29/07/2017
The International Times is back! What, you may ask is the International Times, or IT for short? Well, it was an important precursor to the gay and feminist press. IT belonged to a long tradition of the radical press which dates back to the early nineteenth century, and titles such as the Poor Man's Guardian, the Chartist and the Northern Star, the latter two you may have learned about on A Level history courses. International Times first published in the Autumn of 1966 with a digest of counter cultural news, politics, and information, championing the rapidly changing music and political scene during a period of intense radical social change. You can view its archive in detail at International-Times.org.uk. In October 1969, the magazine was raided by the police for the heinous crime of – well, publishing a gay lonely hearts advertisement in its classified section. Hard to believe now, but even though gay relationships had been decriminalised two years previously, contact ads between two men were considered obscene and soliciting for intercourse. The magazine had equipment confiscated and was prosecuted for running the ad. Nevetheless, it continued to publish and give space to the emergent gay liberation movement. In 1972, with activists in America campaigning against the US right wing president Richard Nixon, IT ran the headline “Let's LICK DICK”, a reference to punching Mr Nixon, but which also read in other ways. It was out of this milieu of magazines such as International Times that underground gay journalists founded their own publication called Gay News, in June 1972. Gay News eventually morphed into Gay Times in 1983, and it is still with us today. International Times however, ceased regular publication in 1973, although occasional issues continued to appear throughout the seventies and eighties from various groups, covering important counter-cultural events such as the Battle of the Beanfield between police and the Peace Convoy in 1985. Now, however, the election of Donald Trump has brought together a new editorial team and the title has started publishing again. You can find copies at the Here Shop and Gallery at 108 Stokes Croft in Central Bristol, or at all good radical and alternative stores.
http://www.international-times.org.uk/ITarchive.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_press
