What to do with the female breast?

The national lifestyle glossy Out magazine just let it all hang out in its April issue, which featured a photo shoot with a clothed Queer As Folk’s Robert Gant posing with a topless woman and a likewise bared man. The portraits were shot by fashion photographer Tony Duran.

Two issues later Out printed letters of praise, and of complaint.

A female feminist cringed at the politics of a half-naked woman serving drinks, while admitting the woman "wasn't half bad." But Out has a majority male readership: "A naked woman?" asked one male reader. "What were you thinking?" Such a gender mix is wrong in a gay publication, he stated, and mentioned he felt nauseous.

"It was with great disgust that I turned to the article," wrote another. "No, I'm not saying that I found naked female breasts disgusting. Personally, I don't have much use for them." But the writer wanted men's asses and penises fully exposed.

Eric Chandler, the media spokesperson for LPI Media, which publishes Out, said that few complaints were received. "Those with negative reactions had hints of harsh sexism," he added.

Judy Wieder, as LPI Media's senior vice president, corporate editorial director, has the final say on the content of Out. "I thought [the photographs] were fabulous.... I thought, well at least they'll look at a female body," she said in an interview with Press Pass Q.

It was a much more playful idea than her first try, a photograph of a woman's diseased breast, which Wieder placed on the cover of The Advocate in the mid-1990s when she was editor. Breast cancer, said Wieder, is a more common topic in the GLBT media now, but it wasn't then.

The issue sold very badly. "I was furious at everyone. Men didn't know what it was.... one woman said the breast is too perky. Politically correct women were saying why wasn't it a black breast or a brown breast?"

She had wanted to show women that "we were there for them." In hindsight, it might have been better, she said, to place a hunky guy with big muscles on the cover, and a teaser pointing to a breakthrough theory on why lesbian breast cancer rates were elevated. Wieder said the issue would have sold better, and more women would have read it.

(See next month's Press Pass Q for our complete interview with LPI's Judy Wieder.)

Reminiscent of The Advocate cover, the Columbus, Ohio, Outlook News weekly's May 6, 2004, cover pictured one healthy breast (with nipple obscured by shadow) and scar tissue next to it, where its twin had been removed. "The imagery was our way of grabbing attention to what we know to be a very important issue," said managing editor Michael Daniels.

Reader response to both the photo and the article on breast cancer was overwhelmingly positive, Daniels said. The Race for the Cure breast cancer organization asked for 100 copies to distribute. The president of Ohio State University passed copies to the institution's associated hospital and ordered a meeting between oncology and local groups to look at the way lesbians are courted, treated, and marketed to, Daniels said. He claimed reader response to the issue was roughly evenly divided between men and women.

Daniels said Outlook is more likely to run photos of scantily clad men than women, reflecting its demographics. The paper's policy for nudity of both genders is "no exposed nipples, no exposed genitals, to ensure that we are well within both pornography and 'harmful to minors' laws." Daniels added that full nudity might be considered in cases like covering an art exhibit.

Another publication, the St. Louis, Mo., Vital Voice promoted its local Race for the Cure with a June 11 story on breast cancer plus an editorial. No breasts, covered or un-, were included. Publisher Pamela S. Schneider said she's tried to limit nudity in the paper. "It is my opinion that our larger community has used the presence of nudity in the GLBT press as evidence it has been and continues to be about 'sex.' This may seem rigid to some, but St. Louis is considered a conservative city and as such I have wanted to use my publication to educate and demystify the public rather [than] give them food to feed their misguided perceptions or assumptions."

For others, adding nudity is about fun and sex. Xtra in Toronto, Canada, has guidelines denying full nudity to advertisers, but no set policy for editorial. "Decisions are made ad hoc, based on the story, its intended effect, and the political climate at the time it's meant to run," said publisher David Walberg. While the paper runs full frontal nudity (of both sexes) inside the magazine, Walberg doubts the Full Monty would show up on a cover today. "But never say never."

Xtra’s June 12 lead story about stripping was accompanied by a topless woman on the cover. "It's worth noting that women are free to walk about the streets of Toronto topless, so we can’t see why they shouldn’t be represented 'en plein air' in newsprint," Walberg said. (The decriminalization stems from an Ontario provincial appeals court decision made back in 1996 that overturned a topless woman's conviction for indecency.)

The stripper story was the third topless female cover Xtra has run, and Walberg thinks it appropriate, given the subject of the feature.

He estimates Xtra's readers are 80 percent gay men, and said the paper runs more covers of men in general. "We're always keen to do sexy covers, and while there's no end of shots of scantily clad buff boys about, there’s a dearth of sexy imagery of lesbians."

He said there's very been little reaction to the photograph, although distributors noted that some street distribution boxes had the display copy in the front window removed. "The first time we had a topless cover, we received a letter from a conservative city councilor who complained, but that was maybe 12 years ago."

Walberg offers one explanation for the lack of response to the risque cover. "Canada’s progressive and tolerant nature extends to matters of sexuality, and Toronto is a groovy city."

TWO, TWO, TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE. Do "double covers" deliver twice the bang? It depends.

At first, HX publisher Matthew Banks said he was leery of printing an issue with a double cover - that is, on both front and back outside pages. "Selling outside back covers means revenue," he said. But eventually he allowed his staff to talk him into the fun gimmick. The Valentine's Day issue of the free Manhattan glossy featured a man in the mask of a hungry "wolf" on the front. A fearful (male) Little Red Riding Hood, upside-down, graced the back cover.

"I didn't hear a peep from readers," Banks reported. He has no plans to repeat the double cover idea in the foreseeable future.

David Atlanta editor Tray Butler said his glossy unveiled a new logo and revamped cover design in early May, and used that opportunity to run a double cover - a first for the free weekly arts, entertainment, and nightlife magazine.

Butler tied the double cover to a promotion for a summer fashion show (and an inside spread on swimwear). The front cover image was a guy in a bathing suit, who resembled an illustration "used for weeks in ads and posters." The original illustration ran on the back cover.

Both magazines just dropped in upside-down covers. But when it runs a double cover, the glossy Life in Provincetown actually splits its issues in half down the middle, with each cover getting its own content. Publisher Tim McCarthy forecasts four double-cover issues for his nine-month-a-year publication.

In August 2003, he started with "galleries and real estate" and never looked back. For this year's May through August issues, Life in Provincetown ran double covers (and double issues) on weddings and getaways, entertainment and dining, and fashion and collectibles. The dual topics allow for higher page runs (and an excuse for targeted ad sales).

This month McCarthy is right back where he started, with galleries and real estate. The "flip books," as he calls them, all coincide with his high tourist season and are distributed more widely.

- Frank Pizzoli

THE BOUNDARIES OF AIDS COVERAGE. HIV is an acknowledged global health crisis, only a part of which pertains to a North American GLBT audience. Panelists at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association's June 24 GLBT media summit in New York discussed how to find the "gay angle" in 2004.

John Caldwell, associate news director at The Advocate, said coverage largely depends on audience - large or small city, national or local. Caldwell said that when he worked in a local press, he covered virtually any HIV-AIDS angle, even if nongay, like the crisis in Africa. "We did it because it was expected of us."

He implied that The Advocate, biweekly and national in scope, would not be the right place for covering the AIDS story in its totality.

Finding the gay angle that the mainstream media misses is another way of making HIV news relevant. Citing a recent speech on HIV in which U.S. President George Bush didn’t refer to gay men at all, Shana Naomi Krochma, a senior associate with the healthcare communications firm the Corkery Group, said: "If that's not a gay story, I don't know what is."

Indeed, when the panelists were asked for one story of the past year that they decided not to cover, PlanetOut news director Tom Musbach named that very Bush speech (delivered the day before), but didn't give any details.

Panelists also cautioned about sensationalism in the mainstream press, especially pointing to coverage of the documentary "The Gift," about so-called "bug chasers" who intentionally become infected with HIV. Andrew Rapp, editor in chief of the Boston-area Bay Windows, didn't judge this story newsworthy because "it was fueling a public fascination with limited information. Besides, there is a host of stupid behaviors, like smoking, and riding on motorcycles without helmets."

Caldwell said he covered the story in The Advocate, but was careful not to be sensational.

Panelists offered tips to diversify local coverage, such as examining local health data like ages and zip codes of people seeking HIV treatment. The economic impact of people being sick affects the entire community. Outreach workers in the field can be a good source for stories; they know the current behaviors and slang in cruising places and sex clubs.

For both of his Boston papers, the queer Bay Windows and nongay neighborhood paper South End News, Rapp tries to put a human face on stories. For a story on state funding, for example, he’d try to find an individual who perhaps now must go to three places every day for treatment instead of just one, and the impact on life and work.

