Homoerotic Archaeology: Honcho (March 1993), Part One

Friday, March 6, 2026

Honcho (March 1993), Part One

In the spring of 1916, Sir Roger Casement, a beloved philanthropist who had worked to protect African natives from colonial exploitation, was tried and charged for treason due to his involvement with the campaign for Irish independence. Although the original verdict did not involve death, Ernley Blackwell, a legal advisor to the British Home Office, used Casement’s Black Diaries, a personal memoir he had written which graphically detailed his sexual encounters with African men during his humanitarian efforts, as a means to tarnish the individual’s reputation and sway King George V into overruling the verdict and demanding a death sentence. Despite pleas for a stay of execution from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the United States’ Senate, and writers George Bernard Shaw and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the King, repulsed by the accounts presented in the dairies, had Casement executed. In this March 1993 issue of Honcho (which has been broken into two parts), Roger Edmonson’s article explores the life and legacy of Casement, including his poetic defense of same-sex love. Also included in this first half is the short story “Call of the Wild” (about a fishing trip that ends in a threesome) and photspreads titled “The Bull’s-Eye of Love,” “Hey, Pal, What Are You Looking At? Wanna See Something Hot?” and “Off-Duty.”

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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.