Gay Areas Telephone Directory is an artifact from another age. This is an exact facsimile of an American telephone directory published in December 1983 by Gay International Inc. and targeted at the queer population.
1983 was a watershed year for LGBTQ people. The first HIV/AIDS cases were reported barely two years before, marking the beginning of a health crisis that would go on to kill more than half a million (primarily LGBTQ) people within the next ten years.
The phonebook is a now-obsolete format, but before mobile phones and the internet, every household had one by the landline. This queer directory featured listings and advertisements for businesses friendly towards or catering to lesbians and gay men at a time when such visibility was a rare and possibly dangerous thing. In addition to serving as a portrait of a community and its culture at a crucial stage of development, Gay Areas Telephone Directory stands as a time capsule of lost generation(s) felled by AIDS.
Printed by Szaransky Productions in Poland.
This is a facsimile edition of the 1983 Seventh Edition originally published by Gay Internation Inc., reprinted by artists Matt Connors in his imprint Pre-Echo Press.
Softcover encased in slipcase, 8.25 inches x 10.25 inches, 2017.