The first issue consisted of two typed pages with no illustrations or photographs; the newsletter was edited and produced by John Breslin, who was secretary of SMG for several years.
After Brownsey resigned in mid-1981, with no obvious successor editor in place, SHRG's National Executive Committee – at its October 1981 meeting – approved a proposal put forward by original SMG founder (and then current Chair) Ian Dunn to relaunch Gay Scotland as a more widely-distributed, outward-looking magazine with significantly improved content, reproduction and design.
However, this practice was discontinued from the fourth issue (cover dated September/October 1982), in part to make way for the inclusion of a regular central "Yellow Pages" pull-out gathering together "Scene" news and cultural/arts listings.
However, in an attempt to reach significantly more readers – including "isolated men and women as well as regular scene-goers", according to one editorial – GS was relaunched, in 1998, as a monthly tabloid-sized newspaper with a deliberately increased circulation (12,000 copies) and distribution which went well beyond traditional LGBT venues.
Through the HIV/AIDS epidemic it provided its readers with contemporary debates around HIV and Aids, keeping them informed on the latest healthcare developments, and debunking many myths.