The first print edition of OUTinPerth hit the streets on June 6th 2002, making today the start of our 20th birthday celebrations.
Issue 1 of the magazine featured DJ Kate Monroe on the cover ahead of her appearance at the Globe Entertainment Complex later in the month. Today that club space is Murray Street is Magnet House. Dubbed Australia’s first lady of house on the inside pages Monroe chatted to Ralph Morrow about her love of big fat bass lines and how she got her start as a DJ in Sydney’s queer scene.
OUTinPerth followed on from previous LGBTIQA+ focussed magazines that came before it including Westside Observer and shOUT. In the inaugural editorial editor Paul Bluett paid tribute to Gavin McGurren who had been the editor of both the former publications.
Inside there was a column from Ruth Wykes who would go on to found the magazine WOW: Women Out West and a column from the amazing Ivan King, while Gavin Pitts gave us the update on everything happening on television in the upcoming month – including recommending The Kumars at Number 42.
The news featured the announcement that the fourth Health in Difference Conference which focused on gay, lesbian and bisexual health would be held in Sydney as part of the Gay Games.
Also in the news the Catholic Church refuted a claim made by Chanel Nine’s 60 Minutes program which had suggested the church offered hush money to victims of sexual abuse by the clergy.
There was an update on legal proceedings against the directors of the Satellite Group, the directors of the company which had bought up several LGBT focused publications across the country before going out of business were facing charges of acting improperly to gain financial advantage.
Heartbreakingly there was also the news of the death of Mark Coonie, a gay man who had been attacked in Adelaide on 4th May 2002 after leaving local venue the Mars Bar. He died of his injuries a few days later and his murder has never been solved. South Australian police still have a $200,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of attacker.
In the music section Stuart Miles extolled the virtues of trance, while the reviews highlighted Moby’s latest album 18 with Tim Bee giving the record a big thumbs down and labelling it “trashy” and saying it “sounds like his last album only slower”.
The first edition was printed on newspaper stock and only a few of the pages were in colour, the remainder in black and white. The social photos included people who’d been out at Luxe Bar’s Winter Chill, Connections’ Doctors and Nurses night and The Big Gay Inn at The Court Hotel.
Advertisers in the first edition included RTRFM’s weekly program Sheer Queer, Luxe Bar, Streamworks, Connections Nightclub, the WA AIDS Council, Pride WA and the Revelation Perth International Film Festival.
OUTinPerth remained in print for 210 issues with final edition coming out seventeen years later in January 2019. Since then we’ve continued on in our digital formats branching out into audio and video content too.
Graeme Watson
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