Rapp also said he likes to keep HIV and AIDS in the mix of news, rather than relegating it to a health section or column. "HIV can be a part of political coverage, or lifestyle coverage," he said.

A more general panel on AIDS coverage the next day at the NLGJA annual conference noted that domestic AIDS coverage has decreased since its peak in 1987. But international stories are on the rise.

The panel featured New York Times contributor Linda Villarosa, who was strongly criticized (including in the GLBT press) for her April story about black men on the "down low." NLGJA in-house newsletter coverage quoted Villarosa as saying she'd been mistaken for a white reporter "airing the dirty laundry" of black men. In fact, Villarosa is a black lesbian who regularly writes about AIDS.

Villarosa also said mainstream editors want less about blacks and prisoners with AIDS, and more middle-class angles.

- Bennett Marcus

PAYPAL DUMPS "ADULT" WEBSITES. Gay websites deemed to be "adult" are being dumped as clients by the popular Internet payment processing service PayPal, leaving some GLBT publishers unable to sell their wares on the World Wide Web.

Matt Skallerud, of HIM Corp. (which provides some Web-based services to Press Pass Q), said he lost his company's PayPal account on July 7, without prior warning. The PayPal payment option was used for personals memberships on websites like LesbiaNation and GayWired. Said Skallerud: "I can only assume that they considered these sites adult by their very nature (being gay) and not because there was actual adult material in them. There are some adult photos in member profiles, but they are only visible to other paid members, which I doubt PayPal became, so I'm assuming they dumped us and others on the 'gay' issue only."

HIM has a regular merchant account for Visa and MasterCard - PayPal was a service offered to those who don't have credit cards. "Who this really hurts are those smaller merchants without a merchant account," said Skallerud. "They were simply shut off, without warning, and [will take] what I would estimate is a pretty good loss until they've found a PayPal alternative."

In another PayPal e-mail sent out last month, the New York-based Belhue Press, a gay book publisher, was told it would be reinstated as a customer only if pictures of "the book covers wherein individuals are touching each other" are removed from its website.

Belhue's website content is in violation of PayPal's Acceptable Use Policy - and more specifically, its Mature Audiences Policy, which "prohibits the use of PayPal in the sale any adult, sexually oriented, or obscene materials or services." (See www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/gen/ua/use/index_frame-outside&ed=mature.)

PayPal's policy change dates back to early 2003. At that time, it caused quite a stir in the online porn industry (both gay and straight), which relied heavily on PayPal's services.

Belhue Press publishes books by author (and GLBT press writer) Perry Brass. In a press release, Brass stated: "The 'offending' book covers that it objects to are not in any way different from most women’s romance book covers showing muscular young men stripped to the waist embracing women with their bodices half ripped off. But these books show two men, and therefore eBay/PayPal has decided they are offensive and therefore should not be shown on the web." (PayPal is owned by eBay.)

In an interview, Brass said he signed up with PayPal about six months ago; although he wasn't making a lot of money through the service, he expected to in the future.

PayPal spokespeople could not be reached for comment. An official at eBay's media relations department did not return Press Pass Q's call.

There are other payment options for Web entrepreneurs. Try www.EPassporte.com; www.moneybookers.com; and www.verotel.com.

- Eleanor Brown

READER LOYALTY CARDS. Two queer publications are offering very different products in a bid to buy reader loyalty.

Ionaz, a monthly entertainment magazine in Phoenix, Ariz., launched its VIP Card on April 2, selling it to readers for US$25. The card offers discounts at participating retailers, and is valid for one year. The price goes down as the months progress.

Publisher Jack Tesorero said the idea is to help build up a stronger queer business base. "We don't really have a little gay town," he said. "Our community has been a little slow to grow. In 2001, there was one gay restaurant. There are now seven gay-owned restaurants."

So far, 65 of the 80 advertisers who've been asked are participating in the project, offering rebates of up to 20 percent on goods or services. They also get a VIP Card logo in their ads, alerting readers to their special status.

"All the exposure is free; all they're giving up is a little discount," said the publisher, who often mentions the card in his magazine's editorials.

Tesorero added that the project isn't about profit. He's donating half-page ads to an HIV group called Body Positive with the proceeds. He won't say how many cards have been sold, but called the experiment a success (and noted that a competing entrepreneur has since founded a "Rainbow Savings Card").

