume 23, number 9 (2002).
    Berkeley Tribe, volume 2, number 24, issue 50 (June 19-26, 1970).
    Body Politic, numbers 1-7 (1971-1973).
    Boulder Gay Record, volume 1, issues 2, 4, 111 (1973-1974).
    Bread Box, numbers 1-4 (1971).
    Christopher Street, volume 1, number 9 (1977); volume 6, number 3, issue 63 (1982).
    Christopher Street - West Newsletter, issue 1.
    Chicago Gay Alliance Newsletter, volume 1, number 6 (April 1971).
    Chicago Gay Liberation Newsletter, number 7 (August 1970).
    Chicago Gay Pride, June 1971.
    City of San Francisco, September 16, 1975.
    Come out!, volume 1, number 5 (1970); volume 2, issue 8 (1972).
    Come out Fighting, numbers 5, 7, 12/13.
    Committee for Homosexual Freedom Newsletter, July 31, August 25, October 16 and 29, 1969.
    Community, volume 1, numbers 1, 6 (1972-1973).
    Cosmep Newsletter [no date or issue given].
    Double-F, number 1 (Summer 1972), number 2 (Winter/Spring 1973).
    Effeminist, numbers 1-2 (1971).
    Fag Rag, issues 1-44 (1971-1987).
    Faggot [no date or issue given].
    Faggotry, 1972.
    Faggots and Faggotry, numbers 1, 2, 3, special issue, and "Ain't It the Truth" supplement (1971-1974).
    Faggots and the Revolution [no date or issue given].
    Flaming Faggot. "Reconciliation." Winter solstice (2003).
    Forum: Homosexualitat und Literatur, issue 38 (2001).
    Free Particle: A Journal of Crafts, Sciences and Arts by and for Homosexuals, 1970.
    Frontiers (San Francisco), volume 20, issues 18, 22 (2002).
    Furies, volume 1, issues 6, 7 (1972).
    Gay Activist, volume 1, numbers 1-11 (1971-1972); October, November 1973.
    Gay Alternative, number 2 (1973).
    Gay Anarchist, number 1.
    Gay Bar Newsletter, volume 1, number 2.
    Gay Canadian, volume 1, number 1 (September 7, 1972).
    Gay Digest, volume 1, issue 1 (June 4, 1971).
    Gay Flames, issues 1-6, 10, 11 (1970-1971).
    Gay International News, issues 2-4 (1972).
    Gay Flames Pamphlet, numbers 1-13.
    Gay Journal, volume 1, issue 1 (1970).
    Gay Liberation Press, numbers 1-3 (1974).
    Gay Men's Health Report, volume 1, number 1 (1971).
    Gay Post, numbers 1-9.
    Gay Rays [no date or issue given].
    Gay Sparks, volume 1, number 1 (1975).
    Gay Students Union, volume 2, number 2 (November 27, 1970).
    Gayly Oklahoman, volume 21, issue 12 (June 15, 2003).
    Gayly Planet, 1974.
    HI!, [January?], April-May 1971; numbers 4, 5 (1971-1972).
    his. Fall special (1999).
    Home Cooking, issues 13-15, 17-19 (1973).
    Homex, issue 1 (August 1981).
    Honcho, July 1991.
    Iconoclast Comes Out, volume 1, number 31 (August).
    IIAPTHEP (IIIa!), numbers 3, 5.
    Integer, Newsletter of Integrity/Chicago, issue 47 (September 26, 1983).
    Interchange, volume 2, issue 1 (Fall 1974).
    James White Review: A Gay Men's Literary Quarterly, volume 8, issues 2, 4 (1991); volume 12, issues 1, 2, 3 (1995); volume 13, issues 1, 3, 4 (1996).
    Jocks, number 1 (1978).
    Killer Dyke, volume 1, numbers 1, 2 (1971); volume 2, number 1 (1972).
    Lavendar Starship, May 10, 1972.
    Lavendar Vision, volume 1, numbers 1, 2 (1971).
    Light of Understanding, volume 5, number 62 (November 1971).
    Los Angeles Free Press, gay liberation supplement, section 2. August 14, 1970.
    Magnus: A Socialist Journal of Gay Liberation, number 2 (Summer 1977).
    Manifest Destiny, numbers 1, 2, 3 (1973).
    Mother, volume 1, number 2 (July 1971).
    Northwest Faggotry Newsletter, numbers 1, 2 (1975).
    Oklahoma Gaily, volume 1, number 4; volume 2, numbers 1, 2; February 24, March 9, 30, 1972.
    ONE IGLA Bulletin, number 5 (Summer 1998).
    Playguy, volume 7, number 7 (1983).
    PFLAGpole, Spring 2001.
    Queen's Quarterly, Fall 1969.
    Reach, volume 2, number 5 (February 1970).
