Homophiles of Penn State, “Zap!” (October-November, 1976)

Link to Full Text: Zap! (October and November, 1976)

About this Artifact

Zap! is an artifact from an interesting and formative time in American gay activism.¹ It is the monthly newsletter published and circulated by the Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS), which was founded in 1971, not long after many credit New York’s Stonewall Riots for sparking what would become the modern LGBT rights movement. Conditions for gay people were marginally better than in previous decades, with HOPS joining the ranks of other college “homophile” movements at schools like Columbia and Cornell.² Nonetheless, gay support and advocacy groups were still relatively scarce. According to a 1974 article in the New York Times, HOPS had to fight a “two-year court battle” to even gain recognition and win the right to hold events and distribute materials like Zap!³

Published from 1971 until at least 1978, based on the volume of issues preserved in the Pennsylvania State Archives, Zap! served as a means of communication both internally for members of HOPS and externally to members of the Penn State and State College communities. Zap! contained a variety of content aimed to build solidarity among the local gay community and draw support from those not yet involved. The front page of each issue tends to feature a cover story focusing on the month’s most notable relevant news, while the interior pages contain stories, editorials, poems, and more of interest from members of HOPS, and provide logistical information encouraging local member of the community to learn more and become involved in the organization. Zap! gives a platform for a collection of previously unheard voices within the Penn State gay community, and in doing so provides a historical snapshot of the emergence of a collective voice for a historically marginalized and suppressed community.

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