Gay Man's Worst Friend : the Story of Destroyer Magazine

K. Andersson

The first issue of Destroyer magazine dropped like a bomb in May 2006. For the first time since the 1970s, a gay magazine dared to openly celebrate the beauty of the teenage boy, in words and pictures. Reactions were fierce. The Swedish LGBT establishment cried out against the magazine, claiming it "gave gay people a bad name". Neo- Nazis were just as upset, and the Ombudsman for Children demanded a change in the law to make the magazine illegal. A police investigation was instigated and Destroyer█s editor Karl Andersson was summoned to an interrogation. Gay Man█s Worst Friend is not only the thrilling story of Europe█s most controversial gay magazine, told from Stockholm, Prague and Berlin. It█s also the story of the gay movement in the 21st century. The outraged reactions to Destroyer expose hidden power structures and show how gay identity has been steadily shrunk over recent decades, excluding ever more expressions of homosexuality.