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HENRY McCLURG, PUBLISHER
Henry McClurg,
publisher of a long line of newspapers spanning over forty years and
self-declared Mayor of Montrose was originally from Mississippi. In
Houston he worked a couple of years for a local radio station until
realizing the opportunity and need for a gay publication. He wanted
to provide competition for the only other gay publication at the time,
The Nuntius, which had a different focus. His new publication was called
Contact, and it begun in March 1974. Its circulation grew in the Gulf
States region, with its fare of news stories, bar guides and ads. It
ran 17 issues, until October 1975, when McClurg sold the publication
to The Advocate. As part of the arrangement he would work for them,
which he did for a year, after which he became hungry to start another
newspaper of his own. The Montrose Star was Houston's first "gay
newspaper" with a focus on news. It lasted from late 1976 until
the end
of 1980.
Next was what would become the series of Voice newspapers and a long-running
publishing empire. The Montrose Voice began in October 1980 and in early
1991 changed its name to the New Voice, and then at the end of 1993
to the Houston Voice. Later that year McClurg sold the paper to its
then Editor, and the publication survived in varying states, eventually
being sold to Windows Media, which closed in 2009. Worth mentioning
are several other short-run publications, The Star, in 1977 and 1978;
and Out in Texas in 1983. A side project was the Dallas Gay News, running
from September 1982 until April 1984, when that paper's editors left
to start their own, The Dallas Voice.
From 2005 until 2010 McClurg published the Montrose Gem. He founded
the Montrose Star in March 2010, and then eight months later sold it
to the current publishers ( also of Gay & Lesbian Yellow Pages),
and that newspaper
continues. Several other papers were started, with short runs, like
the Montrose News, in 2011, and the Houston Progressive Voice. In addition,
McClurg also ran the Montrose Guest House for about fifteen years, starting
in 1993.
While there have been many Houston publications over the years, in varying
formats, it was Henry McClurg who contributed the most to bringing gay
& lesbian news to Houston. In an interview for a Rice University
Oral History Project in 2012 McClurg summed up why publishing was so
important to him. "I figured my publications had a purpose, to
do good, to educate people and to educate our community, let them know
what is going on and be proud...not be ashamed that you're gay."
Link
to large section on McClurg publications at HoustonLGBTHistory.org
McClurg Obituary
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