Homocore

Homocore was an American anarcho-punk zine published in San Francisco from 1988 to 1991 by Tom Jennings and Deke Nihilson. It was created for queer young people involved in or adjacent to the hardcore punk underground, particularly readers who felt excluded both by predominantly straight punk media and by more assimilationist gay and lesbian publications. Rather than functioning as a conventional commercial magazine, Homocore operated as a do-it-yourself cultural platform: it combined interviews, writing, artwork, music information, personal correspondence and scene documentation, while also helping readers find one another across geographic boundaries. The name came from the Toronto queer punk zine J.D.s, edited by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce. J.D.s had introduced “homocore,” a combination of “homosexual” and “hardcore,” in its first issue in 1985. Jennings and Nihilson encountered Jones and LaBruce at the 1988 Anarchist Survival Gathering in Toronto and subsequently adopted the term for their San Francisco publication. The first issue appeared in September 1988. Its original audience was concentrated in the local queer underground, but later issues included correspondence from readers around the world, reflecting the zine’s role as a distributed network for queer punk culture. Across eight issues published during a 16-month period, Homocore presented material associated with anarchism, hardcore music, queer identity and underground art. Contributors and subjects included the anarcho-punk group The Apostles, photographer Daniel Nicoletta, musician and Chainsaw Records founder Donna Dresch, Lookout Records founder Larry Livermore, writers Bruce LaBruce and G.B. Jones, and other figures connected with independent music and queer cultural production. Steve Abbott published excerpts from the work that became The Lizard Club in the zine. The publication also received significant critical attention: a 1990 Village Voice survey by Dennis Cooper described it as an unusually generous and information-rich example of the emerging queer zine scene. Homocore’s activity extended beyond print. Jennings and Nihilson organized Homocore events featuring bands including Fugazi, MDC, Beat Happening and Comrades In Arms. The publication’s headquarters also served as a location for Greta Snider’s 1991 short film Shred of Sex. An irregular edition, Bad Poetry Issue #5½, resulted from the use of oversized newsprint and became part of the zine’s issue history. The final regular issue, number 7, appeared in February 1991. Although short-lived, Homocore became an important reference point in accounts of queercore and radical queer cultural history. It helped establish zines as spaces where queer punk participants could articulate identities, exchange information and build community outside mainstream institutions. Later writers have credited Homocore, alongside J.D.s and related publications, with helping spread queercore beyond its initial local scenes, particularly across the West Coast of North America. The zine is now best understood as a historically influential cultural publication rather than an ongoing consumer brand.

Homocore emerged from the intersection of queer punk, anarchist organizing and the late-1980s do-it-yourself publishing culture. Its title was derived from “homocore,” a term coined by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce in the Toronto-based zine J.D.s. The term joined “homosexual” and “hardcore” to describe queer people connected to the hardcore punk scene. It first appeared in J.D.s issue 1 in 1985. Tom Jennings and Deke Nihilson met Jones and LaBruce at the 1988 Anarchist Survival Gathering in Toronto. Inspired by J.D.s and by anarchist publishing practices, they returned to San Francisco and began producing Homocore. The first issue was released in September 1988. While the project initially addressed the queer underground in the San Francisco area, its correspondence and readership soon became broader, with letters arriving from outside the United States and demonstrating the zine’s networking function. The publication ran for eight issues over approximately 16 months. The numbered issues were released between September 1988 and February 1991, with an unusual issue designated Bad Poetry Issue #5½ produced because of an oversized newsprint format. Homocore mixed music coverage, personal and political writing, visual material, interviews and practical scene information. Its contributors and subjects included musicians, photographers, writers, record-label figures and other participants in independent queer and punk culture. Steve Abbott used the zine to publish excerpts from what later became The Lizard Club. Homocore was also an organizing project. Its editors arranged events under the Homocore name, presenting bands including Fugazi, MDC, Beat Happening and Comrades In Arms. The zine’s headquarters were used in the making of Greta Snider’s 1991 short film Shred of Sex. These activities connected the publication to a wider cultural scene rather than limiting it to a paper archive. Contemporary and retrospective writers treated Homocore as an important document of the emerging queer zine movement. Dennis Cooper reviewed it in a 1990 Village Voice survey of queer zines, while later cultural histories described it as a meeting place for queer punk readers who felt unrepresented elsewhere. Its significance lay less in circulation or commercial scale than in its ability to provide language, contacts and cultural visibility for a dispersed community. The regular publication ended with issue 7 in February 1991. In later accounts of queercore, Homocore has been credited with helping popularize the movement, particularly on the West Coast of North America. Its short run also illustrates the characteristic life cycle of many DIY zines: modest physical production, intense community participation and influence that outlasted publication. Homocore is now primarily preserved and discussed as a landmark queer-punk periodical and an example of activist underground media.

• 1991

  Final issue and associated film appearance

  [1]Homocore (zine)en.wikipedia.org

  Issue 7 was published in February, and the Homocore headquarters appeared in Greta Snider’s short film Shred of Sex.

• 1990

  Homocore receives Village Voice coverage

  [1]Homocore (zine)en.wikipedia.org

  Dennis Cooper included the zine in a Village Voice survey of the developing queer zine scene.

• 1988

  First Homocore issue is published

  [1]Homocore (zine)en.wikipedia.org

  Tom Jennings and Deke Nihilson released the inaugural issue in San Francisco in September.

• 1985

  The term “homocore” appears in J.D.s

  [1]Homocore (zine)en.wikipedia.org

  G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce used the portmanteau “homocore” in the first issue of the Toronto queer punk zine J.D.s.

A DIY, anarchist and queer-punk publication positioned as a community forum for hardcore musicians, artists and readers marginalized by both mainstream gay media and conventional punk culture.

• DIY queer punk zine · 1988

  Homocore issues 1–7

  The principal Homocore product was a series of independently produced print issues released from September 1988 through February 1991. The issues combined queer and anarchist commentary with hardcore and underground music coverage, correspondence, artwork, interviews and information intended to connect isolated readers. The series consisted of seven numbered issues, plus the irregular Bad Poetry Issue #5½.

• Special zine issue

  Bad Poetry Issue #5½

  Bad Poetry Issue #5½ was an exceptional Homocore edition produced in connection with the use of oversized newsprint paper. Its unusual numbering places it between the regular fifth and sixth issues and makes it part of the publication’s distinctive bibliographic history.

• Underground music events

  Homocore events

  The editors organized live events that extended the zine’s community-building role into physical spaces. Performers associated with these events included Fugazi, MDC, Beat Happening and Comrades In Arms. The events linked publication, music and queer-punk organizing.

• 1989Homocore live-event program

  San Francisco · West Coast United States

  Homocore’s editors organized events that brought queer and anarchist punk audiences together around performances and community activity. The program featured bands including Fugazi, MDC, Beat Happening and Comrades In Arms.

  Outcome. The events broadened Homocore from a print publication into a scene-building platform and reinforced its role in the developing queercore network.

  Source

1. 1Homocore (zine)en.wikipedia.org
2. 2Homocore Magazine archiveworldpowersystems.com