EXPLORING THE LIMITS OF FREE EXPRESSION!
THE BEST OF GAUNTLET
Published by Richard Kasak Books
Edited by Barry Hoffman, with contribution by Andy Mangels
In stores September 1996. Now Out of Print.
226 pgs., Paperback (ISBN: 1563332027) $12.95
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Dedicated to "exploring the limits of free expression," Gauntlet has, with its semiannual issues, taken on such explosive topics as race, pornography, political correctness, and media manipulation — always publishing the widest range of opinions. Only in Gauntlet might one expect to encounter Phyllis Schafley and Annie Sprinkle, porn activists and collegiate reactionaries — often within pages of one another. The very best articles have been gathered by editor-in-chief Barry Hoffman, to make THE BEST OF GAUNTLET a most provocative exploration of the limits of American freedom.
"No material, no opinion is taboo enough to violate Gauntlet's purpose of ' exploring the limits of free expression ' — airing all views in the name of the First Amendment." — Associated Press.
MEDIA MANIPULATION?
In 1992, Oregon was in the midst of yet another pitched battle against the anti-gay zealot group Oregon Citizens Alliance (OCA). Writer and activist Andy Mangels was approached by Barry Hoffman, editor of Gauntlet, to write two pieces for Gauntlet Volume #4 (1992), the "Media Manipulation" issue.
"Hate and the Art of Queer Media Spins" was a prose piece by Mangels, detailing the efforts of the gay community to get daily newspaper The Oregonian to stop skewing stories with a homophobic slant. Another piece written by Mangels was a short comic book story, with art by Carl Vaughn Frick (Gay Comix, Watch Out Comix).
Hoffman chose to reprint "Hate and the Art of Queer Media Spins" in THE BEST OF GAUNTLET paperback anthology. Ironically — or not, given Gauntlet's disposition to showing multiple sides of an argument — it appeared immediately in front of an anti-gay essay by movie critic Michael Medved. That critic had co-written some of Mangels' favorite movie books (The Golden Turkey Awards books), but his politics diverged greatly from his sense of humor.
Mangels would also work with Vaughn Frick as inker in Annie Sprinkle in The Adventures of Miss Timed, and as a contributor to issues of Gay Comics which Mangels edited.
