Zesty New Zine: LGBTQ+ Community Center Publishes First-Ever Zine to Celebrate Pride Month
small publication features voices and artwork from local LGBTQ+ individuals
The month of June marks the start of a celebration recognizing the impact of – and the hardships experienced by – LGBTQ+ individuals, and what better time than this month to release the Chippewa Valley’s first-ever LGBTQ+ Community Center zine?
“The LGBTQIA+ community has a history of papers, publications, and zines that we’ve shared with each other,” said publisher Matthias Klein, “sometimes underground, sometimes openly. … The time seemed right to put out the call to people to share their inner thoughts and perspectives.”
Klein said he proposed the idea to other members of the Chippewa Valley LGBTQ+ Community Center last December, and they were more than ecstatic at the idea of making the zine a reality.
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The Zine is a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ VOICES IN THE VALLEY.
What better time to release it?
Matthias Klein
Creator of Zine 2021
“The zine is a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ voices in the Valley,” Klein said. “What better time to release it?”
As the pandemic encouraged most people to stay at home, Klein took this time to flesh out the initial idea. After over a year of burnout resulting from immense online connection, most organizers agreed: they wanted this to be a physical publication.
The completed zine – which hits the stands at the Chippewa Valley’s Pride celebration on Saturday, June 12, in Phoenix Park – comprises work by seven contributors providing poetry, prose, nonfiction, and art. The print run will be limited to 100 copies. There will also be a digital copy available for viewing at cvlgbt.org/library.
“It really is a testament to how excellent and varied creators in the community are,” Klein said. “The pieces are honest and open and sometimes raw. The contributors are using their art to make sense of the world, their place in it, and the community – and their work varies from frustrated to introspective to joyous. There should be something in there for just about everyone.”
Check out more about the project at cvlgbt.org.
