“Gay life encompasses a staggering breadth of diversity” Yeah, and every gay city newspaper I read bends over backwards to include every letter of LGBT. Guess what? That includes “Circuit boys.” And drag queens.

Mainstream Gay media does not represent my ideas and interests. I’d rather spend the little free time I have looking at The Nation, The Economist, TNG, Americablog, etc. The Blade is an organ of conventional Mainstream Gay Culture and as such will continue to represent that small rigid claustrophobic culture, calcifying stereotypes and alienating a much wider Gay readership.

Rehoboth, Leather Weekend, Cherry, etc. are irrelevant. I’d much rather be at the TED Conference or rock climbing in Great Falls Park.

My real point is tha there’s always another story.

Case in point: you don’t I anything about me. You know nothing about my dreams and desires or my life. You don’t know my mind, heart, and spirit – making assumptions about people’s lives is an action that leads to great misunderstanding.

I was Zack’s editor for the majority of the time he worked there (having since moved on to the more peaceful pastures of being a yoga teacher). The issues he raises here are ones that the features department talked about at length – how to make the “culture” section more representative of, what I would term, queer experience as opposed to “gay” experience (which often delineates white, male, and moneyed).

There were times when we were shortsighted and failed. I am more than willing to take full responsibility for poor attempts at making that section a broader swath of the type of coverage that, frankly, I found to be more interesting.

Running parallel to that is the hard fact that Zack mentions – a lot of those male, white, moneyed folks are the few advertisers the Blade has. Do you alienate that minimal audience in favor of an audience that isn’t necessarily interested in picking up the check (because they’re not represented – a vicious circle, indeed)?

There were articles we had to write every year that made us want to weep – the ubiquitous Rehoboth travel piece, the Leather Weekend article, the Cherry article, the Rodeo article, the horror of the gift guide when all attempts at reconciling capitalism with art were thrown to the winds.

HOWEVER, those articles reached people, too – people who may feel validated by seeing that their lives are reflected in some kind of press outlet. We can degrade circuit parties all we want, and agreed, they are hotbeds of rampant, messed-up drug use, but they’re also a dim reflection of ecstatic experience, where people leave their corporate lives to throw on some glitter, enjoy some dancing, and fall into someone’s arms for a night.

I was proud to spearhead the first fashion issue. Just shallow drivel? To some. A look at bringing beauty to the world? To some. Who was the cover? Fashion Fights Poverty – spearheaded by various people of color – a group that uses fashion shows to bring money to under-served populations.

What about the 30 Under 30 article at Pride time? Yes, they were white boys climbing the political ladder (this IS D.C. after all), but they were next to singers, dancers, nightlife promoters of various genders and ethnicities.

None of this is enough, for sure. We needed more and more often – especially for our trans sister/brothers. They got short shrift waaaaaaay too often.

And in all honestly, by the last few months of my time there, I was just in survival mode, pushing through to my departure date.

There were many things of my years at the Blade that I wish I could have done differently, yet, overall, I’m very proud to have worked there, at the longest-running queer paper in the country, housed at the National Press Building with media outlets from around the world. Who would have thought that a bi-weekly, typed up, glorified newsletter would come so far as to have discussions about quality of multicultural, intra-community dynamics?

What I have a hard time comprehending is that when someone comes out to make a fair criticism and call into question that we, as a community, could be doing to be inclusive to much more diverse group of people than we are, that people get so fucking knee-jerk defensive about it? Unless you fit the stereotype I’m having a hard time discerning what there is to be so defensive about?

“I was moved to co-found The New Gay because I got tired of writing for a newspaper whose coverage bore no resemblance to my life or the life of anyone around me.”

I guess that means you must be in the majority then. Or did it ever occur to you that you and everybody else around you are in the minority. Most gay people live many lives. I, for example, have two children, have been with my husband (yes legally) for almost ten years, and stay in most nights. I am also a former concert pianist and singer. I go to the theater often at times and sometimes not at all. I read books and I go to art openings and concerts. And maybe 4 or 5 times a year I attend huge party weekends where we go crazy and do everything that people accuse “circuit queens” of doing.

I believe most gay people are balanced in some way like this. So your rant seems to be just all about you and the fun you’re not having. Ten years ago, I had never been to a “party,” in fact if someone asked me if I partied I didn’t even know what they meant. I still don’t drink alcohol because it makes me feel bad, destroys your liver, brain cells and is linked to over 20 different forms of cancer. I made a conscious decision to include parties in my life because people looked like they were having a lot of fun. They were and I have been as well. I can’t think of how much I would have missed if we hadn’t decided to stop judging and actually see what it was all about.

Sounds like you should try to do the same, or at the very least stop pretending you speak for gay life as it is. You don’t. You just speak for your limited slice of the world.

The question you leave unanswered is: why is it necessary for “gay” media to cover all the alternative stuff that gets plenty of coverage in non-gay music/art/film etc. magazines? If homosexuals want to read about indie bands or gallery openings or other hipster fare, there are plenty of places to read about that stuff. Too many, I would argue.

Hm. I think the real question at this point is — is gay media even necessary any more?

overall though, yeah, I think the content could use a little upgrade

The situation you described is applicable to gay media in general, not just the Blade. An emphasis on superficiality and high-end consumer products.

Perhaps the problem is that gay publications have to be everything to everyone, blending the politics with the parties. Maybe there are LGBTs who want more “substantive” articles, but my impression is that every publication that has tried to fill that gap has failed.

It especially annoys me that they capitalize “gay.” So it’s Gay.

since i’m not tuning in for news, how about their features? they’re boring too. their “regular gay joe” interviews are dull. their “speak to the blade” or whatever it’s called is a tired idea and only a good feature when the onion does it. even their scene-out-and-about vanity show bar photos pale in comparison to MW’s (and i’m not just saying that because i’ve never appeared in it, while i’ve graced MW’s pages twice. but it doesn’t help)

bitch session gets an enthusiastic pass because what else would i read through my sunglasses that i’m wearing inside because i’m hungover at breakfast sunday morning? but even the bitch session only really serves as a lead in to my favourite brunch game: guess who the week’s MW cover-boy has selected as most fascinating dinner guests (living or dead) based purely on the provided glamour shots. (hint: one is oprah, the other is his mom. the third one is a total wild card, abraham lincoln maybe?).

Thank you for being unafraid to tell it like it is. This is awesome.