Canada's Calgary-based Outlooks, a monthly, offers its readers a MasterCard. In 2000, the Outlooks Millennium Community Foundation, a subsidiary of Outlooks magazine, began offering what it calls "Canada's first and only Rainbow Affinity Program Credit Card." The card has no annual fee and a credit limit of CDN$100,000, plus 24-hour customer service, fraud protection, and emergency replacement within 48 hours. It's available only to Canadians with a total household income of $35,000 or greater, and readers can apply through the magazine's website.

Staff at Outlooks could not be reached for comment. But according to the website, a percentage of every purchase is donated to the foundation, which describes itself as helping "to provide funding in Canada's gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered communities." The funds are used for projects such as providing start-up costs for the creation of new community groups and GLBT-themed arts programs, or sponsorship of promotional or fundraising events.

- D.C. Culbertson and Eleanor Brown

PLANETOUT POSTPONES IPO. PlanetOut Inc. has postponed its initial public offering, the company announced in a press release.

The decision is "based on recent adverse market conditions," according to an Aug. 11 communique. Chair and chief executive officer Lowell Selvin is quoted as saying: "Given the current difficult market for initial offerings, we feel the appropriate value of the company would not be realized through an IPO at this time."

Its Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement has not been withdrawn, indicating the timing is in question, but not the IPO itself.

UPI news service reported that the company cut the estimated price for shares on Aug. 4 from US$12 to $14 down to $9 to $11.

PlanetOut announced its plan to go public in April. The filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission called for an initial public offering worth up to US$75 million, and the company had applied to be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol "LGBT."

A year ago, PlanetOut announced an unaudited net income of $100,000 for the first quarter of 2003; the company had revenues last year of $19 million but ended 2003 with a loss of $752,000; it lost $7.9 million the year before.

- Eleanor Brown

CITING AOL, CLIPPINGS SERVICE SHUTS DOWN. The Internet-based Fenceberry GLBT news clipping service is no longer, and AOL gets part of the blame.

"AOL has been jerking us around ever since they disabled our account yesterday - again - for spamming. We can no longer send mail from AOL to multiple addresses - and we can't even send to multiple AOL addresses from [a different] service because AOL rejects them," stated an e-mail message to subscribers dated July 31.

Fenceberry's Aleta Fenceroy and Jean Mayberry noted that the AOL fiasco was not entirely to blame for the closure, but it was the last straw. Both women, who have taken turns running the service at different times, "need to spend less time on the computer and more time involved in our local community and with each other."

The service was begun in 1995 by Iowa City activist Alan Light, at a time when news websites and general interest search engines were rare. A year later, Light was ready to give it up, and the two women took it over. "But the service just doesn't feel as indispensable as it did a few years ago when our means of communication were more limited."

Fenceberry was popular with both activists and journalists seeking to keep up with queer news from across the continent, conveniently delivered into their own e-mailboxes within 24 hours. In an interview with Press Pass Q, Fenceroy said the list had just over 1,000 subscribers, of which 275 were on AOL. On average, she sent out 36 news items a day, and spent at least four hours daily collating (mostly through Google's search engine).

A staff person in AOL's corporate communications department referred questions about company policies to a website created for members having problems with getting their bulk e-mail delivered; it's at postmaster.aol.com.

Fenceroy and Mayberry were married at the 1993 March on Washington; Fenceroy said that once the nuptials are legally recognized in their home base of Nebraska, they'll both legally change their names to Fenceberry.

- Eleanor Brown

LAWSUITS GALORE. ’Tis the season for GLBT media-related lawsuits, both filed and settled.

To begin, nationally self-syndicating advice columnist Meryl Cohn, also known as Ms. Behavior, filed a lawsuit June 24 against the Boston Globe for trademark infringement.

The action follows the April launch of the Globe's "Miss Behave" advice column by Millie Downing (a New England etiquette school operator).

In its front-page story about the issue, the Philadelphia Gay News quoted Cohn as saying of her alleged rival: "She could call herself anything - I've been calling myself 'Ms. Behavior' for more than a dozen years. I do feel very possessive of what I've tried to develop over the years, and the readership that I have and the kind of advice I've given."

Cohn said she received her federal trademark in 1997.

Elsewhere, Florida's Express Gay News reported that a lawsuit is pending against Gay South Florida by investor and former sales department employee Jeff Licalzi, alleging that owner Monte Guthrie defrauded Licalzi out of his investment money.

