Editorial

READER FEEDBACK

The fact that you have this issue of VECTOR in your hands right now indicates your support and approval whether it was on an impulse buying or a subscription. Therefore, I am hesitant to ask for even more support but... VECTOR is currently the oldest continuously published gay periodical in this country and perhaps the world. Any publication of any kind that manages to survive for eleven years represents a kind of miracle. In looking over the past 132 issues, I am struck by the incredible variations from pure crap to pure gold, and it is with humility that I realize the degree of support we have received from our community, which has seen us through the bad months, and the bad mouths and especially from our advertisers, who, more than anyone, have felt the pinch of tight money.

VECTOR has been the baby of many fine minds over the past eleven years, and each editor has brought his particular stamp to the book via both editorial and graphic specialties. For the past twentyseven months it has been my baby, and with the recent addition of Art Director, Jay Manning, to our staff, I am finally at a place where VECTOR is as I feel it should be, given our budget and limited resources. I am proud of the past issue (which was the most successful seller in our eleven-year history), and, of course, this one. Eut, that's not enough. We are producing a magazine for YOU, and at this point I have no defense for the style or content of VECTOR. We have arrived. Now we need feedback from our consumers, and if our staff philosophies are not in harmony with our readership, we're all in trouble and something has to give and change. There is a temptation (Playgirl, VIVA) to hit upon a successful formula and run the same magazine month after month after month until each issue actually becomes a cliche in a self-duplicating aura of boredom.

Consequently, I call your attention to the survey on page 35 and respectfully urge you to make your opinions known to this staff. We want to address our book to the entire gay community and in order to do so we MUST know where we are on the mark and where we are not.

Our ivory tower is actually made of glass and built on a hill of sand. The glass is two-way and the sand is constantly shifting and in order to remain in business, and on top, we have to know for whom the bell tolls and, within reason, ring with our readership. Please. Take the moment and a stamp. It's important.

PHOTO BY JOHN DAVID HOUGH

EDITOR: Richard Piro

ART DIRECTOR: Jay Manning COPY EDITOR: Robert G. Boylan ASSOCIATE EDITORS:

Photography: James Armstrong Politics: Frank Fitch East Bay: Michael Novick Poetry: David Melnick Books: Frank Howell Campus: Jack Andersen Food: Ambrose Covers: Kenneth Rice PHOTOGRAPHERS:

James Armstrong, Graven Image, John David Hough, Sierra Domino, Rick Jarrett, Damon De Winters, Guy Corry, James Moss ILLUSTRATIONS:

Jay Manning, R. W. Borg, Gail Chase

PUBLICATIONS DIRECTOR: Bill Plath BUSINESS MANAGER: Kenneth Rice DISPLAY ADVERTISING: Chuck Clocker RATES UPON REQUEST: 415 781-1570

S.I.R. BOARD OF TRUSTEES:

Charlotte Coleman, Doug DeYoung, Larry Eppinette, Bill Plath, Bob Ross, Jack Trujillo Ron Ross, Bob Wiggin

The last two presidential editorials dealt with politics in a time of exciting legislative change. And we won! This month political editor, Frank Fitch, has chosen fiction (Page 37) to deal with the impending struggle on the part of straight society to repeal the freedoms we were to have gained on January 1, 1976. This is our first REAL showdown, and if we blow it, it will be clear indication to the rest of these United States that medieval witch hunts are both approved and desired by Mr. and Mrs. average Christianizing citizen. We are more than six million. We know our history. It's up to you.e

Representation in VECTOR via authors, photographers, artists, models, or advertisers does not automatically presume a particular sexual orientation. Authors' opinions are their own and do not necessarily coincide with S.I.R. policies or philosophies.

PUBLISHER

The Society For Individual Rights 83 Sixth Street San Francisco, California 94103 [415] 781-1570