REILLY DAVIDSON | DATE 6/27/2019

Celebrate late-80s East Village Pride with 'Pansy Beat'

This collection of archival fanzines illuminates a distinct gay and drag underground New York City scene that flourished in the late 80s and early 90s. The original Pansy Beat put out five quarterly issues before going on "permanent hiatus" in 1990. But during its brief tenure, the cult zine served as an uninhibited and celebratory platform for the exploration and representation of queerness in the post-AIDS era. This compact, campy, 416-page volume presents all five of the original editions, in their entirety, with features on icons such as Lady Bunny, Deee-Lite, Quentin Crisp, and plenty more. Pansy Beat is essential primary source material for anyone looking to relive the microcosmic yet expansive East Village queer and drag scene of 1989–1990.