Interviewer(s): John Goins

Project: University of Houston

This interview with Henry McClurg, now Editor-in-Chief of the Montrose Star, focuses on the gay press, the gay community of Houston and New Orleans, and efforts towards activism and advocacy for gay rights. McClurg, who has been involved in media for more than forty years, is uniquely positioned to speak on the subject. After several years of experience, he decided to start his own newspaper, The Contact, in 1973. This foray into the gay press, while short lived (he sold to a rival paper after 17 issues), would be only the first of several papers he founded, including the Montrose Voice and the Montrose Star. His efforts towards political activism in the gay community are reflected by the editorial stance of his newspapers- he describes the Montrose Star as an “advocacy newspaper”.