Pink Triangle Press
From Free net encyclopedia
Pink Triangle Press is a Canadian non-profit organization which publishes the gay magazines Xtra!, Xtra! West and Capital Xtra!. It also operates an online guide to cruising, or sex in semi-public locations, for men seeking sex with men, and is a minority shareholder in Canada's HARD on PrideVision and OUTtv digital cable channels.
History
Its name comes from the symbols placed on suspected homosexual men in Nazi concentration camps.
Pink Triangle Press traces its history (though not its name) to 1971 in Toronto, when a group of volunteers began producing a paper containing news and opinions on gay liberation called The Body Politic (TBP). By 1976 TBP was being published monthly, and in the early 1980s it claimed a circulation of over 9,000 nationally, and boasted contributions from writers all over the world.
Pink Triangle Press was incorporated in 1975, its name chosen as a symbol of history and commitment.
In 1978 the Press was charged with "publishing immoral, indecent and scurrilous material" because of an issue of The Body Politic which included Gerald Hannon's now-infamous article "Men Loving Boys Loving Men".
The Press was brought up on similar charges again in May 1982, this time for "Lust With a Very Proper Stranger", an article on fisting. The Press won both cases.
They launched Xtra! in 1984, and ceased publication of The Body Politic in 1987. Xtra! West in Vancouver and Capital Xtra! in Ottawa followed in 1993.
Other media ventures
Pink Triangle Press became a minority partner in PrideVision when the channel was sold by Headline Media Group to William Craig. PrideVision was subsequently split into the separate channels OUTtv and HARD on PrideVision.
As well, Pink Triangle Press was a partner in Evanov Radio Group's license application for Rainbow Radio, a new radio station to serve Toronto's LGBT community. PTP's agreement with Evanov was discontinued in late 2005 after PTP expressed reservations about the depth of Evanov's commitment to serving LGBT audiences.
Pink Triangle Press also operates a gay and lesbian telephone personals service in all three cities where the Xtra! papers publish.