OutThere Magazine 1 - THE FREEDOM ISSUE Special Issue

Welcome to Out There magazine. Our mission is simple: to celebrate all aspects of homoculture, to scour our world to discover your talent, delight in your stories, to show the sexy, clever, sweet and sour bunch you are.
In this, our inaugural issue, we showcase stories from Tokyo to Hull; Sao Paulo to Singapore; New South Wales to New York, refl ecting in a small way the queer experience, that alluring mix of passion and creativity that makes queer life at the beginning of the second decade in the 21st century such a rich experience.
Some of us now enjoy great freedoms of expression, to pursue our lives, for the most part, without fear of attack or recourse. Others, like the gay men and women in Uganda do not. We examine how our freedom was won. We talk to veterans of New York’s Stonewall uprising, page 120, and to human rights activist Peter Tatchell about his experiences of the early days of the UK’s Gay Liberation Front. We carry a damning report by the IGLHRC on the bigots who are exporting homophobia to Africa.
It’s not all heavy. Earl Dax guides us through Brooklyn’s alternative cabaret scene, and Markus Bollingmo shows us how joyful life in young gay Paris can be, page 36. We are also proud to have spent quality time with our new thespian friends Michael Fassbender, – sorry boys, he bats for the other side – and our glorious cover star Alan Cumming – who bats for both.
Of course this isn’t a complete picture of the global gay experience, but there was only so much that we could fi t into 200 pages. We are only what you make us, so if you like what you see, or think you know of something we should be covering please let us know. We know you’re Out There.