London’s Boyz magazine celebrates its 25th anniversary this week. The ground-breaking title first appeared to coincide with Pride London in 1991.
It was launched by publishers and partners David Bridle and Kelvin Sollis, who also owned the LGBTI newspaper, the Pink Paper.
In an editorial in this week’s anniversary edition, Bridle, who still owns the title, says that he was prompted to launch the mag when he spotted a gap in the market.
The Pink Paper and rival title Capital Gay covered politics, news and LGBTI protests, but did little coverage of the commercial gay scene. They decided Boyz would be the magazine to cover the scene and reflect their readers’ lives.
"We have never been shy of admitting that Boyz is for everyone, from the Sainsbury’s checkout boy planning his clubbing weekend to the teacher or City banker who just want to relax or get horny on the gay scene", says Bridle in an editorial in this week’s issue.
Boyz took an increasingly cheeky, brazen and humorous tone throughout the 90s, but never forgot to also encourage its readers to take care of themselves, running constant information and discussions around safer sex and HIV, for example.
Boyz celebrated its anniversary with a party last night at London superclub G-A-Y. That club’s promoter, Jeremy Joseph, agrees that when Boyz first appeared, "it was truly innovative… there was nothing else like it".
Congratulations Boyz!