''OutWords'' was a Canadian magazine, published in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

for the city's

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

and

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

communities. Launched in November 1994 as ''Swerve'' by a collective that included

Carol Philipps Carol Anne Philipps (February 5, 1965 – February 27, 2009) was a Canadians, Canadian journalist and activist, most prominent as the original editor of ''OutWords, Swerve'', the first LGBT, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community magazine ...

, Stephen Lawson, Ian King, David McGunigal and Noreen Stevens, it published as funds were available until finally achieving a monthly circulation two years later. The name ''Swerve'' was chosen as a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of swish and

nerve A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers (called axons). Nerves have historically been considered the basic units of the peripheral nervous system. A nerve provides a common pathway for the Electrochemistry, electrochemical nerv ...

."Editor helped start gay paper in Winnipeg". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', March 16, 2009. A tabloid newsmagazine, it was distributed free of charge mostly in Winnipeg, with several points outside of Manitoba and in the northern

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. ''Swerve'' incorporated as a non-profit organization in June 2000, adopting a set of bylaws and electing a board of directors. The day-to-day operations are overseen by an editorial team who are paid a small

honorarium An honorarium is an '' ex gratia'' payment, i.e., a payment made, without the giver recognizing themself as having any liability or legal obligation to the recipient for their volunteered services, or for services for which fees are not tradition ...

for their work. The former executive director of Canada's national LGBT lobby group Egale, Gilles Marchildon, worked at ''Swerve'' for over four years and served as editor for three years. In 2005, the magazine became involved in a

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a form of intellectual property that consists of a word, phrase, symbol, design, or a combination that identifies a Good (economics and accounting), product or Service (economics), service f ...

dispute, when the ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'' co-opted the name '' Swerve'' for a weekly entertainment supplement. Shortly after, the magazine was transformed from a tabloid into a book format under the guidance of its editor since 2001, Richard F.J. Wood. It also revised its mission statement and its tagline, which changed from "Winnipeg's monthly queer newsmagazine" to "One Community > Diverse Lives." Wood left as editor in April 2006. The trade-mark dispute was settled in August 2006. In January 2007, the magazine re-launched under the name ''OutWords'' with the tagline "Getting the word out since 1994." In May 2016, the final print edition of ''OutWords'' was published and it became a digital-only publication.

References

External links

''OutWords''
1990s LGBTQ literature 2000s LGBTQ literature 2010s LGBTQ literature 1994 establishments in Manitoba 2016 disestablishments in Manitoba Defunct magazines published in Manitoba Free magazines LGBTQ in Manitoba Defunct LGBTQ-related magazines published in Canada Magazines established in 1994 Magazines disestablished in 2016 Mass media in Winnipeg Monthly magazines published in Canada Online magazines published in Canada Online magazines with defunct print editions {{Manitoba-stub