Lesbians on the Loose

Lesbians on the Loose - LOTL
LOTL, April 1997
Former editorsFrances Rand (1990–1998)
Barbara Farrelly (1994–1998)
Merryn Johns (1998 - 2019)
CategoriesLifestyle magazine
FrequencyMonthly, Quarterly
Circulation20,000
PublisherSilke Bader
FounderFrances Rand and Jackie Scherer
FoundedJanuary 1990
CompanyIris Media and Events
CountryAustralia
Based inSydney
LanguageEnglish
Websitewww.lotl.com
ISSN1324-6542

Lesbians on the Loose (LOTL) was a lesbian magazine published in Australia. It first appeared in Sydney in January 1990.[1] It covered news, politics, social issues, and included celebrity interviews and stories on entertainment, pop culture, style and travel.[2]

History and profile

[edit]

Lesbians on the Loose was first published by Frances Rand and Jackie Scherer[3] with an initial run of 1000 copies.[4]

Originally a monthly publication, it set out to keep lesbians informed about activities and events within the community. Scherer left soon after issue one[4] with Rand continuing as publisher until she was joined by Barbara Farrelly in 1994. The magazine grew rapidly reaching a circulation of 20,000 copies by the end of the decade,[5][6] making it the most read lesbian magazine in Australia.[7]

Rand and Farrelly sold the magazine to Silke Bader in 1998,[3] and Bader continued to be the publisher until at least 2019.[8]

In 2010, Silke Bader bought Curve magazine, a US lesbian magazine. The back office of Lesbians on the Loose was merged with Curve magazine, and publishing continued under two separate titles. The magazines usually shared the cover story but published country-related topics in the relevant title.[9]

In 2019 the magazines were separated again and the publisher sold Curve magazine (2020) to its original US owner. LOTL was relaunched and published five more issues in 2021 before it stopped print production. At the end of 2021, LOTL launched its video podcast Queer Conversation.[10]

Digitisation

[edit]

The first nine years have been digitised on the National Library of Australia's archive, Trove.[11]

There is also a complete digital archive available on lotl.com/archive.[citation needed]

In the media

[edit]

Episode 3 of ABC Television documentary series Kweens of the Queer Underground tells the story of LOTL.[12][13]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Welcome!". Lesbians on the Loose (1). January 1990. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  2. ^ Sams, Christine (May 5, 2008). "Missy's lesbian cruise". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  3. ^ a b Calder, William Francis (Jan 2015). Gay Print Media's Golden Era: Australian Magazines and Newspapers 1970-2000 (PDF) (Thesis). The University of Melbourne. p. 137. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  4. ^ a b Price, Julie (January 1991). "Franc Exposure". Lesbians on the Loose (13): 8. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  5. ^ Rand, Frances. (20 February 2019). Lesbians on the Loose. National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ "Lesbians on the Loose - records, 1993-1998". State Library NSW. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  7. ^ Callaghan, Greg (January 1993). "A Lesbian on the Loose". Campaign. 202.
  8. ^ "LOTL Living True". LOTL Magazine. L Media. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  9. ^ "About Us". CURVE. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26.
  10. ^ Queer Conversation playlist on YouTube
  11. ^ "Lesbians on the Loose". National Library of Australia - Trove. Lesbians on the Loose, Sydney Australia. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  12. ^ Kweens of the Queer Underground. Documentary Australia official website.
  13. ^ Kweens of the Queer Underground. IMDb.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lesbians_on_the_Loose&oldid=1247141033"