Conveniently anonymous leaks to gossip columns portray Judy Wieder, perhaps the most prominent lesbian in American journalism today, as hiding her devil's horns under strategically placed wisps of hair.

Take the feisty Page Six in the New York Daily News, where a blurb had her subjecting staffers to tirades, allegedly angry that she'd been briefly parodied in Michael Thomas Ford's novel "Last Summer" and was trying to stop its distribution.

In an interview with Press Pass Q, Wieder is charming and defers to the opinions of others when asked about her greatest contribution to gay and lesbian media and activism (but is able to quote a compliment). She's no pushover, ably defending her employer when necessary, thanks perhaps to years of coping with criticism as editor of The Advocate and now, as a senior vice president of its publisher, the private company LPI Media.

There's no denying her buck-stops-here primacy. "I'm the glue. They report to me, and I have to answer the problems. It's endless," Wieder said in a telephone interview from her desk in Los Angeles. The chat, conducted at the beginning of August, was set up after Press Pass Q's questions were vetted by LPI's cautious media-relations handler, Eric Chandler. (Wieder was eventually late for a lunch meeting when she doubled the 20 minutes allotted, but still only got through about two-thirds of the queries.)

As the corporate editorial director, Wieder has the final say on the editorial content of magazines like The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and HIV Plus. There are also websites, a book publishing arm, the creation of new magazines, and the need to push into television. Wieder might not always have the time to read every single word on the magazine proofs, but she tries.

She also expects back talk from the peanut gallery. "A lot of things blow up on you when you're the face. 'Uh oh, here it comes,' and I just duck under the desk."

Some say that Wieder, and LPI Media, have too much power, that the conglomerate has a stranglehold on the national gay voice.

Wieder doesn't understand why success and the promotion of gay visibility must be attacked. "This company has been putting out magazines that have worked, and not only in the rich days! Now that we have a foothold, we can put magazines in mainstream places. Why should this be looked at in such a negative way?"

LPI was also criticized indirectly at the recent National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention in New York, where some panelists said that national queer media is "losing out to the mainstream on coverage of LGBT issues" because of a lack of resources.

"The national gay press has really lost its way in terms of what it thinks gay stories are," Las Vegas freelancer Steve Friess was quoted as saying in an NLGJA newsletter. "You find much better stories on gay issues in mainstream national media."

Still, panelists agreed that mainstream reporters don't understand the guts of gay issues, and also acknowledged the supremacy of the gay media's coverage of AIDS issues. Certainly The Advocate, billed as a newsmagazine, has been panned for being too soft and too entertainment-oriented.

Wieder dismisses those calling for movie boycotts when they haven't watched the film. "People just need to look at what they are complaining about. We're the most discerning publication out there, and we print the bloody truth."

It's sometimes about presentation. Wieder said she regretted placing a women's diseased breast on the cover of The Advocate back in the mid-1990s. It didn't sell, leaving Wieder to conclude that a hunky guy would have upped sales and brought in readers to the solid journalism inside on breast cancer.

Wieder has also been accused of blacklisting writers who displease her. Four years ago, freelance writer Andrew Sullivan claimed Wieder banned him from The Advocate after he criticized the publication; Dan Savage then quit his column in Out magazine in solidarity. At the time, Wieder acknowledged that an assignment given to Sullivan had been withdrawn, but she said he wasn't banned forever. She told Inside.com that her staff was furious with Sullivan's insults (he went after writer Chris Bull by name). Sullivan now writes regularly for The Advocate.

Wieder said much work has gone into providing diversity. "People villainize.... There are so many different voices in The Advocate."

But she also acknowledges that LPI's clout makes its critics wary. "We went through this when people thought we were going to merge with PlanetOut and eat the world." LPI and PlanetOut called off a planned merger in March 2001 (around the time the dot-com boom went bust).

