Homoerotic Archaeology: Honcho (August 1985), Part One

Friday, August 19, 2022

Honcho (August 1985), Part One

In April of 1980, Fidel Castro rejected thousands of dissidents from Cuba, causing over 125,000 refugees, many criminals and the mentally ill, to flood the eastern coast of the United States. As public fears consumed the nation, many were transferred to Fort Chaffe in western Arkansas, where violence quickly erupted and prompted military intervention. Although a majority of the country called for their immediate deportation, others, including members of the gay community, sympathized with the refugees. In fact, the empathy of these homosexuals mirrored similar sentiments from 1965, when the New York Mattachine Society staged their Cuban Labor Camp Protest over governmental internment of homosexual Cuban migrants in labor camps. In this August 1985 issue of Honcho (which had been broken into two parts), the short story “Cuban Carne” explores these shared feelings of persecution as the narrator houses two refugees assisted by the Gay Action League. Also included in this first half are the short stories “Avoid Sex, It Slows You Down” (about a messenger boy’s erotic adventure) and “Used by Men” (detailing the narrator's encounters while cruising the docks of New Orleans) and the photospreads titled “Fast Lane,” “Surfer Up,” and “Wild Eyes.”

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What is Homoerotic Archaeology?

In 2016, I discovered several discarded boxes at an estate sale. Under their flimsy flaps were hundreds of well-worn issues of homoerotic magazines from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. I purchased them out of mild intrigue and, as I perused their pages, I was startled to realize that something commonly disregarded as pornographic smut earnestly chronicled the evolution of gay culture: the social and sexual liberation of the 1970s, the crushing devastation from AIDS during the 1980s, and the gradual strengthening of the community in the 1990s. As a gay man, I was touched by the subtle narrative these publications told. As a historian, I was motivated to digitally preserve their content. And, as an educator, I was driven to create a platform to share that information freely with others interested in the progression of gay society. Homoerotic Archaeology is that venue. Here you will find the advertisements, articles, short stories, and (of course) pictures found in these magazines lovingly preserved and presented for future generations of gay men to enjoy and study.

Why Preserve Homoerotica?

As early as the 1970s, scholars such as June Rook have stressed the need to preserve homosexual history in an effort to combat repression and establish a cultural background for future generations. Much of the preservation process admirably focuses on the substantial works of homosexual artists and thinkers; however, it sadly ignores other elements quintessential to the community’s history, particularly homoerotica. Although frequently labeled obscene filth, homoerotica has, just like the significant creations of artists and thinkers, been a prevalent part of the group’s culture and has played an integral role in shaping identities and perceptions (consider how influential Tom of Finland’s hypermasculinity has been in molding the body ideals of modern gay men). Due to this factor, the conservation of homoerotica is just as essential as the preservation of major artistic and theoretical homosexual works.