Montrose Voice

More than 30 years of Houston LGBTQ history is preserved and presented in this digital collection from the Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of GLBT History (GCAM). The collection contains issues of one of Houston's most notable LGBTQ publications, the Montrose Voice. Over 250 issues from throughout the publication's history are preserved in this collection, ranging from May 1981 to July 2006.

The Gulf Coast Archive and Museum was created to collect, preserve and provide access to historical items from the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community in the gulf coast area of Texas. Over the last 20 years, GCAM has located every issue of the Voice in its different incarnations, from 1980 to 2014. Known at various points in its run as the New Voice and the Houston Voice, this local paper was one of many started by Houston publisher Henry McClurg.

As with some of McClurg's earlier publications, the Voice had a Houston focus but national interest. Its contents included syndicated columns and cartoons, editorials, letters from readers, news items, classified and graphical ads, and community calendars. While later issues focused more on gay-friendly entertainment and nightlife options in the Houston area, during its early decades, the Voice was a significant source of information on current political and social events. A number of gay-owned and gay-friendly business and civic organizations advertised in the Voice's pages, letting readers know where they could find welcome both in and out of Montrose, Houston's gayborhood.

Issues presented in this collection contain pieces dealing with a number of issues of Texan and national LGBTQ interest, including: the emergence of HIV/AIDS as a major health threat, including government and medical responses; political activism and campaigns of notable LGBTQ Houstonians, including Annise Parker, Glen Maxey, Larry Bagneris, Phyllis Frye, and Ray Hill; legal cases surrounding Texas Penal Code Section 21.06, including Baker v. Wade and Lawrence v. Texas; the development of and controversies surrounding Houston's Pride Week celebrations; local and national LGBTQ-related crimes, including the murders of Paul Broussard, Marion Pantzer, and Matthew Shepard; and the spread of civil unions and marriage equality throughout the United States and Canada before the Obergefell v. Hodges decision.

The original materials are owned by the Gulf Coast Archive and Museum of GLBT History. (http://gcam.org/)