The complaints were a ramped-up repeat of LPI's April 2000 purchase of the lifestyle magazine Out. It was feared Out and The Advocate were to become carbon copies. "To what purpose?" asked Wieder. "Both magazines would die. People would buy one or the other, but not both."

In fact, in order to ensure even more diversity, a writer must pick either Out or The Advocate, because he or she won't be allowed to write for both.

Wieder also notes that rivals can, and do, fight back. A recent leak had LPI planning a parenting magazine helmed by actor and former talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell, which would compete with the national glossy And Baby. But Wieder said And Baby publishers used that leak to get into the New York Times, garnering free publicity.

Wieder won't confirm that a new O'Donnell publication is in the works, only "that we are talking about it." But such a magazine would go a long way to giving lesbians a place in the LPI readership. "We want lesbians," said Wieder.

"After all, I am one."

Focus groups are in the works for lesbian projects. "When we do something, we take a lot of time, we cannot go out there and fail; it reflects on the women."

Still, LPI has no product that specifically focuses on lesbians. Wieder said it's "hard enough for us to get any female readers into The Advocate." And Out magazine is perhaps the company's biggest failure in terms of lesbians.

Upon Out's purchase, Wieder told Folio magazine that she wanted to bring women into the fold. Four years later, she said: "It's very difficult to have a co-gender lifestyle magazine.... They don't have enough in common." Out's direction didn't include women. (Out is not a failure as a magazine, however; Wieder refused to give specifics on money, but said one recent issue had revenue of US$1 million.)

The purchase also marked a change in LPI's direction. The old name, Liberation Publications, reminiscent of in-your-face gay-lib politics, was dropped in favor of the current acronym, and the company got rid of its men's skin titles.

Wieder's own professional rise parallels the growth in power and respectability of queer media in North America. Born in New York, she came of age on the other side of the country, in Los Angeles, where she was bound for a career in music. First a concert pianist, then a cellist, she became a folkie with a guitar when she discovered a thriving youth subculture in Berkeley. After college she connected with artists at the famed Motown recording studio. Some who'd left the label began recording her songs.

"You don't make a living in music," Wieder lamented. She moved to music journalism, where she made her name in a new field. "One day I started doing some work for Genre, then became editor." She eventually jumped to The Advocate, becoming arts-and-entertainment editor in 1993, then editor three years later, and on up. Asked to profess her greatest contribution to the gay media (and the gay movement), she demurs. "You can never really evaluate yourself very well."

But she cast back to an Equality Award she received last February from the Human Rights Campaign. "What [they] said about me, which I hope to be true, is that I humanized the movement. The [gay] press had been very biting and angry - there were reasons for that: the whole AIDS epidemic, the pain of coming up from down under after so many years of hostility."

Wieder said activists, men and women, and those in the gay press, were all busy attacking each other, rather than taking on the bigots. "We were much more aimed at not liking each other. A stupid waste. I just ignored it."

Despite all she's done, Wieder does not believe that journalists should be activists. She said up-front activism cuts into a reader's trust when the reporter's tackling news. In an age when many queer journalists see themselves as activists, regularly penning editorials and opinion columns, hers is an unpopular position.

"Who cares?" she replied.

GOOGLE IGNORES GAY MEDIA? Gay and lesbian news outlets get short shrift on the powerful and popular Google News search engine.

A Google News search at the end of August seeking stories on gays and the Republican National Convention came up with hits for only four North American gay media outlets. They were PlanetOut, The Advocate, The Washington Blade, and The Texas Triangle. Other searches for gay news may include hits from GFN.com, Gay.com and 365gay.com. And that's about it for the GLBT media presence on Google News.

A Google media representative said she could not speak to the media because of the company's recent public stock offering. Due to "SEC quiet period restrictions, we cannot comment in your story," wrote Eileen Rodriguez in an e-mail to Press Pass Q.

