If you're one who enjoys the tactile experience of magazines but doesn't care for the current crop of LGBT mags out on newsstands, you may enjoy the new quarterly periodical BOY CLUB.
The magazine is the brain-child of co-creators Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick and Bobby Solomon, whose name you may recognize from his culture and design blog The Fox Is Black.
The L.A.-based publication is a self-described silly, less-serious take on the gay magazine. As for what the title implies, it's a nod to anyone who “appreciates, is, loves, identifies with, or wants to be a boy.” Before you get your head bent out of shape trying to dissect that–don't. That's antithetical to BOY CULTURE‘s vibe.
Fitzpatrick says, “It's intended to be a fun, colorful take on maleness wrapped up with a bit of sexiness, a bit of aesthetics, and a lot of wit. We wanted to make a gay / LGBTQ magazine that was somewhat silly because so many publications in this genre are very, very serious. Hopefully this is a nice reprieve from the norm.”
He adds, “We made BOY CLUB as a reaction to having trouble finding ourselves in gay media. We kept finding ourselves looking at magazines for LGBTQ persons that we loved and just found them too unapproachable and beautiful. We instead wanted to make something for the gay everyman, something that dudes can look at and see themselves in, something that they could interact with via a recipe or story that speaks to our commonality.”
Above all else, BOY CLUB is about having fun. Says Solomon, “Being gay is fun! And we wanted to reflect that. That's been the thing people have latched onto most: it being such an upbeat little mag.”
The theme of the first issue is FRESH and features a range of pieces, from an interview with a gay house cleaner who looks like a go-go boy to a gay chef who explains how difficult it is to be out in the kitchen; from a recipe for Gay Ass Quiche (that's literally what it's called) to cactuses that look like penises.
The magazine will be published quarterly-ish and retails for $15. It's available for purchase online and at select retailers. You can also find BOY CLUB on Instagram, Facebook, and Spotify.
