The advantage of having the word ‘queer’ in our title helps attract our target audience, which makes up the whole LGBTQA+ spectrum.  And it describes our very being.  However, our continuing success over the past 12 years (and that’s all thanks to you) and we are now read regularly in over 50 countries around the globe, has its downside too.  When we first started out, we re-published ALL our content on a variety of Social Media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  However, our success brought us the unwelcome attention of a whole variety of (very unhappy) homophobes, and whilst our content policies didn’t change in the slightest, the opposition did.  What attracted applause and critical acclaim from you, our followers, has now bought us anonymous censorship. 

First, it was our YouTube account that was banned overnight and totally disappeared without warning. The 5000+ videos that were removed contained some excellent interviews, which we are proud of the fact that they are a hallmark of QUEERGURU’S mission. Luckily, we had backups of the bulk of these, particularly our centrepiece ones that we are so very proud of: e.g. like our first exclusive interview with the late great Larry Kramer, which will always remain a personal highlight of both Queerguru and my own life too.

For the best part of a year, we have been posting on Facebook even though we are under the constant threat of expulsion. It means that they have greatly restricted who of our 71,000 followers can read our pages plus they ensure that no new readers can find us.   It means that despite our determination, we have now started to self-censor what aspects of our content are shared on FB. I cannot begin to tell you how angry that makes the whole Queerguru Team 

Queerguru will, however, always bring you the best queer stories that we feel deserve to be shared, even if the day comes WHEN WE PUBLISH THEM ONLY ON WWW.QUEERGURU.COM

Like the story of HOMOBILIA, who specialise in recollecting and celebrating our gay past. Their library/store has one of the best collections of male nude photography: most of it from the era of male physique magazines.  By today’s standards, the images on their site are pretty tame. But if their erotic power has diminished, other layers of meaning have grown. Offering more than historical interest or retro appeal, they invite us to gaze into our past, to connect with strangely familiar strangers.

The point is not that these are images of “gay people.” Most of them are anonymous and we don’t know if they were gay or not. We may glance through jaundiced eyes, but they look back with a refreshing lack of cynicism. Although we can be relatively open about our sexuality today, these images speak to us about the timeless desires we’ve (often secretly) shared

And they serve as a reminder and a warning  (and make our blood boil again)  “Whatever sexual freedom and social justice we’ve achieved cannot be taken for granted. Especially now. Our site has been censored and we’ve been given the alternative of deleting all the male nudes or covering the genitals.”

PS Please ensure you are signed up to https://www.queerguru.com (its FREE) and it means we can keep in touch