Drum (American magazine)
DRUM issue 27, October 1967
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| Editor | Clark Polak |
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| Categories | News, Erotica |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Circulation | 10,000 |
| Publisher | Janus Society |
| First issue | 1964 |
| Final issue | 1967 |
| Country | USA |
| Based in | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Language | English |
Drum (corporately styled DRUM) was an American LGBT-interest magazine based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Published monthly beginning in 1964 by the homophile activist group the Janus Society and edited by Clark Polak, Drum took its title from a quote by Henry David Thoreau: "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears the beat of a different drummer."
Drum differed from earlier homophile magazines in that it included a combination of news and erotica. Beginning in April 1965 it featured the first ongoing gay-themed comic strip, the erotic parody comic Harry Chess: That Man from A.U.N.T.I.E. by "A. Jay". In December 1965, Drum published the first full-frontal male nude pictorial in an American magazine.DRUM also took a more militant editorial and political stance than other publications of the day. This combination quickly led to a monthly circulation of 10,000, the largest circulation at the time for any magazine of its kind.
In 1967, a federal grand jury indicted Drum editor Polak on 18 counts of publishing and distributing obscene material. In exchange for avoiding a prison sentence, Polak agreed to cease publishing Drum and relocate from Philadelphia to Los Angeles.
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