Much has been said about corporate support for the LGBTQ+ community, especially as some advertisers have pulled back from Pride events and reduced or ended longtime LGBTQ+-focused campaigns.
The LGBTQ+ community also has a long memory for the national brands that showed up: Subaru, Absolut, Levi’s and MAC among them.
But for decades, the lifeblood of local LGBTQ+ media was much closer to home.
The cafes and restaurants that openly welcomed queer customers. The bars and cabarets that promised dancing, drag and a place to gather. The clinics and doctors that advertised safer sex and affirming care during the terrifying days of the AIDS crisis. The travel agencies, bookstores, clothing shops and countless other businesses that saw LGBTQ+ people as customers worth reaching.
Those ads did more than just sell a product or service to a community. Their dollars helped keep queer newspapers and magazines in print. And on their pages, they left behind a record of the businesses and spaces that welcomed LGBTQ+ people, sometimes when few others would.
For LGBTQ+ History Month, we went into the archives to find a snapshot of those ads and the businesses behind them. Many shuttered long ago, but some are still here, still supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
1976 Philadelphia Gay News ad for a monthly subscription. Photo: PGN archives 
Ad from Dave’s Baths, that operated from 1959–1983 in San Francisco. Ad in Bay Area Reporter 1978. Photo: BAR archives. 
A 1988 ad in the Bay Area Reporter for Headlines. Photo: BAR archives 
LifesStyles condom ad that appeared in a 1987 edition of Washington Blade. Photo: Blade archives 
A 1984 ad for clothing store, Urban Outfitters, which appeared in the Washington Blade. Photo: Blade Archives. 
Ad for adult film, “Quarterback” which appeared in a 1977 edition of the Washington Blade. Photo: Blade archives 
A page from a February 1991 edition of Q Notes Carolinas featuring events and several ads. Photo: Q Notes archives 
Ads for several Detroit-area businesses that catered to the LGBTQ+ community. Appeared in a July 2010 edition of Between the Lines. Photo: PrideSource archives 
A Sustiva medication ad in a 2007 edition of Windy City Times. Photo: WCT archives 
Washington D.C.’s Dupont Circle Business Guild for the March on Washington edition. Washington Blade, October 1993. Photo: Blade archives 
Fairness Fund’s Public Opinion Mailgram ad, that appeared in the Oct. 1993 edition of Washington Blade. Photo: Blade archives 
Ad for the women’s party, The Countdown, taking place during the 1987 March on Washington festivities. Appeared in the Washington Blade, October 1987. Photo: Blade archives
