17c起草社区

WE know much more about the first edition of The Sydney Star than we do about the man behind it.

The very first edition of the Star hit the streets in early July, 1979. It was a free, 16-page affair that carried a bunch of community service announcements (anyone for gay soccer?), an astrology column, and a review of Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas in the nuclear thriller, The China Syndrome.

The first Star also featured a page of entertainment and business listings, together with advertisements for amyl nitrate and sex-on-premises venues such as King Steam and The Kensington Karate Klub.

鈥淕鈥檇ay鈥�, wrote the 厂迟补谤鈥檚 founding editor and publisher, Michael Glynn.

鈥淲e are one week old today and, as in all new birth, we need to grow and understand. We need your help for that. If you have any special events, or juicy bits of gossip let us know. We need sources for local news concerning gay life in Sydney. Gay consciousness does not come but once a year. We also want to support gay businessmen. Let us know who you are.

鈥淪ome of us have just finished celebrating Gay Solidarity Week, when we tried to express ourselves through various ways. If we had a strong sense of community, a real feeling of support from friends and others, then we might be able to face the conflicts that rage about us. We could live in unity and strength and love. The whole process is called 鈥榞etting your act together鈥�. We can do it. You can do it. Reggae Lady 鈥� this is for you.鈥�

Some of this editorial seems cryptic now. And Glynn鈥檚 subsequent comments about 鈥渂eing a man and being gay鈥� are positively archaic. But at the time, it was pure Glynn.

Glynn got the idea to start the Star after a friend handed him a copy of a gay business and entertainment guide from Texas.

鈥淚 looked at it and I thought this would work here because we鈥檝e got nothing. There were no free papers going, just campaign [a monthly gay mag] and that was it,鈥� Glynn told the 厂迟补谤鈥檚 Gary Dunne.

鈥淗aving a look around town at the various venues, it was pretty poor pickings… if you were going out, it was drinks and drag shows and that was it. I gathered that if we put all this in print, or the lack of it, that people would wake up and say, 鈥榳e can do better than this鈥�.鈥�

Glynn printed a couple of hundred copies of his first Star and hand-delivered them on Friday night to the handful of gay clubs on Oxford St and in neighbouring Darlinghurst. 鈥淥n the Monday morning, I went around to all the businesses, picked up the cheques and cash for all the ads and went and paid the printer. That was the first issue.鈥�

Glynn had emigrated to Australia from the USA in 1971. He was a good-looking 23-year-old then, still shy about being gay. But over the years, he morphed into a moustachioed and opinionated leather-man who embraced leather sex, partly because he believed it disrupted the straight world鈥檚 stereotypes of gay men as well as our own expectations of ourselves.

鈥淏efore leather bars,鈥� he said, 鈥渢he gay scene was more or less ruled by the drag scene. But with the leather bars came the idea that you could be both man and gay. The fluff image was traded for the macho image.鈥�

Not surprisingly, Glynn orchestrated Australia鈥檚 first Mr Leather competition, held in April 1980 in the basement of The Strand Arcade, in Sydney.

There were plenty of Mr Leather photos in following editions of the Star. A very hunky Patrick Brookes, accepting his Mr Leather trophy, graced the newspaper鈥檚 front cover once, while an inside photo-spread included a shot of the Master of Ceremonies, Michael Glynn, exactly as he wished to be seen: owning the microphone and his audience, surrounded by images of this new gay masculinity, hairy-chested and sexually charged.

Terrence Michael Glynn was born on April 7, 1948 in Chicago, Illinois. He died in Glebe on July 10, 1996. He is forever remembered as 鈥渁 lanky American with no shortage of attitude and chutzpah鈥� whose vision for a gay community newspaper continues to benefit us all.

Over the years, The Sydney Star eventually became the modern-day 17c起草社区 masthead. Today, the publication that Glynn founded has grown to become Australia鈥檚 only national LGBTI news source in both print and online. Copies of the monthly edition, which was launched earlier this year, are distrubuted in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra.

Dominic O鈥橤rady is a former editor of the 17c起草社区 and author of the manuscript, Preaching to the Perverted: The Life and Times of Michael Glynn. More at

**This article聽first appeared in聽the聽current聽聽of the聽17c起草社区, which is now available聽in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra.聽聽聽to find out where you can grab your free copy.