THIS WEEK IN TEXAS

This Week in Texas (TWT) is the magazine many of us in the state grew up with, perhaps came out with, welcomed us when we moved here, and was certainly one of the main cultural sources for the LGBT community.

There were of course other publications in the state, such as a number of newspapers in the major cities that came and went over time, but TWIT (as most called it) seemed to capture the spirit of a growing "gay" culture.

It started small, in April of 1975, with an eight-page almost pocket size edition, billing itself as an entertainment guide. It grew to over a hundred pages over the years, adding columns on news, movies, shows, sports and whatever was going on, of course packed full of ads for gay bars and businesses...this is how we knew what was going on and how we found each other.

Chuck Patrick was named editor in 1978, a position he held until 1990, and with his leadership the publication took on a community-minded position. The last regular issue was in August of 2000, although it reinvented itself a couple times in recent years, mostly as a bar publication.

In the early 1980s the magazine found itself in the role of reporting on probably the biggest "story" of our history, the AIDS crisis. Reports of the "gay disease" began in early 1982 with the first statewide AIDS death in March of that year, and with ten reported deaths by January of 1983.

Things quickly got worse, much worse. As TWT had a unique reach it was for many a source of the information on not just the deaths but also on the medical developments and on the organizations that cropped up to serve various related needs. But for most it became a sad and poignant routine during that time. When they picked up a copy of the latest edition they would immediately go to the back section to see if people they knew had died.