Venus was an American newsmagazine targeted to LGBT people of color, particularly African-Americans. Established in 1995, Venus was the first national LGBT magazine founded by a lesbian, Charlene Cothran. The magazine was named in honor of Venus Landin (1961–1993), a friend of Cothran's who was murdered by her former lover. At its peak, Venus was distributed to seventy-two locations across the United States, Canada, and major cities in Europe. The magazine featured noteworthy commentary and ground-breaking articles on issues related to the African-American LGBT community. In 2006, the magazine and its founding publisher changed editorial focus and sexual identity. Following a decrease in advertising revenue, Venus ceased operations by 2007.
History
In 1991, Charlene Cothran, Venus's founding publisher, participated in the annual National Lesbian Conference (NLC). The Atlanta event attracted 2,500 women, including artists and writers.Ellis, Brittany (March 8, 2024). The National Lesbian Conference (1991, Atlanta). Invisible Histories. Medium. Cothran, who served on the NLC hospitality committee, first discussed publishing a new LGBT magazine, specifically “by, for, and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of African descent, with a focus on African-American lesbians and Atlanta.”
Venus Landin On March 2, 1993,Mitchell, C (June 10, 1993). Cycle of Pain: Domestic Violence Just Doesn’t Happen to Straight People. Southern Voice.Douglas-Brown, Laura (October 23, 2008). Local: Venus Landin. “October is Gay History Month. Every day, Southern Voice highlights a person or group that has helped shape Atlanta's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.” Southern Voice. Venus Landin, co-chair of the African-American Gay Lesbian Alliance of Atlanta, BLK Vol. 5 No. 1 (39th issue, January 1994) . National Museum of African American History and Culture. was murdered by her former lover, Bisa Niambi.Banks, Alicia (2006). On Betraying Venus Landin: Charlene Cothran is Buckdancing On Her Grave.Lee, Marcus (May 15, 2023). No Easy Romance: An Introduction to the Black Gay Life Forum. This post is part a roundtable on Jafari S. Allen’s There’s a Disco Ball Between Us. Black Perspectives. Niambi fatally shot Landin three times, and then killed herself in a murder-suicide. Cothran was with Landin in the days preceding her murder and helped her friend to retrieve her personal belongings from her ex-lover's residence.Minister Hatchett (March 18, 2007). Ex-Lesbian Comes Out The Closet.
The 1993 Atlanta Gay Pride Festival and festivities were dedicated to the memory of Venus Landin (May 17, 1961 - March 2, 1993).Bagby, Dyana (October 10, 2014). Celebrating 44 years of Atlanta Pride and who we are. The GA Voice.Venus Landin Funeral Program, 1993. Invisible Histories Project. p. 114.
Venus Magazine Venus was the first national LGBT magazine owned and operated by a lesbian,Monroe, Rev. Irene (January 5, 2012). Black LGBT community doesn’t support its own. Washington Blade. and after Landin's murder, Cothran dedicated and named Venus magazine to honor her friend.
The first issue of Venus was distributed in January 1995. Research Catalog: Venus Magazine, 1995-. Published by: Cothran Communications, Inc. Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. Atlanta, GA. New York Public Library.rutledge, emerald faith (September 6, 2023). From the Black Queer South to the World. Across its twelve-year lifespan, Atlanta-based Venus magazine brought southern voices to the larger Black queer print media network. JSTOR Daily. The aim of the magazine was to be a platform for Black LGBT voices.Piccoli, Dana (November 3, 2023). LGBT HISTORY PROJECT: Exploring 70 years of lesbian publications, from 1940s zines to modern glossy magazines. Windy City Times. A profile of Phill Wilson, a gay African-American HIV/AIDS activist and Grand Marshall of the 1995 Martin Luther King parade in Atlanta, appeared in the first issue. Venus Magazine. Premiere Issue. January 1995.Collective Power and Culture Wars - 1990 to 1999. OutHistory.com. The magazine was available for free and placed in twenty locations in Atlanta, including LGBT bars, bookstores, and restaurants. By November 1995, Venus was available in seventy-two locations across the U.S., including distribution points in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Philadelphia.
In 1996, Venus had a press run of 8,000 issues and was circulated in several cities with large LGBT populations.Shumate, Richard (February 2, 1996). Cultural Connections. Venus magazine is on a mission to build the visibility and self-esteem of the gay people of color community. The Front Page. Venus publisher and editor-in-chief Cothran was featured in an episode of ”In the Life,”Linton, Katherine, Charlene Cothran, Keith Boykin, Dirk Shafer, Ciprian Cucu, Troy D Perry, Lavender Light, and Lavender Light. 1996. In the Life. Episode 503, Black History Month / Produced by In The Life Media. the longest running LGBTQ news magazine on television.Horak, Jan-Christopher. In the Life: Introduction. UCLA Film and Television Archive Library. That same year, a group of Black gay press editors and publishers gathered in Washington, DC, to network and to discuss the expansion of publications directed towards African-Americans LGBT citizens who may not respond to or subscribe to mainstream LGBT publications.Hoffman, Wayne (August 1, 1996). Bay Area Reporter, Volume 26, Number 31. Benro Enterprises, Inc. GLBT Historical Society.
Venus moves to New York In 1998, Venus moved its headquarters from Atlanta to the New York City area, and published four to six issues per year. An annual subscription to Venus would cost $14.95. The Washington Blade featured an article on Cothran and her efforts to promote and expand Venus.The Washington Blade, February 13, 1998. District Digital, DC Public Library.
