For a few weeks in November 1991, a bombastically conservative student journal called Peninsula dominated discussion in Harvard's dining halls and class discussion sections.

A little more than eight years later, few students have more than a vague recollection that such a publication ever existed. After its brief but intense period of notoriety, Peninsula languished, losing writers, financial backers and ultimately its own charter. After seven years in print, it fizzled out altogether in the fall of 1997.

But current campus figures--conservative and liberal--still debate what legacy Peninsula left on the campus political spectrum and whether a similar incarnation could re-emerge.

November Rage

In a special issue distributed on November 12, 1991, Peninsula dedicated most of its 56 pages to articles on "why we think homosexuality is bad, and what we would do about it."

The issue, whose cover featured an exploding pink triangle--interpreted by some as a threat of anti-gay violence--drew immediate and widespread criticism. Editorials weighed in on the controversial issue, and the then Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Supporters' Alliance (BGLSA) held eat-ins and protests.

At a BGLSA protest on November 15, two senior faculty members--Plummer Professor of Christian Morals Rev. Peter J. Gomes and then Professor of English and American Literature Barbara Johnson--said publicly for the first time that they were homosexuals.

The Peninsula fired back, holding that the journal did not hate gays and aimed only to help them change. The issue was produced with "absolute charity for everybody," maintains former editor Robert K. Wasinger '94.