Star Observer

Last updated

Star Observer
Ssologo media.png
TypeMonthly magazine
Format Tabloid and online
Owner(s)Out Publications (since 20 June 2019)
PublisherOut Publications
Staff writers2
Founded1979
LanguageEnglish
Headquarters Ultimo, NSW, Australia
Circulation 20,000 (June 2021)
ISSN 0819-5129
OCLC number 26727666
Website www.starobserver.com.au OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

The Star Observer is a free monthly magazine and online newspaper that caters to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex communities in Australia. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Since 20 June 2019 the Star Observer has been owned by media company Out Publications. [4] [5]

History and readership

The newspaper was initially published by Michael Glynn as a tabloid in 1979 under the name The Sydney Star [6] and is the oldest and largest publication of its kind in Australia. [7] In 1982 the paper changed its name, becoming The Star (1982–1985), later undergoing several name changes, including Sydney's Star Observer (1986–1987), Sydney Star Observer (1987–2014; 2019 onwards) and Star Observer (2014-2019).

The typical profile of the audience is aged between 23 years and 50 years, with a higher than average income level. [8] With a 2015 audited circulation in excess of 15,000 per month, the publishers at that time claimed a readership exceeding 41,000 readers in print and 100,000+ online. [8]

In late 2013, Elias Jahshan was appointed editor; shortly afterwards, the publication ceased being a weekly newspaper and became a monthly magazine. Subsequent editors have included Corey Sinclair, Andrew M. Potts and Peter Hackney.

The current editors, as of January 2020, are Douglas Magaletti (print edition) and Shibu Thomas (digital).

On 20 June 2019 it was reported that the Star Observer was saved from voluntary administration by media company Out Publications. [4] [5]

In mid-2019, Out Publications began a sister publication in Melbourne, the Melbourne Star Observer. Its contents are identical to the Sydney title except that local advertisements are inserted. A homonymous masthead, founded in 1985 by Danny Vadasz of Gay Publications Co-operative Ltd., was in circulation until 2000. [9] [10] [11]

Format and content

In hardcopy tabloid format, The Star (as it is commonly known) is published on the third Thursday of each month and is distributed to numerous locations in Sydney and Melbourne. [8] Copies can be found in cafés, libraries, cinemas, theatres, book shops, medical practices and community centres as well as gay and lesbian community outlets such as pubs, nightclubs, gay and lesbian friendly retail shops, gyms and sex on premises venues.

Both the tabloid publication and online version contain local, national, and international coverage related to gay and lesbian news, opinion and lifestyle. Non-specifically gay and lesbian items, such as arts and culture, real estate and technology are also covered. A strong focus of the publication is on community, such as sport, gay and lesbian business events, and opinion.

Each year special publications are produced to celebrate Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, Midsumma Festival and Mardi Gras Film Festival.

Notable coverage

The Star Observer extensively covered the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in New South Wales, which was enacted on May 22 1984 by the Parliament of New South Wales. [12] [13]

During the AIDS Epidemic, the Star Observer ran in-depth articles concerning public prejudice, medical treatments and insurance claim problems. [14]

The Star Observer also extensively covered Gay Gang Murders by youths that occurred in Sydney over several decades, including the murder of Scott Johnson, and the murder of Richard Johnson by the 'Alexandria Eight'. Journalist Martyn Goddard who had replaced Tim Carrigan as Star Observer Editor in 1989, [15] covered the story both in the Star, and the Sydney Morning Herald. [16] [17] [18]

Community support

The shareholders of the publishing company have never drawn dividends from any profits generated by the Star Observer. [6] Instead, the Star Observer has made donations to support the community through entities such as the AIDS Trust, Victorian AIDS Council, the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation and Twenty10 as well as others. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras</span> LGBT pride event

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or Sydney Mardi Gras is an event in Sydney, New South Wales attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around Australia and overseas. One of the largest LGBT festivals in the world, Mardi Gras is the largest Pride event in Oceania. It includes a variety of events such as the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade and Party, Bondi Beach Drag Races, Harbour Party, the academic discussion panel Queer Thinking, Mardi Gras Film Festival, as well as Fair Day, which attracts 70,000 people to Victoria Park, Sydney.