In the late 1990s, Venus published “The Venus Healthy Living Pocket Guide,” a booklet that included health information targeted to the African-American community. Charlene Cothran. Publisher Venus Magazine. FemmeNoir. A Web Portal For Lesbians Of Color. The guide was distributed for free, and funded by Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Throughout its history, Venus’s goal was to provide news and information for LGBT people of color and to be a resource for the African-American LGBT community.Venus Magazine for Lesbians and Gays of Color (Atlanta, GA), Feb Jun-Aug/Sep 1995; Feb/Mar, May; July, Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov 1996;, Box: Venus Magazine. Gender and Sexuality periodicals collection, Q-Periodicals. Special Collections. https://archivesspace.library.gsu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/160582 Accessed November 27, 2024.Related Atlanta Gay Publications: Venus Magazine, 1996, Box: 9, Folder: 30. Black and White Men Together records, ahc.MSS903. Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center. https://aspace-atlantahistorycenter.galileo.usg.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/44535 Accessed November 28, 2024.Venus, bulk: 1995 - 2003. Periodicals, PER. LGBT Community Center National History Archive. https://archives.gaycenter.org/repositories/2/archival_objects/12230 Accessed November 29, 2024.Venus Magazine (Atlanta, GA) [magazine]: v. 1, no. 1 (February 1995) - v. 2, no. 7 (July 1996), incomplete; unnumbered issue (Winter 1999) - v. 8, no. 2 (March/April 2002).. William Way LGBT Community Center periodicals collection, Ms-Coll-37. John J. Wilcox, Jr. LGBT Archives, William Way LGBT Community Center. Research Catalog: Venus Magazine (search). New York Public Library. Venus is considered one of the most influential Black LGBTQ periodicals.Washington, Craig (June 16, 2022). Remembering Traxx and Texas: Atlanta Black Gay and Lesbian Nightlife Back in the Day. Georgia Voice.
In the early 2000s, Venus contributed magazines and materials to The Black Gay and Lesbian Archive Project.Gaylord, Sanford (May 1, 2003). The Black Gay and Lesbian Archive Project. Windy City Times.LAGAR Newsletter 27 (February 2006). Happy New Year, LAGAR-ites! The Society of American Archivists. The project was donated to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 2004, and later renamed the “In the Life Archive.”In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library. Venus is credited with donating issues and magazine records to the Auburn Avenue African American Lesbian and Gay Print Culture collection;African American Lesbian and Gay Print Culture Collection, aarl98-008. Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History. https://aspace-aafa.galileo.usg.edu/repositories/2/resources/12 Accessed December 02, 2024. the magazine's donation helped to establish the collection.Feinberg, M. (2010). "Designing collections for storytelling: purpose, pathos, and poetry" Information Research, 15(3) paper colis701. [Available at http://InformationR.net/ir/15-1/colis7/colis701.html]
In 2006, Cothran changed the editorial policy of Venus and declared herself a former lesbian.Wooten, Amy (January 31, 2007). Venus Magazine Becomes Ex-Gay Pub. Windy City Times.Doxey, Tamara Y. (October 5, 2007). PUBLIC HEARING HOUSE BILL 1400. House State Government Committee. House of Representatives. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. p. 45. LGBT advertisers dwindled, and Venus magazine ceased operations by 2007. CSCR 32600 Black Queer Archive. Black American LGBTQ+ Journals. Venus, 1995-2006. Ithaca College Library. LGBTQ+ Life Database Coverage List. Venus Magazine, 03/01/2003 - 12/31/2006. EBSCO.
Notable coverage
Venus was credited with breaking ground in several editorial areas, such as educational resources for HIV and AIDS prevention and care, dialogue between closeted and open LGBT populations, black gays and lesbians in corporate America, politics concerning homophobia, and the relationship between Christianity and homosexuality, among others.Venus Magazine for Lesbians and Gays of Color (Atlanta, GA), Feb Jun-Aug/Sep 1995; Feb/Mar, May; July, Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov 1996;, Box: Venus Magazine. Gender and Sexuality periodicals collection, Q-Periodicals. Special Collections. https://archivesspace.library.gsu.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/160582 Accessed November 26, 2024.
Early issues of Venus documented several Atlanta LGBT organizations and social spaces, including the African American Lesbian Gay Alliance, African-American Lesbian Gay Alliance (AALGA) – Bylaws, Undated, Box: 2, Folder: 6. Carolyn Mobley papers, aarl009-007. Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History. https://aspace-aafa.galileo.usg.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/74846 Accessed December 08, 2024. Brothers Back-2-Back,Washington, Craig (April 27, 2022). An Organization to Save My Life’ – Remembering Brothers Back 2 Black. Georgia Voice. Hospitality Atlanta, Loretta's, Marquette Lounge, Pearl Garden, SisterLove Inc., SisterLove, Inc.. Sisters of 30 Something Special, Traxx, and ZAMI NOBLA, a national organization for Black lesbians over the age of forty. About ZAMI NOBLA. ZAMI NOBLA.PlanetOut, Venus magazine, 1995-1996, Series VII, Box: 1, Folder: 15. African American Lesbian and Gay Print Culture Collection, aarl98-008. Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History. https://aspace-aafa.galileo.usg.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/7770 Accessed December 08, 2024.