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Aries and the Gay Era


Introduction: 
The Gay Era was a gay newspaper that ran between 1974 to 1980, for roughly 5 years. For the majority of its lifespan the newspaper was created to cater towards the gay experience in rural Pennsylvania. This page includes general information on the Gay Era newspaper, its production, and goal as well as a exploration of Aries, who's artwork is featured across editions of the newspaper.  

More information on the Gay Era, including digital pdfs can be found at the Dickinson College Archives.
Picture
Aries Creative Design Concepts Advertisement, The Gay Era vol. 4 no. 2, April 1978
​The Gay Era: 
The Gay Era, also known sometimes as the Lancaster Gay Era was a newspaper published monthly, sold for between 25₵ at its cheapest and 75₵ at its most expensive. A variety of people worked on the paper while it was operating with some notable names being Sadie, David Leas, Bari Weaver, and Harry Long. These names are not representative of the entire staff of the Gay Era but are seen to appear multiple times throughout the paper's publication history. Some typical content within the paper was a satirical advice column (run by Sadie), updates and events in LGBTQ+ news, community announcements, and a list of resources in rural Pennsylvania for members of the LGBTQ+ community. 

The header on the cover of the Gay Era, as pictured above, consisted of the title over a stylized version of two circles with both the standard male and female sex symbols. The over lapping male sex symbol represents same-sex relationships between men, while the overlapping female sex symbols represents same-sex relationships between women. Included also is the lambda symbol and the iconic image of the hands reaching out to each other from Michelangelo's Creation of Adam. This cover head fluctuated over the issues but generally maintained these aspects over time, eventually in the last few issues this was simplified to just be the title, the Gay Era.​ ​
​
​Aries and Harry Long: ​

Harry Long was a major contributor to the Gay Era, both under his own name and under the name of Aries. Under his own name (with a few exceptions) Harry Long was a writer, publisher, and editor for the Gay Era. Under the name Aries and with the Aries Creative Design Concepts company, Harry worked on the design and layout of the newspaper and drew for the paper. Many of Aries's handiwork, primarily in the form of sketches and drawings, are featured throughout the Gay Era. Due to the nature of the print and Harry's own identity as a gay man, the vast majority of his work focused on queerness, the expression of his own sexuality, and the male form. In the early editions of the paper, specifically volume 2 no. 1 and no. 2 of the papers housed at the Dickinson Archives, artwork from Harry Long appears and is signed with HL. It is in volume 2 no. 3 that the name Aries first appears on covers and artwork.

The creation of the Aries Creative Design Concepts came from Harry's effort to start his own freelance graphic design business and in an effort to diversify the names of contributors to the Gay Era.

​​Harry has a long history with both political and humor based newspapers, both which apply to the Gay Era. In his senior year at Lebanon High School, in conjunction with Phil Clark and Jimmy Shaffer, Harry started an underground newspaper. This was not the only underground newspaper that Harry started and worked on as he then moved onto be the editor of the Stentorium, an albeit short lived, underground newspaper for Lebanon, PA. Harry describes himself as "married to the artwork and the writing." In his oral history as part of the LGBT History Project of Central Pennsylvania, Harry also ties his involvement in queer newspapers to his own coming out:

Picture
Cover art for the Gay Era​ vol. 2 no. 1, March, 1976 by
​Harry Long
Picture
Cover art for the Gay Era vol. 2 no. 2, April, 1976 by
​Harry Long
Harry Long, Oral History, August 2017
The Aries Portfolio:
In the first issue of volume 5, published in June of 1979, the Gay Era featured a piece on Aries, called the Aries Portfolio. Below are images from that portfolio and other works of art by Aries throughout the expanse of the Gay Era's ​ publication.​
The Aries Portfolio:
Picture
Aries Art Portfolio, the Gay Era, vol. 5, no. 1
June 1979
Picture
Aries Art Portfolio, the Gay Era, vol. 5, no. 1
June 1979
Picture
Aries Art Portfolio, the Gay Era, vol. 5, no. 1
June 1979
Picture
Aries Art Portfolio, the Gay Era, vol. 5,
​no. 1 
June 1979
Picture
Aries Art Portfolio, the Gay Era, vol. 5,
​no. 1 
June 1979

​Other Aries Works:
Picture
Gay Pride Collage by Aries, the Gay Era vol 2, no. 4, June 1976
Picture
Artwork by Aries, the Gay Era ​vol. 2 no. 3, May 1976
Picture
Sketch by Aries, the Gay Era vol. 3 no. 1, March 1977
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P.O. Box 5629
Harrisburg, PA 17110

