Gay Times, one of the world’s longest-running print magazine for the LGBT+ community, has ceased printing after nearly 50 years.

The UK-based magazine was first published in 1984, but its predecessors date as far back as 1975. During that time it’s been a vital resource for LGBT+ people in periods of misinformation and violent rhetoric, from the early days of the Gay Liberation Front through to the repeal of Section 28.

The magazine had been in print every month since its launch until 2020, when it moved to quarterly publication, but is now going purely digital to reflect a decline in offline readers. Just two per cent of its readers consume the print magazine.

“We’re incredibly excited about the changes here at Gay Times,” editorial director Lewis Corner told PinkNews.

“It’s always sad to stop doing something after so long – especially when it concerns a legacy product,” the publication added in a statement to its audience.

“We know that continuing to push Gay Times into new areas and to new heights ensures it will be the very best it can be for a new generation.”

Gay Times says that the decision to cease the physical magazine had been planned for some time and says that it also considered the environmental impact of printing issues.

“Any print magazine production demands significant natural resources, so this was one of the main factors in the decision.”

Although you won’t be seeing the familiar cover on magazine shelves anymore, Gay Times magazine will continue as a digital publication with 12 issues a year.

Gay Times magazine ending its print edition comes amid a difficult time for journalism in the UK.

In recent years print titles such as Glamour, Q and NME had all disappeared from shelves and migrated online. Digital-only publications BuzzFeed and HuffPost have closed their entire UK news operations, with Vice also making some staff redundant.