    RFD, issues 1-10, 12-18, 20-65, 67-68, 70, 78-79, 81-82, 84, 88, 92 (1974-1997).
    Rough Times, volume 3, number 3 (1972).
    S.T.H. Chap-Books: The New York Review of Cocksucking, number 49.
    San Francisco Free Press, volume 1, numbers 2-5, 7-9 (1969-1970).
    San Francisco Spectrum, volume 5, number 1 (January 15 - February 15, 2002).
    Seattle Gay Liberation Front Newsletter, volume 1, number 3 (July 24, 1970).
    Second Wave, volume 1, number 3 (1971).
    SD Newsletter, issues 11, 13, 14, 17 (1978-1979).
    Spectre, issues 1, 2 (March-April and May-June 1971).
    Straightqueer, numbers 1, 2 (November-December 1971 and March 1972).
    Tangents, volume 3, numbers 2, 3, 4 (November, December, January, 1968/1969).
    Upfront, newsletter, number 3 (September 18, 1971).
    Vector, volume 5, number 4 (March 1969).
    Voice of the Gay Students Coalition, volume 1, number 2 (May 16, 1974); number 3 (April 18, 1975).
    White Crane, number 36 (Spring 1998).
    XY Magazine, number 29 (February 2001).
    Separated comic books
    Barnes, David. Malebox Presents The Erotic Adventures of Raheem, number 1 (August 1996).
    Belasco. Confessions, book 2; Enter Lewd, book 3.
    Blackburn, John. Coley on the Loose in the Caribbean. 1989.
    Coney, Malachy, Paul J. Holden. Holy Cross, issue 3. Fantagraphics Books: Seattle, March 1995.
    Gay Comix, numbers 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12. Kitchen Sing Enterprises: Princeton, WI, 1980-1988.
    Gay Hearthrobs, volume 1, number 1. Fulhorne Productions: San Francisco, 1976.
    Hachtman, Tom. Fun City: Gertrude's Follies Comes to Town. 1985.
    Hachtman, Tom. Gertrude's Follies. 1980.
    Knoig, Ralf. Dicke Dodel 1: Bullenkloten! 1992.
    Morris, J.B., Jr. Stroke Comics Presents the Erotic Adventures of Jason. "Deadline:... A Visit with Ace Moorcock." 1984.
    Tom of Finland. Kake, issues 7, 10, 15, 26.
    Ward, Bill. The Adventures of Drum.
    Ward, Bill. Drummer Presents the Erotic Art of Bill Ward.
    Separated books
    Calva, Jose Rafael. Utopia Gay. Editorial Oasis: Mexico, 1983.
    Maugham, Robin. The Black Tent and Other Stories. W.H. Allen: London and New York, 1973.
    Tai Guys Tales, special publication of Thai Guys magazine. Matt Productions Company, Ltd., Thailand, 2002.
    Young, Allen. Allen Ginsberg Gay Sunshine Interview with Allen Young. Grey Fox Press: Bolinas, 1973, 1974. (signed by Allen Ginsberg)
    Separated materials, assorted
    "Appeal to the Second International Congress for Sexual Reform for the benefit of an oppressed variety of human being (Copenhagen 1928) by Kurt Hiller." Gay Liberation Series. The Red Butterfly: New York, 1990.
    Books Bohemian catalogue #55, August 2003.
    Communiversity spring catalog. San Francisco State College: 1972.
    "A Compendium of Opinions of Churchmen and Church Organizations." The Council on Religion and the Homosexual: San Francisco, 1967. (pamphlet)
    "Gay Liberation." The Red Butterfly: New York, 1970. (pamphlet)
    "Gay Oppression: A Radical Analysis." The Red Butterfly: New York, 1970. (pamphlet)
    International Guild Guide '69. Guild Press, Ltd., Washington D.C., 1969.
    Manor by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs. Translated by Michael Lombardi, copyright 1980, and Paul Nash, copyright 1982, of ISHR. Urania Manuscripts.
    National Queer Arts Festival, Fifth Anniversary, June-July 2002.
    Pinney, Morgan. Gay Liberation: A Movement without a Model. (unpublished report)
    "Public Referral Directory." PFLAG. Washington D.C., Fall 1999. (pamphlet)
    Thorp., Charles P. "What it's like to be a teenage homosexual." The Prosperos: 1969. (pamphlet)
    Tom of Finland calendar, 1984.
    Miscellaneous mass mailings from gay organizations or on gay topics have been integrated into the ONE Archives subject files.

