JULY 2009 [Vol. 11, No. 4]
A Publication of Rivendell Media

Celebrating 10 years of serving our community of journalists

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Feature: Reporting on the 'Summer of Obummer': LGBT media is covering, and pushing, the Obama administration on marriage and the military
Sidebar: Want to talk to the White House? You need to know this guy
In The News: HX sold, New York Blade suspended; Rhode Island publication given survival options; Editorial leads to vandalism, stolen copies; Distributor of gay-themed content feels economic pinch
Letter from the Publisher: LGBT press marketing survey wants you
Letters to the Editor: The Guide's blast of fresh sex-positive air; Preserving our LGBT media history; Kudos from a longtime reader
Transitions and Milestones
Bulletin Board
Staff
Contributors to This Issue
Contact Us

From President Barack Obama's Gay Pride proclamation to a White House-held LGBT Pride celebration, last month was chock full of headlines, breaking news, and commentary. And LGBT media were all over the story of widespread impatience and increasing dismay with the president and his party over a perceived lack of gay civil-rights progress.

According to the San Francisco-based Bay Area Reporter [BAR], some are calling it the 'Summer of Obummer.' But what role is the LGBT media playing in covering it?

'The LGBT media - LGBT press and LGBT bloggers, in particular - have played a huge role in forcing the incredible spate of LGBT news stories lately,' said Karen Ocamb, news editor of L.A.-based Frontiers. 'Journalists love a good story with a clear-cut conflict, and to many in the mainstream media we are the underdogs in the David versus Goliath struggle with the Obama administration - especially over 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' where the president appears to be backtracking on his promise to repeal it.

'When the Obama Justice Department filed its brief [on June 11] upholding the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA] - and John Aravosis [gay blogger at www.americablog.com] and others just exploded - the Internet caught fire and anyone on Facebook or Twitter got singed,' said Ocamb. 'Like 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' it wasn't our arguments about equality so much as what appeared to be pure hypocrisy on Obama's part.'

Did the DOMA brief irritate people? 'Yes it did,' said veteran journalist Lisa Keen. 'I trust activists like Mary Bonauto [of Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders] and Jenny Pizer and Kevin Cathcart [of Lambda Legal], who are very studied and always careful in their responses. They were highly critical of the brief and very surprised at the administration's vigorous defense of the law.'

But doesn't the president have to defend the law? Keen is not so sure. 'What the president swears to, in his oath, is to protect, preserve and defend the Constitution. The Constitution guarantees all citizens equal opportunity. If he should be defending anything, he should defend the Constitution first. As far as I am concerned, equal protection trumps federal statutes.'

Still irked about the DOMA brief, some gay Democrats and LGBT community leaders boycotted a pricey June 25 Democratic National Committee [DNC] fundraiser. Initial news reports suggested their effort failed to dent contributions.

'But now LGBT reporters and bloggers are calling into question whether the DNC lied about how much money was raised at that LGBT DNC fundraiser,' said Ocamb. 'With the critical 2010 elections gearing up, that could become a very big issue for the Democrats, if the LGBT press stays on top of it, as I expect we will.

'The other story to watch out for,' said Ocamb, 'is the apparent murder of a gay sailor [Seaman August Provost] at Camp Pendleton. Apparently he was being harassed - and if an investigation shows he didn't report the harassment to his supervisors because of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,' then Obama and Congress will come under withering criticism from the LGBT press and bloggers, which will be hard to ignore.'

If the Department of Justice's DOMA brief was a key flashpoint, then perhaps it jolted White House staffers into action, which the president took on June 17 by signing a memorandum granting a few benefits to some federal employees and their partners.

Any yet, even the president's June 1 Gay Pride proclamation, designating June as 'LGBT Pride Month,' began to stir disappointment. 'Reaction from the gay community [to the proclamation] was swift - and thumbs down,' reported Keen.

Even early on, the LGBT community's dissatisfaction with President Obama took root, Keen said. 'Most people would point back to the appointments expectations - that the president would appoint an openly gay person to a cabinet level position.' She noted, however, 'I am not sure where [the expectation] came from.'

Meanwhile, the Advocate's Kerry Eleveld relocated from New York to the nation's capital where she serves as the newsmagazine's Washington correspondent. There, she attends White House press events at least three times a week and regularly attends press briefings on Capitol Hill, Eleveld said.

'It's important for the community to have a regular presence in the White House press briefing room,' Eleveld said. 'What we really need are three to four different LGBT reporters working the White House and the Hill.'

Eleveld's presence and perseverance paid off. On May 18, she questioned White House press secretary Robert Gibbs about a 'time line' for recognition at the federal level of the same-sex marriages now or soon to be performed in six states. 'What's the president doing' to ensure 'recognition?' she asked.

Gibbs replied, 'I will have to go check on that. I honestly don't know the answer to that.'

On June 2, Eleveld again queried Gibbs, this time about 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' In that exchange, Eleveld learned from Gibbs that the president's nominee for Army secretary, Congressman John McHugh [R-N.Y.], agrees with Obama that the ban on out gays in the military should be changed.