Google's website does not explain how specific sites are selected for inclusion in the news search engine. The online FAQ page notes that "information [is] culled from about 4,500 news sources worldwide." Also according to the FAQ, the choice of news stories is automated. Google's automated search is continuously updated, with software performing a grouping process based on computer algorithms which pull together related headlines. The grouping method allows readers to see how different news organizations report the same story.

The selection is done without regard to political viewpoint or ideology, which can lead to unusual and contradictory groupings. The news searches go back 30 days.

The FAQ says publications wishing to be included in the news search engine should contact source-suggestions@google.com. "While we can't guarantee that we will add all sources that are recommended, we will review all the suggestions we receive." And publishers concerned about the way their content is represented can write news-feedback-ca@google.com.

- Frank Pizzoli

MAKING DONATIONS TO POLITICIANS. San Francisco activist Michael Petrelis said he's astonished that members of the GLBT media have made contributions to political parties or candidates.

The media wields great political influence, he said. It should be standard practice for publishers, reporters, broadcasters, editors, and producers to reveal their political contributions so readers and viewers would be alert to biases, Petrelis said. "I think readers should know about those donations."

Former Washington Blade editor Lisa Keen, a freelance writer who covered the recent National Democratic Convention for PlanetOut, donated US$250 to Sen. Carol Moseley Braun's ill-fated presidential campaign. And San Francisco Bay Area Reporter publisher Bob Ross, who died last year, contributed $3,000 to congressional candidates, according to campaign disclosure sites.

Window Media publisher William Waybourn, whose company operates gay publications in Washington, New York, Atlanta, and Houston, has given a total of $6,950 to mostly gay political candidates during the 2004 election cycle.

Some of the funds went to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, which Waybourn cofounded. He also served as the organization's first executive director.

Waybourn said that he sees no reason to disclose his contributions in Window newspapers, because anyone who wants to know can find the information in other records available to the public. "It's not a matter of hiding anything,"

Waybourn said. "I don't write any stories, so there's nothing for me to influence."

Petrelis' research also showed that Dallas Voice publisher Robert Moore contributed $250 to Wesley Clark's presidential campaign.

Moore said that the newspaper's owners have always kept the newsroom "distinctly removed from any political activity in which we have personally participated." He noted that he has never submitted an opinion piece for publication during his 20 years at the paper, which he cofounded in 1984. He also has never edited news copy, he added.

Both Waybourn and Moore said that their publications' policies prohibit news employees, including editors, from making campaign contributions or participating in any political activity, which the men agreed would present a conflict of interest.

Waybourn added that Petrelis has been asked by company officials to cease contacting reporters at Window Media newspapers because he had "screamed and yelled" at them. Petrelis said he was unaware of any complaints about him harassing Window Media reporters.

"That's news to me," said Petrelis, who acknowledged that there is a restraining order barring him from contacting San Francisco Chronicle reporters. "I kind of think what William is trying to do is deflect attention from his donations."

- David Webb

A version of this story first ran in the Dallas Voice; it is reprinted with the permission of the writer.

KEEPING UP WITH A FRACTURED READERSHIP. How many adjectives can be added to a masthead that already lists gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgendered?

Panelists convened at the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association June 24 media summit in New York for "Heteroflexibles, Transdykes and Genderqueers, Oh My!" They examined how the queer press is reacting to and reaching readers who do not fit into traditional queer stereotypes.

That includes a growing transgender population and youth who often shun sexual labels. Are we reaching these people, and are we doing a good job of it?

Freelance journalist Jessica DuLong gave as an example a story she was assigned on a same-sex newlywed couple. The young women she interviewed did not relate to the lesbian label. "I'm me, and I fell in love with her," said one.

Fred Kuhr, editor of Boston's In Newsweekly, pointed out the difficulty in reaching a readership with what he termed a "fluidity of sexuality." In fact, Kuhr confessed that the first time he'd heard the term "heteroflexible," which refers to a person who is hetero, but "dabbles" and doesn’t identify as gay, was just then, during the panel discussion. Kuhr wondered, if such people are not "out," are they proud of their heteroflexible status?

The point was raised that even though "GLBT press" is itself a label, the medium writes about GLBT communities.

DuLong thinks that the fact that many people eschew labels is a story in itself, and that it is the job of journalists to cover the people who don’t fit the molds. Holding up an issue of the Village Voice containing an article on a transmale, DuLong said she thinks the mainstream press is doing a better job of covering trans news that the GLBT press. "We’re late," DuLong said.

New York-based freelance writer Jon Barrett called the "continuum of gender" - the way people understand gender – such a big topic that reporters shy away from it.

DuLong said that the hardest thing about covering transgender issues is choosing pronouns. Young people on the Internet are already using a gender-neutral pronoun, "Z," in place of "he" or "she." This was also news to most of those in the room.

A panel the next day, held during the NLGJA annual conference, was titled "Is Journalism Harmful to Minors?"

Panelists looked at the ethics and treatment of media coverage of trans youth. In-house NLGJA newsletter coverage quoted queer newspaper columnist Gwen Smith as noting that journalists are still misreporting a person's name and gender, sticking to birth data instead of chosen identity. "When things like this happen, [transgender people] may feel violated." And it's even tougher for young people, who are trying to cope with innumerable legal and medical hurdles.

The NLGJA newsletter quoted freelance journalist Karl Surkan as saying that gender (or gender change) may not be relevant to a story. Surkan suggested reporters take a different tack: "Maybe the story should shift focus, not concentrating on what a transgender person is doing while transitioning, but how society is not accommodating them in that change."

- Bennett Marcus

WHEN PUBLISHERS MOVE INTO DOING TRADE SHOWS. How many gay trade shows can one city support? Three Toronto-based GLBT magazines have expanded their mandates to include lifestyle expos, with mixed results.

Xtra magazine organized two editions of its Gay Life & Style show over three days in 2000 and 2001. The events, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Center, were a joint venture with a prominent trade show company. Xtra associate publisher Brandon Matheson said that the staging was a huge project, involving exhibitors, entertainment, and complicated logistics (marketing, facility management, even running electrical cables), plus parties. Matheson said that after the second year, the paper's partner changed direction. "Xtra decided that it was not feasible to continue without that partner. We do not have any plans at this time to resurrect the show.... To replace their vital role would divert our staff resources from our primary business of publishing."

As Xtra pulled out of the market, rival biweekly Fab jumped in. Its first "bridal issue" came out in August 2003 after same-sex marriage was legalized in Ontario. "It was the most financially successful issue of the year, next to Pride," said Fab account manager Brian Garrison. Given the money, Fab teamed up with Premier Consumer Shows and six months later produced a more targeted event, Canada's first National Gay and Lesbian Wedding Show. (The second edition is scheduled for the Metro Toronto Convention Centre next Feb. 20.)

Garrison said teaming up with a company specializing in consumer shows made all the difference. The expertise is already there, and the workload is split.

Garrison won't say how much the show cost to produce. He said some 1,800 attended, and almost 80 exhibitors took part. He added that only a couple of exhibitors also attended a rival wedding show. That was Gaiety.ca's Pink Weddings Expo, held in June.

John Bauslaugh, vice president of consumer shows for the glossy magazine, said the event was an extension of Gaiety's spring wedding edition, and was scheduled during Toronto's Pride Week to attract international as well as domestic visitors.

It was in a hotel at the edge of the city's gay neighborhood. And exhibitors came from the wedding industry: photographers, caterers, florists, banquet-hall operators, and disc jockeys. Bauslaugh called it a "small show," with some 50 exhibitors and 500 visitors. Three hundred of those visitors said they were planning on getting married within 12 months.

He declined to discuss costs, but said the company has experience in trade show management. Bauslaugh said Gaiety will stage a final wedding expo Nov. 13 and 14 in the honeymoon capital of Niagara Falls, Ont., and then will do only lifestyle shows. Bauslaugh added there will soon be no need to segregate straight and gay wedding shows as same-sex weddings become more and more accepted.

