Status Defunct Publication types Books Official website www.gmppubs.co.uk Founded 1979 | Country of origin United Kingdom Nonfiction topics Gay men's literature Headquarters location London, United Kingdom | |
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Gay Men's Press was a publisher of books based in London, United Kingdom. The company published from 1979 until 2006.
Overview
Launched in 1979 by Aubrey Walter, David Fernbach, and Richard Dipple, GMP, as it was known, was a pioneer publisher of gay, lesbian, and transgender books, the first and largest in England. The book business had been unwelcoming to GLBT writers, publishing only works of a homosexual nature deemed suitable for mainstream readers. Authors such as James Purdy, Michael Davidson, and Ken Shakin found an audience for fiction about gay life as it was, often subject matter dealing with man-boy love. The company also published non-fiction about gay liberation, homoerotic art books (Aubrey Walter's Editions) and even the children's book Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin in 1983. The latter prompted the introduction of the Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which forbade the "promotion" of homosexuality by local government, after the Daily Mail, a tabloid newspaper, reported that a copy of the book was provided in the library of a school run by the left-wing, Labour-controlled Inner London Education Authority.
The company was sold to Millivres Prowler in 2000, and closed in 2006 because of dwindling sales, caused in part by a lack of exposure in the big chain bookstores.
Valancourt Books, an independent American publishing house founded in 2005, has reprinted many works last published in the 1980s by the Gay Men's Press in the defunct company's Gay Modern Classics series.