But Gibbs stumbled at the end of his response, saying, 'Ah, based on [McHugh's] background and experience - will help to improve the lives of the Army.'

And Gibbs avoided this question from Eleveld: 'Was a review of the ['Don't Ask, Don't Tell'] policy something that the president took into consideration with this nomination, and will Congressman McHugh be encouraged to move forward with talks inside the department?'

Sure enough, the White House press secretary's awkward responses left LGBT journalists feeling underwhelmed. 'He has not been well-prepared on our issues,' said Kevin Naff, editor of the Washington Blade.

'He always says, 'Not that I am aware of,' said Keen, 'which is such a huge loophole. He can be ignorant on anything gay and say, 'Not that I am aware of,' and that way if there is some outrage, the White House can say that Gibbs didn't know, but we were doing this, that and the other.'

By June 29, the White House appeared to be in damage control mode. That afternoon, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a group of 300 or so VIPs at the White House to mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall rebellion. In the East Room, the president told the LGBT community to judge him 'not by promises I've made, but by the promises that my administration keeps.'

LGBT media were in attendance, both as invited guests [Kevin Naff of the Washington Blade] and working press [Eleveld, Keen, the Washington Blade's Chris Johnson, and two freelance reporters.]

'Thank heavens they let me in,' said Keen, who learned about the White House celebration by reading the New York Times - not from the White House media operation, even though she had inquired for some time that if 'the White House had any special plans for Gay Pride Month, please keep me in the loop,' she said. 'Every time I asked,' Keen said she was told, 'I don't have anything for you on that.'

To get inside to cover a major LGBT community event, Keen had editors for whom she works lobby the White House pressroom. Her Keen News Service provides content regularly to at least six major LGBT publications including Bay Area Reporter [San Francisco], Bay Windows [Boston], Between the Lines [Detroit], Dallas Voice, Seattle Gay News and Windy City Times [Chicago].

'[Getting credentialed] was not easy, and it should have been,' Keen said. But in the end, she was allowed in and, as she put it, 'The White House was fair.'

Meet Shin Inouye, the man who holds the title of director of specialty media in President Obama's administration. An openly gay Japanese American, he was appointed in February to be the White House's official spokesperson to LGBT media.

Inouye [pronounced IN-oo-way] comes to the position from the 2008 campaign trail, where he worked as communications coordinator for a variety of constituencies, including veterans and military families and gay Americans. After Obama's win, Inouye served as a spokesperson for the Presidential Inaugural Committee. Previously, he was a communications director for Congressman Jerry Nadler [D-N.Y.] and senior legislative communications associate at the D.C. legislative office for the American Civil Liberties Union. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University, Inouye earned a bachelor's degree with departmental honors in political science. He is also a former board member for the D.C. chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

As director of specialty media, Inouye works with 'all the specialty press that is not African-American or Hispanic,' he said during a recent telephone interview. In other words, his beat includes Asian American, Native American, some faith-based media and 'our' media.

Over this past month, Inouye worked closely 'on a fairly regular basis' with LGBT media. His contact with reporters, correspondents and editors stemmed partly from increasing pressure the White House encountered from LGBT Americans - and heat from gay Democrats - because of, in their view, a lack of substantive policy and LGBT civil-rights progress.

'Personally, my goal is always to get back to people,' he said. 'I may not be able to get back immediately. Sometimes it does take time to get answers to the questions, and I may not be able to answer the question.'

Still, he said, 'Depending on the publication or question, we will try to find an appropriate person to respond to inquiries for comment or for background,' he said. 'My goal is making sure people get right information.'

Sure enough, a recent White House LGBT policy put Inouye and other media staffers to a getting-it-right test. On June 17, Obama signed a Presidential Memorandum on Federal Benefits and Non-Discrimination. Accordingly, the administration identified a few benefits that the president could, under existing law, offer to partners of federal gay and lesbian civil service employees, including long-term care insurance and the use of sick leave to care for a domestic partner and a non-biological, non-adopted child. According to a White House statement, a separate set of benefits was also offered to same-sex partners of U.S. Foreign Service workers, including use of medical facilities at overseas posts, medical evacuation privileges from such posts and inclusion of same-sex families in overseas housing allocations.

The White House communications staff, including Inouye, worked with all media to ensure that writers 'correctly' understood the memo's content and scope, he said. If LGBT [Americans] want to 'criticize' the president - and criticism is 'totally fine,' Inouye said - 'Then we [in the White House communications operation] have to make sure [reporters and the public] have the right information.'

Inouye pointed to the memorandum as a 'classic example' of getting correct information out to reporters. 'A lot of people were saying a presidential memo expires at the end of an administration.' Not correct, Inouye said, 'There are published legal opinions on that.'

