This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

30 Years of Lesbian Life in Curve Magazine

Travel Photo

This page has tags:

Contents of this tag:

This page is referenced by:

Lesbians Around the World Deneuve and Curve provided a venue for the community to discuss their experiences traveling the country and the world and also profiled lesbian activists from Russia to South Africa. Many articles covered lesbian-friendly travel destinations like Berlin, while others detailed the personal journeys of couples and families. [1] Diane Whelan took many of these photos to accompany Karen Tulchinsky's February 1995 story on “Vibrant in Vancouver,” which exemplified Deneuve’s community-informed approach to travel journalism. Tulchinsky writes that her city is “blessed with a large, visible dyke presence” and details lesbian friendly neighborhoods like “the Drive” and relevant bookstores, bars, festivals, and even nude beaches. She also discusses local LGBT organizations and their priorities, including domestic partnership legislation. [2]

Articles about less familiar locations like Belize or India often revealed more about travelers than the experiences of LGBTQ locals. [3] Nevertheless, the magazine did cover repression in Russia, HIV activism in South Africa, and the indigenous feminist La Lucha movement in Mexico. [4]

Appealing locations in the U.S and abroad were featured in both articles and advertisements from the burgeoning lesbian tourism industry, led by companies like Olivia Cruises. [5] Lesbian hotels, travel guides, and tours provided a safe and empowering way for the magazine’s readers to travel and funding for the magazine through advertisements. [6] In 1999, Curve entered the growing market by collaborating with American Airlines to sponsor St. Croix Women’s Week. Although readers appreciated their travels, scholars like David R. Coon remind us that the LGBTQ+ tourism industry sells “access to acceptance and inclusion and they present this access as something unusual and worth traveling for.” In other words, readers longed for a vacation from the homophobia they faced in their daily lives. [7]

[1] Lehmann, Annette Jael. "Berlin." Deneuve: The Lesbian Magazine, vol. 3, no. 1, 1993, p. 18+
[2] Tulchinsky, Karen X. "Vibrant in Vancouver." Deneuve: The Lesbian Magazine, vol. 5, no. 1, 1995, p. 24+. Archives of Sexuality and Gender
[3] Plato, Catherine. "Belize, if you please: the ultimate tropical getaway." Curve, vol. 18, no. 7, Sept. 2008 Chauvin, Kelsy. "Inspiring India." Deneuve: The Lesbian Magazine, vol. 21, no. 4, 2011, p. 63
[4] Geiges, Adrian. "Russia." Deneuve: The Lesbian Magazine, vol. 2, no. 2, March-April 1992, p. 34+ Ditsie, Palesa Bev. "Against the Odds." Deneuve: The Lesbian Magazine, vol. 9, no. 4, 1999, p. 30+. Archives of Sexuality and Gender Conrad, Ariane. “WHY LESBIANS LOVE LA LUCHA.” Curve 17, no. 6 (August 7, 2007): 33–33.
[5] Jasbir Puar, “A Transnational Feminist Critique of Queer Tourism,” Antipode 34, no. 5 (2002): 938, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8330.00283.
[6] Brownworth, Victoria A. "Travel is a feminist issue: vacationing can be dangerous and ethically complex for lesbians." Curve, vol. 21, no. 7, Sept. 2011, p. 28+. Gale OneFile: Contemporary Women's Issues,
[7] David R. Coon, “Sun, Sand, and Citizenship: The Marketing of Gay Tourism,” Journal of Homosexuality 59, no. 4 (April 2012): 526, https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2012.648883.