Gay Men's Press

Gay Men's Press was a publisher of books based in London, United Kingdom. The company published from 1979 until 2006.cite news |first= Rupert|last= Smith|title= Swimming against the tide|url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/apr/29/featuresreviews.guardianreview33|publisher= The Guardian|date= 2006-04-29|accessdate= 2008-08-30]

Launched in 1979, the publisher was a welcome company for gay writers attempting to get published. The book business had been unwelcoming to such writers, publishing only works of a homosexual nature where they were felt to have a literary provenance. The company published the children's book "Jenny Lives with Eric and Martin" in 1983. The book prompted the introduction of the Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 [cite web |url= http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/vo991206/text/91206-10.htm|title= Lords Hansard text for 6 Dec 1999|accessdate= 2008-08-30|work= Hansard|publisher= Parliament of the United Kingdom|date= 1999-12-06] , which forbade the "promotion" of homosexuality by local government, [cite news |first= Brian|last= Deer|title= Schools Escape Clause 28 in 'Gay Ban' Fiasco|url= http://briandeer.com/social/clause-28.htm|publisher= The Sunday Times|date= 1988-05-29|accessdate= 2008-08-30 The article notes the then-current notoriety of the book.] 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 closed in 2006 because of dwindling sales, caused in part by a lack of exposure in the big chain bookstores.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.gmppubs.co.uk/cgi-bin/web_store/web_store.cgi Official site]