Our View: KSU gay magazine refused by printers

 

 

DKS Editors

DKS Editors

Three Ohio printing companies have refused to print the spring issue of Fusion Magazine, Kent State’s LGBTQ publication.

According to campusprogress.org, the controversy has cost the 2010 award-winner for Best Overall Publication more than $2,000, not to mention the hard work the student writers have put into getting the issue out before the year ends.

The controversy is focused on the inclusion of an eight-page spread featuring cross-dressing models. The headline reads “Gender Fu**.”

The vice president of Freeport Press Inc., one of the refusing companies, said there are pictures of covered genitalia, and they’re not comfortable producing that type of subject matter. Freeport has been Fusion’s publisher for several years and has published, in a past issue, a spread of male underwear models. They’ve also knowingly published the word “fuck” at least three times in two previous issues. The president for Davis Graphic Communicator Solutions said their decision not to print was solely based on the magazine’s use of the word “fu**.”

The decision to stop the publication of a student-run, homosexual-oriented magazine sends an iffy message about these publishers. Is there a slight hint of homophobia? Is it too much skin too soon? Is it just that they don’t want to associate with an outlandish magazine?

Freeport has published swear words and risqué Fusion magazines in previous years. Their reasons for denying publication this time around don’t hold any water. They don’t have a legitimate reason to refuse the printing of this spring’s Fusion magazine. They’ve done it in the past, and these companies should give better reasons for their refusals than the word “f***.”