    Deaccessioned Materials

    Except for signed copies of books, a maximum of two copies of any item have been retained. Returned envelops from Gay Sunshine mass mailings, mass mailings received by Gay Sunshine Press (non-gay), and personal financial records of Winston Leyland (bank statements, voided checks, etc.) have been removed from the collection.
    The following documents contained limited contextual value to the collection and have been removed.
    California Arts Council: organizational support program for mid-size and large organizations. Blank application. 1989.
    California Arts Council: organizational grants program artistic and administrative development. Blank application. 1987-1988.
    CIP Publishers Manual. Library of Congress, Cataloging in Publication Division, Washington D.C., 1994.
    Library of Congress informational pamphlets and blank forms.

    History

    Winston Leyland
    Winston Leyland, editor, anthologist and publisher of Gay Sunshine Journal, Gay Sunshine Press and Leyland Publications, was born in 1940 in Lancashire, England. In 1952 his family moved to Rhode Island where Leyland attended high school and two years of college before entering the Milton, Massachusetts, seminary of the Society of Saint Columban. After ordination in 1966 he was assigned, at his request, to study toward a master’s degree in medieval history at the University of California, Los Angeles. After speaking out against the Vietnam War in a Los Angeles parish, he received an order of house arrest. This incident, combined with a growing sense of his gay identity, gave him the impetus to leave the church in 1968.
    Beginning in early 1969 Leyland joined the Los Angeles Times where he worked almost two years as a proofreader. Leyland moved to Berkeley in the fall of 1970 and became involved with the newly formed tabloid gay liberation paper Gay Sunshine Journal.
    Gay Sunshine Journal
    Gay Sunshine Journal went through three stages during its publication lifetime. During the first period (1970) the paper was published by an independent collective affiliated loosely with the Berkeley Gay Liberation Front (GLF). The title of the paper reflects in part the fact that “sunshine” was a counter-culture slang word for acid (LSD) as well as the general implications of light: the dawn of gay liberation. These early post-Stonewall issues of Gay Sunshine Journal are filled with much local and national news of demonstrations and other gay liberation activities. The report on the San Francisco gay liberation demonstration of 1970 at the Stud bar, Gary Alinder’s first-person account "My Gay Soul," and Huey Newton's Black Panther manifesto on gay liberation appeared originally in Gay Sunshine Journal during this early period.
    Following the collapse of the Berkeley GLF in early 1971, the original Gay Sunshine collective was dissolved and the paper suspended. Leyland resurrected the paper in spring 1971 in San Francisco. Issues 6 through 15 were distributed nationally during this second stage (1971-1972) with Leyland as sole coordinator.
    During this second period the paper espoused a balanced approach as a catalyst in the national gay community, encouraging the building of gay alternative structures and groups, and raising consciousness on pivotal issues. The paper published in-depth material on the oppression suffered by gay prisoners and on other gay liberation topics, as well as soliciting and printing more gay literary material. Several articles by Ralph Schaffer, a Los Angeles gay activist, appeared in the paper, as well as articles on his murder in 1972.
    The third stage in the history of Gay Sunshine Journal was the longest (1973-1982) as well as the most fruitful. Issues 16 through 47 (several of them double issues) appeared during this period. The people who had worked marginally in the production of earlier issues moved on to other involvements, leaving Leyland was as a "one-man band" coordinating and putting out the paper. San Francisco's Waller Press printed the journal, and beginning in the mid-1970s, Bill Rock took over most of the typesetting (a function he would also perform for most of Leyland's book publications).
    During the initial phase of this period, Gay Sunshine Journal continued to appear in tabloid format but became more in-depth—in number of pages per issue as well as intellectually. The paper didn’t carry any “hard news” but was more of a literary/political quarterly. Leyland began an acclaimed series of in-depth interviews with gay writers and artists—subsequently published in two book volumes as Gay Sunshine Interviews. Interviews with Christopher Isherwood, John Giorno, John Rechy and Lou Harrison were conducted by Leyland, while others, including those with Jean Genet, William Burroughs, Gore Vidal and Allen Ginsberg, were done by different people and then sent to Leyland either already typed out or on tape ready to be transcribed and edited. During these years Leyland actively took the initiative in seeking out innovative and pioneering material for publication, including historical and literary essays, non-Western gay literature in translation, gay fiction, and gay poetry.
    Books
    Deciding to publish material in book format, Leyland started Gay Sunshine Press in 1975. In 1977 Gay Sunshine Press was incorporated as a non-profit corporation, with Leyland as coordinator and editor-in-chief. As his work load with book publishing increased through the late seventies, Leyland decided he could no longer maintain the journal, eventually discontinuing the publication in 1982.
    In the late 1970s Leyland applied for and received several grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Among the books funded in part by these grants were the Allen Ginsberg/Peter Orlovsky collection of love poems and letters Straight Hearts' Delight (1980), Jean Genet's Collected Poems (1981), the Brazilian gay novel Bom Crioulo, and the anthology of gay poetry Orgasms of Light (1978). Although these federal grants dried up in the early 1980s, Leyland continued to receive grants for book projects from the California Arts Council in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
    Throughout the 1980s Leyland strove to publish innovative volumes on various aspects of the gay reality. Among the volumes of Latin American gay literature, Leyland's favorite was My Deep Dark Pain Is Love (1983), which included fiction (and some non-fiction) by twenty-four writers from five countries: Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Cuba. At this time Leyland also began the popular book anthologies of true homosexual experiences edited by Boyd McDonald. Other pioneering volumes include Geoff Mains' Urban Aboriginals: A Celebration of Leathersexuality (1984); Ahmad al-Tifashi's anthology of medieval Arabic stories and poems The Delight of Hearts (1988); and two ground-breaking books on Walt Whitman, Drum Beats and Calamus Lovers, edited by Charley Shively.
    Gay Sunshine Press—by 1991 the oldest independent gay press in the country—continued to publish gay literary material and other non-fiction within the framework of its non-profit status. In 1984 Leyland started Leyland Publications to publish books of gay erotica, fiction, and other pioneering material which needed legally to be done under a separate imprint.
    Post-1991
    Since 1991 Winston Leyland has published some of his best reviewed books including Queer Dharma: Voices of Gay Buddhists, volumes 1 and 2; Out in the Castro; Out of the Closet into our Hearts; and Openly Gay, Openly Christian. Keeping true to the international scope of his publications, Winston also has published Partings at Dawn: An Anthology of Japanese Gay Literature and Out of the Blue: Russia's Hidden Gay Literature. Winston Leyland's last publication came in 2004 with his 26th volume of Meatmen: An Anthology of Gay Male Comics, completing his eighteen-year run of the provocative series.
    [Pre-1991 material was abridged from Winston Leyland's introduction to Gay Roots: Twenty Years of Gay Sunshine Journal, 1991.]