- Bennett Marcus

THE FUN OF FAKE ADS. A fake ad contest in Detroit's Between The Lines has led to readers paying much more attention to advertisers and their products.

"Readers are also looking at the real ads more carefully," said BTL co-publisher Jan Stevenson. Every week sees a new fake display ad for a company or service, invented by staff - starting with the April 1 issue.

The campaign, advertised with a house ad every week, is expected to run for a year. Readers look for the ad, cut it out, and mail it in with their name and address, or enter via the paper's website. At least 100 entries come in every week. A random winner, picked every month, wins US$100.

What's the clue? "Somewhere in the body of the ad text is the phrase 'between the sheets,' a natural play off our paper's name," Stevenson said. Advertisers love the contest "because it actually forces readers to look at every ad.

We see a marked increase in responses to advertisers' [real] ads because more readers are paying attention to the ads." Stevenson reported many bar and restaurant owners observe groups of people laughing and reading through the paper together, looking for the fake ad (it's usually 1/12 or 1/8 of a page).

The contest has also provided BTL with some unintentional market research. The publication always includes one of its office telephone numbers in the ad, which occasionally yields a strong response. "For example, the all-time winner was our ad for a fake moving company we called Two Dykes and a Truck.

Six months later we were still getting calls from people wanting strong women to move their stuff," Stevenson said. The second-place fake ad was the "Pride Sauna," that began as a joke when the office air-conditioning blew out. "An unexpectedly large number of readers called not realizing the ad was fake, looking for relief at the all-gay sauna!" Stevenson reports.

Stevenson said the ads are goofy and fun but don't offend anyone. "We stay away from anything controversial." Her personal favorite is Dilly Dairy Ice Cream. ("Don't disturb your daily dalliance by doing diligence at a different dairy distributor. Dilly Dairy has all the delicious delectables daringly displayed in delightful decadence. We're determined to detonate your dairy desires. Come delve into delicious Dilly Dairy. All our ice cream treats guaranteed to delight you between the sheets of your palate")

- Frank Pizzoli

UNITY GATHERS 8,000 JOURNALISTS. A very few gay media staff attended the Aug. 4 Unity: Journalists of Color annual conference in Washington, D.C.

"I do not recall any of the hundreds of LGBT journalists we met saying they were covering for the LGBT media, or doing any work to advocate on behalf of inclusion of LGBT media journalists of color in particular," said Pamela Strother, the executive director of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA), who attended the gathering.

The five-day Unity 2004 conference attracted some 8,000 delegates and appearances by President George W. Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry.

Staff at the Unity head office referred queries about queer media participation to Joseph Torres of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, who is charged with media relations. He did not return Press Pass Q's calls.

Unity is an umbrella group; membership is comprised of the Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and the Native American Journalists Association.

Despite a request for official recognition, the South Asian Journalists Association is not a member, and neither is NLGJA. The gay journalists group was turned down in 1999 when it requested some type of formal alliance.

Nonetheless, it has maintained an involvement. In a July 30 letter to members, NLGJA representatives noted that nearly 100 NLGJA members would participate in Unity. "[I]n order to further enhance our relationship with the attendees, NLGJA is hosting a membership recruitment booth, a media reception, evening social events and a brunch.

Additionally, a high profile panel on the marriage movement has been organized by members of NLGJA. UNITY has been welcoming of our activities."

- Eleanor Brown

WHITHER ECHELON? Whatever happened to Echelon? Would-be publisher Michael Lamb garnered much media attention for the launch of a national GLBT business glossy in January 2004, then never produced an issue.

"We are very close" to a first issue, Lamb said, which is now scheduled to appear in October. Lamb said the sudden loss of advertising revenue led to the postponement: "We initially had some promises from corporations that had to pull out at the last minute." And, he added, most potential advertisers want to see an issue before they buy in.

