Can GCN Survive The Web Revolution?

Like so many things at the moment, publishing is in crisis, and Gay Community News is among those titles in trouble. In its 22-year history, it has served a most necessary function for any community, a central forum where important ideas are shared among the community it celebrates. It is the “paper of record” for the community, it is a charity with a public service remit, and it receives public funding for its tiny office and handful of staff. Which was never enough to begin with. It always depended on advertising to break even.

As a free magazine, with stacks in pub corners and friendly cafés and bookshops all over the country, it used to be the only source of information available for gay people in Ireland – with news about where to go, what was happening politically, culturally and socially. It was how people connected with each other, and supported each other, providing valuable information about groups and helplines to offer support in coming out, facing discrimination and hate, and dealing with HIV. It was at its best when it served as a forum for ideas. And it was essential during a time when the mainstream media ignored us, and apart from Saint David Norris, no public figures were out. It helped us form our own distinct identity as Irish queers.
The internet has killed off the main reason people used to pick up a copy of GCN. Once GCN was a prized oasis in the desert, sating people’s thirst for information. But it’s tough to make a living as an oasis when the desert around you has turned to a bog. Information and debate about gay society, culture and politics is everywhere, and “tailorable” to suit your own tastes – websites such as gaire.com, queerid.com, gaycork.com and Facebook are thriving and serving their own subset of gay readers very well.
Indeed, the news discussed on these sites is often more alive and interesting than an “official” cash-starved organ can permit – articles critical of GCN’s main sponsors are hard to find, and there is a tendency to avoid the sort of probing investigative journalism that produces real insights into how a community functions.
I am sure this is not a question of policy, it is simply a matter of confidence. Reading through nine pages of discussion on queerid.com about the future of GCN recently was enlightening and illustrative of the problem GCN faces. Important stories about the split in the Dublin Gay Theatre Festival organisation, the financial troubles of the George and Dragon bars, and the resignations of the lesbian board members of GLEN, are hard for GCN to cover because we’re a small community, and it takes nerves of steel and a sense of financial security to risk digging in and uncovering the truth, exploring the underlying political issues at stake behind the personal clashes. With the wolves baying at the door, why make more enemies?
Advertising is a fickle funder. It knows no ethics; in its purest form, it is all about numbers – the number of readers multiplied by their earning power to buy things. For a while as the gay community boomed, along with the rest of the country, there seemed to be a celebration of the fact that high-end distillers and world-class fashion labels added their glamour to the pages of a community magazine. We had arrived, in a curious way, when we became a market worth selling to, just like any other segment of society. No prejudice there. Hurrah!
But of course, as we now realise only too well on a national level, a sense of community is not built on economic wealth or prestige. In fact, one could argue that it is only forged during hard times. It will take some time, I believe, before we build that up again on a national level.
However, when it comes to the gay community, I don’t think it will ever be as it was.
Nor should it be. As, gradually, the coming out process becomes easier for teenagers in Ireland, slowly but surely also, the notion of being different and/or needing special support is less common. Yes, there will always be “minority stress” when people realise they are not like most others, especially when it hits in the turbulent angsty years of adolescence, but thanks to the efforts of groups like BelongTo, and an increasingly sensible, more secular educational system, children are not shamed or ostracised they way they used to be. It is only going to get better in the next few decades. This results in a new generation of young gay people who are completely open with all their existing school/college friends, and who find it strange that one should seek out other gay people as friends. And when they go out dancing at the weekends, increasingly they go to clubs that are not gay, per se, but fun. There is no need to segregate or live in a ghetto, when you can go to a “straight” club and get off with another boy or girl and no one bats an eyelid around you.
I like this change. The wound of feeling different often leaves life-long scars, and I have great faith in the next few generations. Being gay or lesbian just won’t be the painful issue it was. But it will always make us aware of difference, which I suggest deepens our awareness.
The challenge facing Gay Community News is severe, because the notion of Gay Community itself is fragile. Desire is a treacherous foundation for a sense of community. It was, oddly enough, homophobia that created gay identity and community. Without it, I am not sure there is the glue to keep people together, apart from the ordinary truths about what makes people befriend each other – common interests and experiences and affinities and sensibilities. Sometimes being gay is part of that – but no longer are gay friends the only ones you can hang out with to feel comfortable in your own skin.
I think, however, that there is room for a serious platform for reflection and consideration on all matters relating to sexual difference and social policy in Ireland. Rather than go down-market, pandering to advertisers and publishing fluff to appeal to young readers, I think it should be funded by public subscription, a la Public Television in the US, or Wikipedia. It should abandon the exorbitant cost of publishing on paper. If I can read GCN on my phone in a bar, why on Earth go to the enormous expense of printing it out on paper? Why should taxpayers’ money be spent on that?
The money gcn.ie gains from public subscription should be enough to give it a secure footing and a confidence to fearlessly pursue its goals. The remit should be to produce a multi-media online resource with high-quality writing, fiction and non-fiction, investigative journalism, film-making, music, animation, cartoons, art, design, academic research and commentary, about all facets of alternative sexualities on this island. God knows there’s enough Irish queer talent around to contribute – but it should be paid for, properly.
For every young scene queen picking up a freesheet in the George and throwing it away again, there are two non-scene people living outside the youth and drink-orientated bubble, interested in supporting and maintaining something intelligent and authoritative and reflective, and distinctly Irish. They may not agree with everything that’s published in it, or indeed even bother to read everything that’s published, but by raising the bar as high as it can go, more likely than not it will generate original, thought provoking content, which can then be discussed and picked apart all over the Internet. It may, therefore, be more appropriate in the future for GCN to receive public Arts funding, not Community funding, because as we are beginning to realise, Irish arts and artists are worth investing in – they have not let us down. Establishing a revenue source for Irish queer artists is eminently worthwhile. Let all the public Community funding go to BelongTo, where it is, and always will be, needed.
Let us, as an adult gay community, consider “coming of age”, by building up something that celebrates our diversity and talent, without the need for handouts, or the patronage of drinks companies. We’re worth more than that. Far more.