OUT/LOOK was a political and cultural quarterly published out of San Francisco from 1988 to 1992. It was the first publication to bring together lesbians and gay men after a decade or more of political and cultural separatism. It was consciously multi-gender and racially inclusive, addressed politics and culture, wrested with controversial topics, and emphasized visual material along with scholarly and creative writing. OUT/LOOK built a bridge between academic inquiry and the broader community.
Q+Public promises to bring OUT/LOOK’s political and cultural agenda into the 21st century, to revitalize a queer public sphere, and to bring together intellectuals, activists, and artists to explore questions that urgently concern all LGBTQ communities.
The series editors are E.G. Crichton, professor Emerita at the University of California Santa Cruz and artist-in-residence at the GLBT Historical Society from 2008-2014, and the late Jeffrey Escoffier (1942-2022), who was one of the founding members and the publisher of the pioneering LGBTQ journal OUT/LOOK.
Q+Public launches in February 2023 with the first three publications in the series:
Unsafe Words: Queering Consent in the #MeToo Era edited by Shantel Gabrieal Buggs and Trevor Hoppe is a provocative book that brings together academics, activists, artists, and sex workers to tackle challenging questions about sex, power, and harm.
Working with the archives of the GLBT Historical Society, artist E.G. Crichton decided to do something to bridge the gap between today’s LGBTQ people and the generations who came before them in Matchmaking in the Archive: 19 Conversations with the Dead and 3 Encounters with Ghosts. Crichton has selected 19 innovative LGBTQ artists, writers, and musicians then paired each of them with a deceased person whose personal artifacts are a part of the archive.
A Pill for Promiscuity: Gay Sex in an Age of Pharmaceuticals edited by Andrew R. Spieldenner and the late Jeffrey Escoffier brings together academics, artists, and activists—from different generations, countries, ethnic backgrounds, and HIV statuses—to reflect on how gay sex has changed in a post PrEP era. With a diverse group of contributors that includes novelist Andrew Holleran, trans scholar Loretta LeMaster, cartoonist Steve MacIsaac, and pornographic film director Mister Pam, this book asks provocative questions about how we might reimagine queer sex and sexuality in the 21st century.