JOY 94.9, stylised as JOY or JOY 94.9, is a community radio station broadcasting at 94.9 FM in Melbourne. It is Australia's first and only LGBTQI+ community radio station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ rights in Australia</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights in Australia rank among the highest in the world; having significantly advanced over the latter half of the 20th century and early 21st century. Opinion polls and the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey indicate widespread popular support for same-sex marriage within the nation. Australia in 2018, in fact was the last of the Five Eyes set of countries - that consisted of namely Canada (2005), New Zealand (2013), United Kingdom (2014) and the United States (2015) to legalize same-sex marriage. A 2013 Pew Research poll found that 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth-most supportive country surveyed in the world. With its long history of LGBTQ activism and annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, Sydney has been named one of the most gay-friendly cities in the world.

<i>SX News</i>

SX News was a weekly gay and lesbian newspaper based in Sydney, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Chadwick</span> Australian politician

Virginia Anne Chadwick AO was a Liberal Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1978 to 1999. She was the first NSW female Minister for Education; the first female President of the New South Wales Legislative Council; and Chair and CEO of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Queensland Pride is a monthly gay and lesbian magazine based in Brisbane, Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in New South Wales</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the Australian state of New South Wales have most of the same rights and responsibilities as non-LGBT people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Queer Archives</span> LGBT archive in Australia

The Australian Queer Archives (AQuA) is a community-based non-profit organisation committed to the collection, preservation and celebration of material reflecting the lives and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex LGBTI Australians. It is located in Melbourne. The Archives was established as an initiative of the 4th National Homosexual Conference, Sydney, August 1978, drawing on the previous work of founding President Graham Carbery. Since its establishment the collection has grown to over 200,000 items, constituting the largest and most significant collection of material relating to LGBT Australians and the largest collection of LGBT material in Australia, and the most prominent research centre for gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans and intersex history in Australia.

The Mardi Gras Film Festival is an Australian LGBTQ+ film festival held in Sydney, New South Wales annually as part of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras celebrations. It is organised by Queer Screen Limited, a non-profit organization, and is one of the world's largest platforms for queer cinema.

<i>QNews</i> Australian LGBT+ news outlet

QNews is an Australian online news outlet based in Brisbane, Queensland catering to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer communities in Australia. The first issue was published in December 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ history in Australia</span>

This article details the history of the LGBTQ rights movement in Australia, from the colonial era to the present day.

David McDiarmid (1952–1995) was an artist, designer and political activist, recognised for his prominent and sustained artistic engagement in issues relating to gay male identity and HIV/AIDS. He is also known for his involvement in the gay liberation movement of the early 1970s, when he was the first person arrested at a gay rights protest in Australia, as well as his artistic direction of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. From its inception, McDiarmid's art career encompassed, as both subject and inspiration, gay male sexuality, politics and urban subcultures. His creative techniques included: collage, painting, drawing, calligraphy, mosaic, installation, various forms of print-making, sculpture and artist's books. He was a graphic designer, designer and fabric painter for women's and men's fashion, and an artist and creative director for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras street parades.

Alexander "Lex" Watson,, was an Australian LGBT rights activist, historian and political scientist. Born and first educated in Perth, Western Australia, Watson spent most of his life working for and then later the cataloguing of, gay law reform and the gay rights movement in New South Wales and Australia.

Dayenu is an LGBTQ+ organisation based in Sydney, Australia. The word Dayenu means "enough" in Hebrew, and the group uses it to mean that they have had "enough" of homophobia.

Sydney's Pride History Group was established as the first volunteer community group dedicated exclusively to preserving the history of LGBTIQ Sydney predominantly through the collection of oral history interviews. The Group's origins date from discussions held at the Sydney Pride Centre in between 2003 and 2004. The Group's Patrons are Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, artist William Yang and Meredith Burgmann.

