Look, you don't have to be Grunty McFuckring to appreciate how important to our culture* is the gay street press.

Until recently, in the absence of any institutionalised responsibility for recording the community progreass and social monuments, in many cases the gay street press will be the only surviving record of Our Stories. It's our War Memorial. If the War Memorial was dumped in gutters every Wednesday morning for whoever had the energy to bend over and pick it up for free.

But srsly folks, as a rapaciously commercial document aimed squarely at gay men's minds, the gay press is a reliable, if ugly mirror for us all to consider once in a while. CASE IN POINT: check out this ad, included in this week's chronicles: