From February 1977 through October 1979, Gay Life Pittsburgh was the LGBTQ magazine for Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania. Publisher Jim Austin wrote in the inaugural issue explaining the changing landscape of Pittsburgh’s queer media:
“If you’ve lived in or visited the Pittsburgh area during the past three or four years, you are most likely to be acquainted with the Pittsburgh Gay News (PGN)… Perhaps an update is in order. In August 1976 a series of events occurred in my personal life persuading me to quickly relinquish control of what had become known nationwide as the “Gay News Chain” (GNC)… He has since published a tabloid resembling in some respects the “old” Gay News, though combining what was once several separate local editions into one with a predictable Philadelphia flavor… Our outreach is strictly to Pittsburghers, and we will zero in on the one area which prior GNC surveys indicated were uppermost in the priorities of readers: socialization.”