Sue Wills was an Australian activist, prominent in the Women's Liberation Movement and the press for LGBT rights. She was instrumental in challenging the psychiatric community's views and treatment of homosexuality and a co-founder of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (C.A.M.P.)

Lance Gowland (1935–2008) was an Australian LGBT rights activist, unionist, peace activist and Communist Party member. He was a member of the Campaign Against Moral Persecution (CAMP) and as one of the organisers drove the truck in the first Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ culture in Sydney</span>

The LGBT community of Sydney, in New South Wales, is the largest in Australia and has a firm place as one of the iconic gay cities of the contemporary world. In a 2013 Pew Research poll, 79% of Australians agreed that homosexuality should be accepted by society, making it the fifth most supportive country in the survey behind Spain (88%), Germany (87%), Canada and the Czech Republic. With a long history of LGBT rights activism and the annual three-week-long Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, Sydney is one of the most gay-friendly cities in Australia and in the world.

Craig Fredric Johnston is an LGBT activist and former politician. He was active in the Australian Labor Party, Communist Party of Australia and Socialist Alliance. He is considered a founding member of the gay rights movement in Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s, having established the Gay Rights Lobby with Lex Watson in 1980, four years before homosexuality was decriminalised in New South Wales in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay gang murders</span> Murders in Sydney, Australia between 1970 and 2010

The gay gang murders are a series of suspected anti-LGBT hate crimes perpetrated by large gangs of youths in Sydney, between 1970 and 2010, with most occurring in 1989 and 1990. The majority of these occurred at local gay beats, and were known to the police as locations where gangs of teenagers targeted homosexuals. In particular, many deaths are associated with the cliffs of Marks Park, Tamarama, where the victims would allegedly be thrown or herded off the cliffs to their deaths. As many as 88 gay men were murdered by these groups in the period, with many of the deaths unreported, considered accidents or suicides at the time.

References

  1. ↑ 'Sydney Star Observer'. National Library of Australia. ISSN:1837-090X.
  2. ↑ The Sydney Star Observer: 1980-1990. 'Special Collections: Living Histories'. University of Newcastle (Australia).
  3. ↑ Star Observer. LGBT community centre, Victoria (state).
  4. 1 2 "The Star Observer has been saved". Star Observer. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  5. 1 2 Bakker, Richard (19 June 2019). "Star Observer saved by established publisher". QNews . Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  6. 1 2 "About - History". Star Online. Gay & Lesbian Community Publishing Limited. 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  7. ↑ "Star Observer". Members. Gay and Lesbian Australian Media Alliance. 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "2009–2010 Media Kit". SSO Media. Gay & Lesbian Community Publishing Limited. 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  9. ↑ Thomas, Shibu (12 July 2021). "Danny Vadasz: The Man Who Built A Gay Media Empire Starting In Melbourne". Star Observer . Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  10. ↑ "Chronolgy of Australian LGBTI+ periodicals" (PDF). Australian Queer Archives. 24 August 2020. p. 3. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  11. ↑ OCLC   1164137222
  12. ↑ "Decriminalisation of Homosexuality Thirtieth Anniversary". Legislative Assembly Hansard. Parliament of New South Wales. 28 May 2014.
  13. ↑ Jahshan, Elias (22 May 2014). "30 years on: Star Observer's front cover when being gay in NSW was decriminalised". New South Wales: Star Observer . Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  14. ↑ Bell, Terrence (14 October 1988). "Insurers say "NO WAY"". Sydney Star Observer . Retrieved 20 August 2023– via University of Newcastle Living Histories.
  15. ↑ "A chronology of LGBTIQ+ communities and movements in Sydney from 1969 to 2018: 1989" (PDF). Sydney's Pride History Group. 5 October 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
  16. ↑ Goddard, Martyn (6 April 1991). "Seeds Of Tolerance: In The Gay Killing Fields". Spectrum. Sydney Morning Herald. p. 39.
  17. ↑ Goddard, Martyn (25 January 1991). "Death Boast". Star Observer. Front page.
  18. ↑ Wade, Matthew (23 September 2016). "The Sydney gay beat murders revealed". Star Observer . Retrieved 14 August 2023.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.