Lamb said he's about to sign up investors (whom he refused to identify) who'll finance the first, 52-page issue. He said only one of his 500 early bird subscribers has asked for the return of their US$19.99. "If they call me, I answer the phone," he said. "It's not a scam."

Lamb said contract employees include a graphic designer, a Web master, and a director of marketing. His first full-time employee, to start within a few weeks, will be an assistant.

Lamb is also organizing a Nov. 10 National LGBT Business Convention to be held in his base of Los Angeles (see http://www.echelonmag.com/index.htm), and said if all else fails, the proceeds from that event will finance the first issue of Echelon.

- Eleanor Brown

ONE NEWSPAPER SOLD, ANOTHER SHUTS DOWN. The recent resale of the Kentucky monthly The Letter may become complicated.

David Williams and his company, Phoenix Hill Enterprises, Inc., turned over ownership of The Letter on Sept. 1 to Atta Girl Productions. In a mass e-mail, Williams wrote: "But except for a change in who writes the checks, readers won’t see any difference. The same staff that's been running the paper will remain."

This is the second time Williams has sold The Letter. He repossessed it in August 2003 after selling it four months earlier to RJS Communications LLC and principal R. Jason Smith. But Smith told Press Pass Q he is still the legal owner of The Letter, and said he's filed a lawsuit arguing that Williams' publishing of The Letter is an infringement on Smith's trade name and contract rights, and he is seeking the income generated by the publication of The Letter plus unspecified damages.
 
In turn, Williams said the case is in legal limbo. "Mr. Smith's attorney failed to respond to our counter-questions in the crucial legal timeframe under Kentucky law. That occurred this past spring. We are still awaiting his replies, but the whole lawsuit appears to be moot at this point."

In terms of the sale, Williams would only say that "the new owners simply took over the debt. That debt was not substantial."

He told readers in his mass e-mail that he wanted to concentrate on his painting career. He will stay on with The Letter as copy editor, news writer, columnist, community liaison, and part-time distributor. Dave Poland assumes the role of managing editor.

"After 22 years of activism, I need a rest," Williams wrote.

In other news, the 9-year-old Toronto, Canada, bimonthly Siren Magazine published its last issue in July. It was an entirely volunteer-run women's magazine, with a core staff of five.

Managing editor Annemarie Shrouder said the last of the magazine's founding members left in the fall of 2002, and the newer staff members decided to keep Siren going. "But with a few changes - we wanted to make the magazine more inclusive to the women's community." In part, that meant more of a focus on "queer women" than on "lesbians." "[T]he feedback we were receiving was that many queer women weren't reading Siren because it did not speak to them," said Shrouder. A community meeting was held to get feedback.

Said Shrouder: "We had a lot of great ideas that may or may not have made the difference in readership and advertising increases, but the problem always came down to not enough women to get them off the ground. And those of us on the team all have full-time jobs in addition to Siren. In the final analysis, we were all burnt out."

- Eleanor Brown

PAYPAL TALKS BACK. Following last issue's Press Pass Q story, PayPal representatives have denied that homophobia lies behind the popular Internet payment processing company's decision to drop two gay media enterprises as customers.

"It's not about sexual orientation, it's about sexual content," said PayPal communications department officials Amanda Pires and Sara Bettencourt, during an interview with both on a speakerphone.

Gay media writer Perry Brass's website, Belhue Press, and HIM Corp, which runs such sites as LesbiaNation and GayWired, were both bumped on the same day (July 7).

The timing "may have been just a coincidence," said the PayPal women. A "substantial" staff in Omaha, Neb., is devoted to seeking out violators of the company's acceptable use policy, which covers everything from adult content to firearms and illegal pharmaceutical sales. It's possible staff stumbled onto and investigated a "certain sector" at that time.

The PayPal representatives said the company dropped the adult porn industry in 2003, and the firm can be fined for serving adult-oriented merchants by the self-regulating credit card associations with which they do business. As well, there is a matter of fairness and ensuring that everyone obeys the same regulations.

Pires said PayPal does keep track of which and how many businesses are banned, but would not release that information.

One of HIM Corp.'s sites allegedly includes advertising linking to escort services and full-frontal nudity, which are both no-nos. Responded HIM Corp's Matt Skallerud: "We police members posting full frontal nudity pictures on a daily basis, so I doubt they saw one, but in remote instances, it can happen."

(HIM Corp. provides Web services for Press Pass Q.)

Belhue Press was accused of including "sexually explicit" text on its website, and some of its book blurbs allegedly discuss "sex with minors." Belhue's Brass responded: "[T]hat PayPal is reading my text shows that now they are in the business of censoring text as well as pictures. There is an excerpt from one of my books that is quite 'transgressive' sexually, but nothing in it even compares to the leering dehumanizing attitudes I see on reality TV on [shows] like 'Fear Factor.'

"What PayPal is trying to do now is simply censorship. I stand by the statement that I don't have a 'porn' site.... It's sad that I have to make statements like this in my defense; it really says a terrible thing about the political climate now."

- Eleanor Brown

*COREY BLANCHETTE has left his position as editor of the Phoenix, Ariz., IONAZ, after a year. He is succeeded by KEVIN BUSHAW.

*As a part of its HIV Leadership Awards, the health resources site THEBODY.COM has included a nod to AIDS-related journalism, with winners to be announced next April. A board of advisors will nominate reporters (the judges include Dr. Paul Volberding of the University of California, San Francisco, and Dr. Victoria Cargill of the National Institute of Health Office of AIDS Research). Only those living in the United States are eligible.

*The CHELSEA BOYS syndicated comic strip will soon make the jump to television, with creators Glen Hanson and Allan Neuwirth signing on with the proposed new GLBT digital television network LOGO to develop a half-hour animated cartoon.

*In a suit with legal implications for queer media, the alternative weekly THE DALLAS OBSERVER and others are being sued for US$1.1 billion for the alleged wrongful disclosure of the plaintiff's HIV status, reported Texas Lawyer. The case, filed in Dallas' 192nd District Court, is called Joe Doe v. New Times Inc. (the plaintiff is anonymous), and the story in question ran in December. The suit pits First Amendment and media rights versus the Texas Health and Safety Code, which forbids the disclosure of medical test results to other parties, unless written permission has been given (it was not). Further complicating the case is that the plaintiff is a member of an HIV-positive choir, and is named and pictured on a CD release.

*JOHN GREEN, also known as DIVINITY, was a North Carolina-based trans activist and publisher of the newsletter All The Beautiful People. Green died at 63 on May 25, reportedly of septicemia brought on by complications arising from Hepatitis B.

*JERRY GUTTMAN is the interim publisher of the Los Angeles FRONTIERS NEWSMAGAZINE. He replaced HOPE HINDRICHS in July; she had been named publisher in December (and had been with the company for 13 years previous).

*Poet and disabled activist CHRIS HEWITT, 58, died July 13 in San Francisco, of complications from pneumonia. His work had appeared in The Advocate, and he was an associate editor of Art and Understanding, the art and literature journal about AIDS.

*IDENTITY magazine contributor MAX SMITH has edited a book, "Staying Power" (Chicago Moon Publishing), about maintaining positive African-American male relationships.

*IN MAGAZINE LOS ANGELES marked National Hispanic Month with the September launch of a new regularly appearing section called IN LAtino, "geared toward the gay Latino audience and also to the overall gay community who are interested in this ever expanding and diverse culture."

*The quarterly METROSOURCE, which produces glossy national and New York editions, will begin publishing bimonthly beginning with the December/January issue. This coincides with the launch of METROSOURCE L.A.

*STEVE MOORE takes over as editor of Q VEGAS (formerly the Las Vegas Bugle) from Jere Keys, who leaves after four years at the company. Moore signed up in March as art director and assistant editor.

