Born in Peckham, London, Garry Otton first worked for Gay News, a fortnightly newspaper produced under the editorship of Denis Lemon. The newspaper was dragged into the courts in 1974 when an attempt was made to proclaim a cover of two men kissing obscene and again in 1977 when Mary Whitehouse embarked on her crusade to sue the newspaper for blasphemy for printing a poem by Professor James Kirkup called The Love That Dares To Speak Its Name which described the sexual feelings of a Roman centurion for Christ on the cross. She won.

Garry also helped set up Gay Weekly, the nations first weekly gay newspaper and continued to contribute to gay publications before moving to Amsterdam. When he returned to England he began writing and illustrating short stories for magazines before being signed up by an international agent. During the eighties, as an NUJ member and using the name Garry Cobb, his illustrations appeared in magazines across nine countries and in dozens of magazines throughout Britain.

D C Thomson in Dundee, producing teen magazines Jackie and Blue Jeans in the eighties, was a regular buyer. On one occasion Garry was asked to produce an illustration for a short story showing a girl stepping out of a shower for Jackie. The illustration was returned after he drew the girl naked. In the second illustration she was given a bra and panties with nipples barely visible through a wet bra. Although the illustration was finally accepted: the nipples were covered with white paint. Garry's sensitive pencilled illustrations were particularly popular in IPC's Oh Boy! My Guy, Pink and Fab 208 but following correspondence to IPC from Mary Whitehouse's organisation, Garry was warned not to draw boys with their shirts off. The illustrations were popular, drawing fan mail and special articles in the Netherlands and Finland, but after 500 illustrations and a TV appearance, Garry stopped illustrating and writing stories for 'straight' publications.

After a long break building a chain of six estate agents in eastern England with his partner, he sold out and formed KLOUT, a radical gay organisation in north Norfolk. He edited a newsletter for the group, set up a library, invited speakers, helped establish a gay bar, formed a link with local police, provided appropriate sex education, organised coaches to Pride, counselled callers to a helpline and provided lesbian, gay, bisexual and the transgendered a safe place to meet. Garry frequently appeared on BBC Radio Norfolk and Cambridgeshire where he discussed sexual issues as the reputation of the group grew.

Travelling widely throughout Africa, Europe and America, in 1996 Garry Otton became the first person to interview homosexuals in Tibet, detailed in an article he wrote in Northern & Shell's Attitude magazine, which drew comments promoting compassion for homosexuals from His Holiness the Dalai Lama when he visited San Francisco.

In 1995 Garry launched the Scottish Media Monitor for Gay Scotland magazine, examining the treatment of sexuality in the Scottish media. After the demise of Gay Scotland the popular feature moved, first to Cruise magazine and later to ScotsGay where it now appears monthly. Despite the Scottish media's conservatism, Garry Otton has become Scotland's most popular underground columnist attracting readers from all over the world. A new book on sexual repression in Scotland is currently under preparation.