History of LGBT in the Media in the Erie area

The first known local article on the new gay liberation movement was published in the local alternative newspaper Sunshine-Aura in 1972, by a gay man who signed the article "Pink Panther". In 1974, Harry Miller and a woman spoke on a WQLN-FM talk show that included an audience call in. The response was so strong that the station allowed the show to run for four hours. This was a first for the subject for area radio. Only first names were used. There was also a series on "Gay Life in Erie" in the Erie Daily Times in 1977. Everyone interviewed used first names only or pseudonyms. In the early 1980's, the Erie Gay Task Force published a newsletter for a few years. In the mid to late 80's, Personal & Affirming Lifestyles (P&ALS) published a newsletter. That group met at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul. From the late 80's to the early/mid 90's, local group Womynspace also published a newsletter.

In the spring of 1992, a double sided sheet newsletter called Erie Gay Community Newsletter was published by local gay man Nikita, with some help from Michael Mahler and Deb Spilko. Deb Spilko had previously worked on the Erie Gay News Task Force newsletter and the P&ALS newsletter. To help promote the upcoming April 1993 March on Washington, local organization Bridges expanded the size and scope of Erie Gay Community Newsletter beginning with the issue released in December of 1992. By the mid 90's, Bridges was defunct, but the publication changed its name to Erie Gay News and continued publishing in print until December of 1999, and then after that as an online publication. From 2000 to 2001, Gary Snyder and Heather Marten published P.R.I.D.E News as a print publication. After that folded, Erie Gay News resumed publishing in print in late 2002, and has continued since then, making it the longest running local LGBT publication for Erie, and one of only 3 LGBT-focused publications in Pennsylvania. (The other two being The Central Voice in Harrisburg and Philadelphia Gay News.) In addition to PDFs of every issue since 1992 being online at the Erie Gay News website , copies of all print editions are archived at the ONE Resource Center in Los Angeles, Gerber-Hart Library in Chicago, Pat Parker-Vito Russo Library in New York City, Sexual Minority Archives in Massachusetts, Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in Toronto, and Homodok in Amsterdam. Additionally, digital copies of all issues are archived with EBSCO Information Services and ProQuest, two leading providers of research databases to libraries around the world.