*The NATIONAL LESBIAN & GAY JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION announced the winners of its 2004 Excellence in Journalism Awards (to be presented at an Oct. 4 ceremony in Los Angeles). The Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Media goes to LAURA KIRITSY, of Boston's Bay Windows, for "Representative Rivera Speaks Out," "Amendments Held at Bay," "Victory in Massachusetts," "A True Beauty," and "Marriage Begins in Massachusetts." Second place goes to MICHELE FORSTEN, a contributor to New York's Gay City News, Philadelphia Gay News, Outword, and SAGE Newsletter, for "Surviving Breast Cancer: One Lesbian's Story." Third place goes to JOHN CALDWELL, of The Advocate, for "Little Victories for Gay Adoption," "Faith in School," "Person of the Year: Bishop V. Gene Robinson," "Married in Massachusetts," and "Portland's Lifetime Commitment."

*WILL O'BRYAN has joined Washington, D.C.'s METRO WEEKLY magazine as staff writer. O'Bryan has worked as a reporter for the Washington Blade and Just Out in Portland, Ore.

*OUTSPORTS.COM reports that it is being sued by North Carolina resident CHRIS HARBINSON, who states that he is not gay and was libeled when the site ran a photograph of him stretching prior to the 2004 Los Angeles Marathon, held March 7. The image was one of 150 posted online in a photo gallery 15 days later. Harbinson is seeking more than US$10,000, plus punitive damages and legal fees; documents state he faced "extreme embarrassment, public humiliation, mental agony and damage to his name and reputation." It's further claimed that the use of Harbinson's picture as a link on the Outsports home page took advantage of him for commercial purposes. Outsports removed the picture when served with a cease-and-desist order, but disputes all the allegations. In a special pop-up message on the Outsports website, co-founders Jim Buzinski and Cyd Zeigler are asking readers for contributions to a defense fund (the address is Outsports LLC / Legal, 4688 Cleland Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90065).

*OUTSPORTS.COM reporter and NEW YORK BLADE associate editor CYD ZEIGLER JR. reported that he was kept away from American Olympic medalists Paul and Morgan Hamm during an Aug. 26 press opportunity after he identified himself as writing for a gay publication. The Hamm media handlers worked for the public relations company KEITH SHERMAN & ASSOCIATES.

*DANIEL PAQUETTE, a former gossip columnist with Toronto's Xtra, is FAB magazine's new music writer, replacing ELIO IANNACCI. DREW ROWSOME also joined Fab last month, as listings editor.

*Vancouver biweekly XTRA WEST successfully challenged the city's 47-year-old advertising policies, which dictate the targeting of municipal advertising to encourage citizen participation in the civic process. Newspaper staffers believed the rules shut out gay publications and other minority community media. Politicians were lobbied, and the majority of city councillors overruled the objections of city bureaucrats. In a July 22 editorial advising readers of the victory, editor Gareth Kirkby wrote: "The city’s policy change will mean, perhaps, a couple of thousand dollars a year in city advertising spent on Xtra West - clearly our move is not motivated by money. We pursued it because we want to see our community, and other minority communities, invited to participate fully in the city’s political life."

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

LETTERS 

"PayPal Dumps 'Adult' Websites" (Press Pass Q, August 2004)

I read with great interest your article on PayPal in the latest issue. [PayPal is owned by eBay, and] as a gay man who has sold items on eBay for five years, I, too, have run afoul of their ridiculous Mature Audiences policy, and would be more than happy to discuss this with anyone, should Press Pass Q decide to do any further articles on the subject.

Personally, I feel that their actions would be equivalent to Visa, MasterCard, or American Express trying to tell me what I can or cannot use my credit cards to purchase.  As far as I'm concerned, it's none of their bloody business!

And while I have no concrete evidence to prove this, I, too, feel that there is a heavy antigay slant to this policy.

John S. Hall (Pawtucket, Rhode Island)

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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.

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