Gay South Florida publishes Gay Yellow Pages and Q Nation magazine. Express Guthrie is quoted as saying the company will seek to declare bankruptcy.

Over in Atlanta, Window Media and David magazine settled a lawsuit with a man whose photograph appeared in an advertisement for a gay bar. Lucas Courtright's picture appeared in Window Media's Eclipse magazine in September 2002, and twice in David Atlanta.

In a July story reporting on the issue in Window Media's Southern Voice, Courtright, who is not gay, was said to have dropped claims of invasion of privacy, unfair business practices, and libel.

Window Media lawyer Cynthia Counts told Southern Voice that the ad's suggestion that Courtright was gay, which led to the libel accusation, was particularly noxious.

The defendants paid Courtright US$17,500 to settle (only a claim of "misappropriation" remained); that's $7,500 from Window Media, $8,500 from the bar, and $1,500 from David Atlanta Magazine. The settlement states the defendants "expressly deny any and all wrongdoing whatsoever."

David was owned by Andy Jones at the time the action was filed. Echoing a Window Media official, Jones said he settled to avoid the expense of a court fight. He sold the publication in 2003 to Unite Media, a sibling company of Window Media, which then shut down the rival Eclipse.

And finally, in a case that tangentially involved the San Diego Gay & Lesbian Times, the Associated Press reported that the 4th District Court of Appeals rejected a libel lawsuit filed by a lesbian against her former partner.

In a letter sent to the Gay & Lesbian Times in 2001, Sharon Silverstein wrote that her former partner, Annette Friskopp, was "a convicted perpetrator of domestic violence against me."

Friskopp sued her ex. Friskopp has never been criminally convicted of domestic violence; however, a family court had ruled that Friskopp had been abusive to Silverstein.

Associated Press reported that a judge ruled on June 28 that Friskopp "was a limited purpose public figure." The two women fought a well-publicized adoption case, appeared on television, and published a book together.

As a public figure, Friskopp would have to show Silverstein "acted with actual malice when she wrote the letter," and that such proof was unlikely.

In an unsigned editorial that ran in its July 12, 2004, issue (and that was unrelated to the lawsuit), Gay & Lesbian Times told readers that it publishes all letters to the editor that it receives, adding space as needed. In addition, no editing occurs, not even spelling corrections. "We leave in your grammatical errors, your eccentric capitalizations, your highly questionable use of italics... the publisher of this paper doesn't want people's ideas and opinions tampered with."

- Eleanor Brown

*Boston BAY WINDOWS mailed a copy of its July 15 issue "directly to every GLBT delegate and elected official attending the Democratic National Convention," according to a full-page ad soliciting potential advertisers to "introduce your business to all our new guests."

*Detroit's BETWEEN THE LINES will donate the money from the COORS BREWING COMPANY advertisement that ran in its July 8 issue to the Coalition for a Fair Michigan, which is fighting a state ban on same-sex marriages. The announcement was made in an editorial in the same issue, which noted that while the company is gay-positive, a substantial amount of its profits go into the pockets of Coors family members whose values the publishers do not support.

*CHARLES KAREL BOULEY has a book of columns out (many of them originally from ADVOCATE.COM) titled "You Can't Say That!" (Alyson Books).

*Cartoonist GREG FOX celebrates the publication of "Kyle's Bed & Breakfast" (Kensington Books), a compilation of the syndicated strip's first five years.

*In June, THE GAYLY OKLAHOMAN was presented with a Community Hero Award by Tulsa Oklahomans for Human Rights. The biweekly is owned by DON HAWKINS and MICK SHIRRON.

*Publisher ANTHONY MCCARTHY left Baltimore's GAY LIFE on June 30 (and there is talk of a move into electoral politics). Editor Scott Baum said there are no immediate plans to replace McCarthy.

*The NATIONAL LESBIAN & GAY JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION has posted a primer on how to track local gay data by using U.S. census results. See www.nlgja.org/convention/dr2004/Sat/census.htm

*The weekly OUTLOOK NEWS newspaper, out of Columbus, Ohio, is moving to more magazine-style content, publisher MALCOLM RIGGLE wrote in a July 8 editorial. The paper will sectionalize news, entertainment, and lifestyle coverage, and use more graphic elements (including covers without copy). Riggle explained the change by saying that a hard-news-oriented newspaper is always out of date: "[I]t is getting harder and harder to find news that isn't old news by the time the paper hits the streets. You can get breaking mainstream and gay news on the Internet 24/7 if you like, customized and sent directly to your computer or cell phone." Other changes: Canada's ENZA "SUPERMODEL" ANDERSON is writing a biweekly column; CHRIS HAYES has joined the staff as entertainment and lifestyles editor; business manager MICHAEL DANIELS is the new managing editor, replacing LISA K. ZELLNER.

