Drum (American magazine)
Encyclopedia
Drum was an American LGBT
-interest magazine based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. Published monthly beginning in 1964 by the homophile
activist group the Janus Society
and edited by Clark Polak
, Drum took its title from a quote by Henry David Thoreau
: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears the beat of a different drummer."
Drum differed from earlier homophile magazines in that it included a combination of news and erotica. In December 1965, Drum published the first full-frontal male nude pictorial in an American magazine. DRUM also took a more militant editorial and political stance than other publications of the day. This combination quickly led to a monthly circulation of 10,000, the largest circulation to date for any magazine of its kind.
In 1967, a federal grand jury indicted Drum editor Polak on 18 counts of publishing and distributing obscene material. In exchange for avoiding a prison sentence, Polak agreed to cease publishing Drum and relocate from Philadelphia to Los Angeles
.
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
-interest magazine based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Published monthly beginning in 1964 by the homophile
Homophile
The word homophile is an alternative to the word for homosexual or gay. The homophile movement also refers to the gay rights movement of the 1950s and '60s....
activist group the Janus Society
Janus Society
The Janus Society was an early homophile organization based in Philadelphia. It is notable as the publisher of DRUM magazine, one of the earliest LGBT-interest publications in the United States, and for its role in organizing many of the nation's earliest LGBT rights demonstrations.-Drum:Drum was...
and edited by Clark Polak
Clark Polak
Clark Philip Polak was an American journalist and gay rights activist. He was known for creating and editing DRUM magazine , an early gay-interest periodical, and for his leadership role with the Philadelphia-based homophile organization, the Janus Society.Polak killed himself in Los Angeles in...
, Drum took its title from a quote by Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears the beat of a different drummer."
Drum differed from earlier homophile magazines in that it included a combination of news and erotica. In December 1965, Drum published the first full-frontal male nude pictorial in an American magazine. DRUM also took a more militant editorial and political stance than other publications of the day. This combination quickly led to a monthly circulation of 10,000, the largest circulation to date for any magazine of its kind.
In 1967, a federal grand jury indicted Drum editor Polak on 18 counts of publishing and distributing obscene material. In exchange for avoiding a prison sentence, Polak agreed to cease publishing Drum and relocate from Philadelphia to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.