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  • Home
  • The Long Road
    • Beginning >
      • Early Experiences
    • Philadelphia >
      • Philadelphia Part 2
    • Harrisburg >
      • Harrisburg Experiences
    • Lancaster >
      • Lancaster Experiences
    • York >
      • York Experiences
    • Allentown
    • Montgomery >
      • Montgomery Experiences
      • Montgomery Part 2
    • Work Continues >
      • Current Challenges
    • Acknowledgments
  • With Open Hearts & Open Arms
    • Gay LIfe in Pre-Castro Cuba/Homophobia/What's In a Name? Part 1
    • What's in a Name? Part 1 Continued/UMAP/Mattachine Society
    • Leftist Gays in the US/The Mariel Boatlift
    • The Mariel Boatlift Part 2/Resettlement Camps
    • Resettlement Continued/Press Coverage
    • Immigration/What's In a Name? Part 2
    • LGBTQ+ Organizing
    • The Mariel Generation/Life in PA
    • The Eromin Center/Impact of AIDS
    • AIDS in Cuba/LGBTQ+ Rights in Cuba
    • Acknowledgements
  • Stories of Discrimination
    • Hate Crimes >
      • Anita Bryant
      • Escalating Violence
      • Appalachian Trail
      • Bookstore Bombings
    • Employment Discrimination >
      • Blacklisted
      • "Moral Turpitude"
      • Elected
      • Traumatized and penalized
      • Other Stories of Employment Discrimination
    • Transgender Discrimination >
      • High School Experiences
      • Other Stories of Transgender Discrimination
    • Housing and Property Discrimination >
      • Vision of Hope MCC
    • Conclusion
  • We Believe?
    • Early Expereriences
    • Coming Out
    • LGBTQ+ Groups >
      • Religious Life
      • Social Life
      • Political Life
    • Faith and Identity
    • LGBTQ+ Clergy
    • Responses: Backlash
    • Responses: Acceptance
    • Looking Forward
  • Duty, Honor, Pride
    • Vietnam War Era >
      • Investigations
    • Post-Vietnam Experiences
    • "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Policy >
      • Personal Experiences
      • Criticisms
      • Repeal
    • Closing >
      • Citations
  • History of LGBTQ+ Bars
    • Bars of the 1950s & 1960s
    • Bars of the 1970s
    • Bars of the 1980s
    • Bars of the 1990s & 2000s
    • Harrisburg, PA
    • Lancaster, PA
    • York, PA
    • Bar Spotlights >
      • 400 N. 2nd Street, Harrisburg: Pre-Raids
      • Johnny Kobler's
      • Harrisburg LGBTQ+ Friendly Bars of the 1960s
      • The Neptune Lounge
      • The Strawberry Inn
      • Harrisburg LGBTQ+ Bars of the 1970’s
      • Silhouette/D-Gem
      • Shadows
      • The Archives
      • Harrisburg LGBTQ+ Bars of the 1980’s
      • Harrisburg LGBTQ+ Bars of the 1990/2000’s
      • Village Tavern Night Club
      • Tally-Ho Tavern/ The Loft
      • Railroad House Bar
      • The Fiddler
      • Sundown Lounge
      • Altland’s Ranch
      • Town Tavern
      • 14 Karat Room
  • Gender Identity and Gender Expression
    • Terminology
    • Early Years: Impersonation
    • Entertaining for a Cause
    • Gender During Gay LIberation
    • Medical Classification
    • Rise of Publications and Organizations
    • The 1990s
    • Advocacy and Visibility
    • Expansion of Organizations and Activities >
      • Oral Histories and Photos
    • Where We Are Now
  • LGBTQ+ Art and Artists
    • Jude Sharp
    • Paul Foltz
    • Inspired
    • Aries and the Gay Era
  • The Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus
    • What is the Pennsylvania Rural Gay Caucus? >
      • PA Rural Gay Caucus Education Committee
    • Where were these groups located?
    • Gay Lobby Day
    • Important People
    • Pushback Against Opposition
    • What Happened to the Caucus?
  • Early LGBTQ+ Activism
    • Life Before Stonewall
    • Who's Who?
    • Richard Schlegel
    • Social Organizations
    • Effects of Stonewall on Central PA
    • Political Organizing
    • Rifts in the Movement
    • Read All About It!
  • Coming Out
    • Emily Newberry
    • Joanne Carrol
    • Amanda Hecker
    • Mara Kiesling
    • Maria Warren
    • Shaka Hudson
    • Lindsay Snowden
    • David Payne
    • Dr. Eric Selvy
    • Heidi Notario
    • Tammy de Sol
    • Cindy Lou Mitzel
    • LGBTQ+ Support Groups
  • Out on Campus
    • Acknowledgments
    • Bryn Mawr
    • HBCUs
    • Lafayette College
    • BCCC
    • Penn State
    • UPenn
    • Pitt
    • Lehigh University
    • Shippensburg University
    • HACC
  • Other Resources