Unlike Gay Power, Come Out was very concerned with building positive relationships and carried the empowering tagline "A Newspaper By and For the Gay Community." Come Out was an official publication of the organization the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which was formed in New York City shortly after the Stonewall uprising. With a name inspired by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, the group's gay and lesbian members identified with the counterculture movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. GLF was antiwar, politically left, revolutionary embracing, and often radical. The perspectives and attitudes of GLF and its members were in contrast to older homophile organizations like the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society, which were somewhat leery of the upstart, uncompromising activists of GLF. Though GLF in New York essentially fell apart by late 1971, it played a key role in publishing the perspectives of gay liberationists, sharing information about other gay consciousness-raising groups, spreading ideas about gay power and gay liberation, and providing a model for the political activists that followed.
On page 1 of Come Out's first issue, the perspective of GLF and the newspaper's editorial staff was clear: be supportive of fellow gays and demand change. This opening statement proclaims that Come Out "dedicates itself  to the joy, the humor, and the dignity of the homosexual male and female." Furthermore, "COME-OUT has COME OUT to fight for the freedom of the homosexual … to provide a public forum for the discussion and clarification of methods and actions necessary to end our oppression." The statement also notes that "We shall aggressively promote the use of the very real and potent economic power of Gay people throughout this land in order to further the interests of the homosexual community."