*In June, NICOLE MURRAY RAMIREZ, an activist and columnist for GAY & LESBIAN TIMES, helped unveil her brainchild, the San Diego LGBT Community Wall of Honor. Inductees will be chosen based on their contributions to the community.

*Wedding bells: syndicated etiquette columnist MS. BEHAVIOR, also known  as MERYL COHN, married writer Mary Beth Caschetta in May. And ERIC PARKER and JOEY ROMELLI, the title characters of Dave Brousseau's syndicated comic strip, "A COUPLE OF GUYS," were married in a small town on Cape Cod, in an episode dated for publication on Aug. 2. They celebrated their honeymoon in Provincetown in the following week's installment.

*DAVID WILLIAMS, owner of THE LETTER (Louisville, Ky.), is celebrating his first painting exhibit, titled "Rust and the City." The show is up until Aug. 29 at a local establishment (Old Louisville Coffeehouse), and Williams signs his work with his mother's maiden name, Walinski.

..............................................................................

Are there important changes going on at your publication? E-mail the information to editor@PressPassQ.com.

LETTERS 

"Marriage keeps on truckin'" (Press Pass Q, July 2004)

Press Pass Q credits Michelangelo Signorile’s July 9 column in 365gay.com with raising the issue of a new wave of outings on Capital Hill surrounding the debate over the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Signorile was reacting to coverage weeks earlier in the June 18 and July 2 issues of the Washington Blade, which broke the story. Press Pass Q should give credit where credit is due. The Blade’s coverage has been written by reporter Adrian Brune.

Chris Crain, editorial director, Window Media (Washington, D.C.)

..............................................................................

Send your thoughts, praise, and criticism to editor@PressPassQ.com. Letters should be fewer than 300 words and may be edited for style and length.

****** ON THE WEB. The Press Pass Q website is up and running at www.PressPassQ.com; you'll find back issues and subscription information there. Also, at the Q Syndicate website - www.qsyndicate.com - you'll find up-to-date information on the 15 columns and features we distribute to gay and lesbian media: A Couple of Guys, Bitter Girl, Book Marks, Crossword Puzzles, Deep Inside Hollywood, Editorial Cartoons, Lesbian Notions, Now Playing, On Q, Out of Town, Past Out, Q Scopes, Sex Talk, Sports Complex, and Word Searches. For information about subscribing to Q Syndicate content, write to sales@qsyndicate.com or call 908-232-5974.

****** LOOKING FOR WRITERS. Press Pass Q is always in need of reporters to write feature stories on issues of concern to the lesbian and gay press. Writers should be familiar with gay media, accustomed to tight deadlines, and willing to take editorial direction. Contact Eleanor Brown at editor@PressPassQ.com to express interest or for more information.

****** DO YOU HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT for the Bulletin Board? Are you trying to get your work published? Looking for job applicants? Promoting a special project? Press Pass Q is now distributed to almost 2,000 working professionals in the gay and lesbian press. Bulletin Board announcements are just a dollar (U.S.) per word per insertion, paid up front. Send a check payable to Rivendell Media, P.O. Box 518, Westfield, NJ 07091-0518.

PRESS PASS Q is an e-mail newsletter published by Rivendell Media and Q Syndicate and distributed free each month to anyone involved with or interested in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender press. If you are not currently receiving this newsletter via e-mail, you can add your name to our mailing list at www.PressPassQ.com.

To ensure receipt of the newsletter, all subscribers should add editor@presspassq.com to their address books in light of more aggressive spam filters which might screen out Press Pass Q.

If you do NOT want to receive Press Pass Q, send an e-mail to editor@PressPassQ.com (or simply reply to this message) with the words REMOVE ME in the subject line, or in the body of the message.

All materials published in Press Pass Q are (c)2004 Rivendell Media and are not intended for publication elsewhere. Feel free, however, to forward this newsletter to any individuals or lists who you think should see it.