Mannschaft Magazine closes after 16 years — the end of a Swiss queer media institution
Mannschaft Magazine is closing. The final issue in June 2026 marks the end, after 16 years and around 125 editions, of a chapter in Swiss queer media history. The editorial team announced the closure themselves, citing increasingly difficult conditions for independent queer journalism: limited advertising revenue, declining subscriptions and ever greater strategic and personnel effort required to maintain journalistic standards.
By Swiss standards, Mannschaft was exceptional: it started in Bern, built a German editorial team and became the only monthly print magazine for gay men in the German-speaking world that spanned three countries. Over 125 issues it made queer life visible, accompanied political debates — marriage equality, adoption rights, anti-discrimination law — and gave a platform to artists, photographers and writers.
The market for queer media in Switzerland is small. Advertising and subscriptions rarely cover a professional editorial team on their own, and competition from digital channels, social media and international platforms has intensified in recent years. The fact that Mannschaft lasted 16 years is itself an achievement.
Until the end of June, the team continues publishing on mannschaft.com and will send three more newsletter editions. After that, the website remains as an archive. For the community, the closure means losing one of the very few professionally curated queer spaces in Swiss media — at a time when queer visibility is under increasing political pressure.
