Before the World Wide Web, there was Curve. Founder and Publisher Franco Stevens looks
back on the history of the world’s best-known lesbian magazine.
Time is such a strange concept. Sometimes a year seems like such a short amount of time,
and other times it feels like an eternity. That dichotomy (I love that word: dyke-otomy) is one I’m
sitting in right now. How is it possible that Curve magazine is celebrating its 35th anniversary?
Thirty-five years. I still can’t quite wrap my head around it. The fact that the magazine predated
the World Wide Web, which became publicly available later in 1991, is mind-boggling and
almost incomprehensible. If someone had told me—a 22-year-old, newly out, recently homeless
baby dyke—that the magazine my brilliant ragtag collective of volunteers and I were starting
would last five years, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. We had no money, little publishing
experience, and all the odds were stacked against a magazine with the word ‘lesbian’ on the
front cover. In fact, the first issue of Curve, then called Deneuve, didn’t even include the year on
the front cover. Now, 35 years later, Curve is still here.
PHOTOS LEFT TO RIGHT:
FRANCO 2000S, STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS AT THE 1995 STONEWALL PRIDE 25TH ANNIVERSARY,
FRANCO 1990S, DENEUVE STAFF BOWLING IN 1991, FRANCO IN THE DENEUVE DAYS
Curve has evolved. Yes, it’s a magazine, available online, with an archive of over 16,000 pages,
and an intergenerational social media community, but it has always been so much more. Before
the Web, as a monthly print publication, we served as a home base, a dating site (through print
personal ads), a vital voice on issues affecting lesbians and queer women, and as a reflection of
our community’s trends and culture. Readers kept up with lesbian news, politics, events, and
achievements. They met partners through the personal ads, and wrote to us saying that we
helped them come out or literally saved their lives because they felt so alone before they found
the magazine.
For 35 years, we’ve covered lesbian milestones, from celebrities coming out (k.d., Melissa,
Ellen, Jodie, Wanda!) to queer women breaking barriers and records in politics, sports, and the
arts. We discussed all the issues that affected our representation and quality of life, from
health to parenting to Pride. We reported on and advocated for marriage equality, adoption
rights, bodily autonomy, and anti-discrimination in the military. We explored cultural
phenomena, from ‘lesbian chic’ to booms in comedy, the culinary arts, and songwriting. We
tracked almost every character and plot point of The L Word, and Orange Is the New Black…
In 2021, we launched The Curve Foundation to ensure the stories we’d spent decades telling
would keep being told, preserved, and shared with new generations. As a nonprofit, our mission
is clear: keep serving the readers who’ve been with us for decades while welcoming younger
generations discovering Curve for the first time.
You might have seen my face change and age over the years. Those wrinkles tell a story
themselves. I’ve lived these 35 years alongside our readers. I’ve learned the value of seeing
ourselves reflected in media and the value that brings to people of all ages and identities. What
surprises me the most is how quickly those 35 years have passed.
But Curve didn’t appear out of nowhere. The magazine wouldn’t be possible without all the
staff, volunteers, interns, contributors, and subscribers who supported it from the beginning. Or
the women who published, organized, fought for our rights, and told our stories long before we
came along. We even had the privilege of featuring some of those pioneers in our own pages.
Women like Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, Linda Villarosa, Joan Nestle, Urvashi Vaid, Barbara
Grier, Col. Margarethe Cammermeyer, Edie Windsor, and so many others.
I’ve always said that Curve belongs to the community. You shared your stories, sent us your
photographs, wrote us letters, challenged us, and trusted us with parts of your lives. You made
this magazine what it is. Thirty-five years later, I’m still grateful for that trust. And I hope we
keep earning it. Visit us online. Follow us on social media. Stay connected with us for the next
35 years!
P.S. A huge thank-you to the inaugural members of the brand-new Curve Circle Donor Club. If
you’d like to join them, you’ll receive articles I personally select from the Curve Archive, early
entry to select events, the option to have your name recognized on our website (or honor
someone special), and a few surprises along the way. Most importantly, you’ll help us keep
doing what we’ve been doing for 35 years: making sure our stories are told.
FRANCO TODAY PHOTO CREDIT: BARAK SHRAMA
