Boyz is a free, London-based magazine, targeted at gay men and the LGBT+ community and distributed mainly through gay bars, pubs, clubs shops and saunas in the United Kingdom. In July 2019 Boyz moved from a weekly to a monthly frequency of publication with its August edition, its first monthly issue. Boyz focuses on news, features and photospreads about the gay scene as well as its regular HIV and sexual health Boyz Doc column by Dr Laura Waters, 'Get Involved!' community group page, 'Me Myself and I' Q&A plus theatre, film and travel pages.
History and profile
Boyz was founded by David Bridle and Kelvin Sollis in 1991. The headquarters is in London. The London and UK gay scene and its venues remain at the heart of Boyz which each week reports on club and bar events, drag and cabaret performances, DJ appearances and live music shows. Some people call Boyz the "gay Time Out". It has a What’s On section as well as theatre and film reviews, an interview feature called 'Me, Myself and I' and photo stories from venues around London. Dr Laura Waters from the Mortimer Market sexual health clinic is the Boyz Doc and writes regular columns on HIV, sexual health and other well-being issues including advice on recreational drugs and alcohol. The 'Get Involved!' page focuses on LGBT+ sports, interests, hobbies and community groups. There is still a weekly Boyz horoscope aimed at its gay readers. Boyz has diversified its advertising market so that although gay bars, clubs, shops and saunas remain important to its business, there is increasingly a wider range of advertisers from areas like theatre, film, music, event and travel. Boyz has not published any escort adverts, premium rate phonelines or explicit adult material for over 10 years. The first "dummy" edition of Boyz magazine was distributed by Kelvin Sollis, David Bridle and friends at Gay Pride in June 1991 and the first full edition of Boyz was published on Thursday 4 July 1991 and distributed to gay venues in London. David Bridle was its first editor and continues to be its managing editor. Previous editors included Simon Gage from 1993 - 1998, David Hudson from 1998 - 2006 and Stuart Brumfitt from 2007 - 2011. In more recent years Luke Till edited the title. The current long term senior writer is Dave Cross. Boyz publishes an annual World AIDS Day special with contributions from leading HIV campaigners and experts, as well as a special issue for the Pride in London weekend. Boyz was a very different publication to today when it launched in 1991 with a naked pin up, contact ads, an Agony Uncle and lots of articles about coming out, relationships and gay sex - as well as its strong editorial coverage of the gay scene. Later, on 18 October 2007, Boyz was relaunched and re-designed. The separate London/national versions were merged into one. It seems that a new team took over the running of the magazine and most of the sexually explicit content, such as the 'Backroom Boy' pin-up, was taken out. Instead, the magazine introduced an increased number of pages of photographs from recent scene happenings and a dedicated news page; the number of features on subjects not directly related to the scene such as grooming, health and partnership were reduced to just one or two per week. The Agony Uncle and relationship/sexual advice pages were merged into one section. Although the new format magazine abandoned its more explicit content, adverts for male escorts and erotic phonelines continued, perhaps due to the amount of revenue they raised for the publishers, although male escorts adverts and premium rate telephone lines were entirely dropped by 2008. The size of the contact ads section was drastically reduced in 2007; the publication no longer offered a service for replying to box numbers by post. The news page, In The Know, received particular attention when it was the first to break a story of three young gay porn stars being infected with HIV on a British porn shoot. The news editor of Boyz Karl Riley later appeared on the BBC's Newsnight to discuss the story. The magazine was launched in the summer of 1991, at a time of expansion for the gay scene in Britain; with the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality and the increased prosperity of the 1980s, many more gay bars and pubs were opening. A magazine to help people new to the scene navigate around it became a necessity, especially as this function was not provided by existing publications such as the Pink Paper. The original format of Boyz was tabloid-size newsprint with some pages in colour but it has been an A4 full colour magazine since 2001. The magazine’s editorial content appears on its website www.boyz.co.uk where there is an online version of the latest issue. In July 2019, it was announced that Boyz, after 28 years as a weekly publication, was to become a free monthly publication instead.
