Franco Stevens on the history of Curve Magazine, lesbian visibility, and extremely creative fundraising
About this episode
Franco Stevens discusses her journey in creating Curve Magazine and the challenges she faced in promoting lesbian visibility.
Franco Stevens first made her mark on lesbian history in 1990, with the creation of Curve Magazine (at the time known as Deneuve, but we'll get into that later). Curve would soon become the most successful lesbian magazine in the world, committed to lesbian visibility, community-building, and documenting our history. Its pages have featured change-makers and celebrities from Melissa Etheridge to Jenny Shimizu to the cast of the L Word and everyone in-between. But it was, by no means, easy for Franco to get there. She joins the pod to detail: -coming out to her (then) husband as a teenage bride -raising money for the project when no one else believed in it -her controversial decision to display the word "lesbian" on the cover -bouncing back from a devastating lawsuit -the real reason Franco had to sell the magazine, and how she eventually bought it back ... Follow Franco on Instagram and Facebook Follow Curve Magazine on Instagram and Facebook Browse Curve's digital archive Watch Ahead of the Curve, the 2020 documentary about Franco and the magazine Browse the schedule for 2026 Lesbian Visibility Week (April 20-26) Learn more about the Curve Foundation ... Thank…
People in this episode
Hosts: Sarah Gabrielli, Rachel Karp, Jennifer McGinity
Guest: Franco Stevens
Topics covered
- lesbian history
- visibility
- fundraising
- community-building
- media
- magazines
Keywords
- Curve Magazine
- lesbian visibility
- Franco Stevens
- fundraising
- lesbian history
- media representation
- community building
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Curve Magazine, Curve Foundation
Books & works: The L Word, Ahead of the Curve
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