    Access

    Please contact ONE archivists for specific information regarding access restrictions.

    Publication Rights

    Researchers wishing to publish material must obtain permission in writing from ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives as the physical owner of the material. Note that permission to publish does not constitute copyright clearance. ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives can grant copyright clearance only for those materials for which we hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain copyright clearance for all other materials from the copyright holder(s).

    Preferred Citation

    Box #, folder #, Gay Sunshine records, Coll2011.011, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California

    Acquisition Information

    The collection was acquired through the generosity of Jim Hooker. The collection was officially transferred from Winston Leyland to the archives on July 14, 2006.

    Arrangement

    The records are arranged in the following series:

    Scope and Contents

    The records, 1955-2005, comprise the publications, editorial records, audio-visual materials, and administrative and personal records collected, used and/or created by Winston Leyland as the publisher of Gay Sunshine Journal, Gay Sunshine Press, and Leyland Publications, 1970-2005.
    The publications series consists of over 160 book titles and their various editions published by Gay Sunshine Press and Leyland Publications, 1975-2004, as well as the 46 issues (38 journals in total as many were double issues) of Gay Sunshine Journal, 1970-1982. Most listings come complete with a detailed index of the individual book or journal's content.
    The editorial records series consists of submitted articles, manuscripts, and poetry; interview transcripts; edited copy; correspondence; contracts and license agreements; and other editorial material dating 1955-2005 that were used in the publication and administration of the journals and books of Gay Sunshine Journal, Gay Sunshine Press, and Leyland Publications, 1970-2002. The editorial records include the works and correspondence of Allen Ginsberg, Gore Vidal, Tennessee Williams, John Rechy, Ned Rorem, William Burroughs, Lou Harrison, John Giorno, Samuel Steward, Christopher Isherwood, Taylor Mead and others.
    The audio-visual materials series includes audiotapes, photographs, posters, artwork, VHS, DVDs and other similar materials dating 1968-2001 created or collected by Winston Leyland for use in the publications of Gay Sunshine Journal, Gay Sunshine Press, and Leyland Publications, 1970-2001. The audiotapes contain the original interviews of William Burroughs, John Giorno, Lou Harrison, Christopher Isherwood, Taylor Mead, John Rechy, Ned Rorem, Samuel Steward, Tennessee Williams and others.
    The administrative and personal records series consists of the book and journal indices; general correspondence; financial records; grant records; printing, distribution, and inventory records; Web site administration records, promotional materials, and other personal and administrative records managed by Winston Leyland for personal use or in operation of Gay Sunshine Journal, Gay Sunshine Press, and Leyland Publications, 1970-2005.

    Processing Information

    Processing this collection has been funded by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
    Collection processed by Kyle Morgan, August 2011.
    Boxes 82, 83, 84, and 91 contained open reel audiotapes, audiocasssettes, VHS, CDs, and DVDs that were pulled from the collection and integrated with like materials. The audiovisual material listings remain in the collection along with their respective catalog numbers. Kyle Morgan, 2013.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Gay erotic literature
    Gay press publications
    Gays' writings
    Poetry