And yet, Inouye readily acknowledges the impatience and frustration within the LGBT community, locally and nationwide. 'I understand people want things to happen overnight,' he said. 'For better or worse,' Congress - not the president - must act to repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' and the Defense of Marriage Act. 'The president made a commitment' to work for repeal of both those federal laws, he said.

At the same time, the June 17 signing ceremony in the Oval Office and the president's handing off his pen to veteran gay-rights activist Frank Kameny 'says something' and is a 'strong symbol,' according to Inouye. But nobody has argued the new policy is 'the end-all and be-all,' he said.

Altogether, not one 24-hour period is routine in Inouye's long, hard workdays into night. 'That every day is a new challenge is the only way to describe a typical day,' he said. 'I know it sounds like a cliché,' Inouye said, but, 'It's a privilege to be here. I am over in the Eisenhower building. Looking out the window in our suite, I can see the West Wing. It's an amazing feeling.'

[Editor's note: Reporters with questions about LGBT issues should call 202-456-1414 and ask for Shin Inouye specifically.]

The owner of HX, the glossy New York-based gay club and nightlife magazine, has sold the publication to an undisclosed buyer. Additionally, HX Media's biweekly LGBT newspaper, the New York Blade, has suspended publication, laying off its staff.

First came the news about HX. 'HX Magazine and the website hx.com have been sold,' said Matthew Bank, HX Media's owner and founder, in a statement released June 30. 'The new owners of HX Magazine will be releasing details and information on their plans for the future of the title shortly. In the meantime, Bank and HX Magazine publisher Gary Lacinski will be assisting them in the transition. HX Magazine issue 931 dated July 10 … [and released] on July 3 [was] the last one produced by HX Media and its staff.

'We've had an incredible time creating what we feel is the best local gay magazine the world has ever seen,' said Bank, 'and I am proud that even in this difficult economy we were able to ensure that this magazine that is dear to the hearts of so many readers will be able to continue under capable new ownership.'

Reached by phone on July 1, Bank told Press Pass Q, 'I am not saying anything except for the official statement. I am not sure what my plans are. I have no comment right now' about the sale of HX.

On the same day, the New York Times reported on its website - publishing the story in print on July 2 - that Banks had announced a suspension in publication of the New York Blade, which he also owns and operates.

The future of the Blade, with a free circulation of 22,000, remains uncertain. However, Bank told the Times, '[The Blade] doesn't have an issue scheduled until a week from Friday [July 10]. There are a lot of things that can happen between now and then.'

In 2005, the merger of the Blade and HX Magazine formed HX Media LLC. HX Media owns and operates the New York Blade, as well as an expo division, which produces the HX Gay and Lesbian Travel Expos, HX Gay Life Expo, and HX Gay Erotic Expo. Those businesses were not part of HX Magazine.

Paul Schindler, editor in chief of Gay City News, a rival LGBT newspaper, told the Times that the Blade had 'made good contributions over the years.'

However, in pointing to the newspaper's relatively thin latest edition, Schindler said, 'Gay pride is to gay publications what Christmas is to retail. When I pick up the Blade and it's 28 pages, then this is a business that [has] serious problems.'

For his part, Banks told the Times that the receivership status of HX Media's minority owner Avalon Equity had little to do with the sale of HX Magazine.

Rather, he told the Times, 'The economy and the future of print media being more difficult was definitely weighing on us.'

In October 2008, another HX publication hit hard times when the print edition of the Boston-based New England Blade - formerly In Newsweekly - went 'on hiatus.' Earlier in 2008, the short-lived HX Philadelphia folded.

- Chuck Colbert

[Editor's note: Reporter Chuck Colbert is a former reporter and columnist for In Newsweekly. Press Pass Q Editor Fred Kuhr is a former editor in chief of In Newsweekly.]

Rhode Island publication given survival options

Could the cry for financial help have been any clearer? The only locally produced LGBT news publication for the state of Rhode Island careened toward extinction, its financial situation becoming increasingly precarious over the last six months.

'We came very near to closing down in May,' said Kim Stowell, managing director of Options newsmagazine [www.optionsri.org]. 'We were in debt to a number of our vendors, specifically our printer,' with so little funds that she faced having to 'shut our offices, sell our equipment, do whatever we could for stop gap measures. And so we called a meeting, inviting anyone to come.'

That's not all the board of directors and volunteer staff members did to keep Options afloat. Long-time volunteer Steve Isherwood, a Providence-based retired manager turned fundraiser, generated an e-mail appeal for contributions. To sweeten the deal, he offered his home-baked chocolate chip cookies to anyone who contributed more than $50. 'They are a great incentive for a lot of people,' Isherwood said.

Sure enough, within four days the fundraising effort generated nearly $3,000, just enough to 'be able to pay off our debts and print a limited run of the June/July issue,' said Stowell.

The most recent issue of Options came out just in time for Rhode Island Pride.

It was a strategic decision to print only half of Option's usual full printing of 6,000 copies. As Stowell explained, 'We got involved with a coalition of business people. They convinced us: You've got to stop giving the publication away,' mailing it out free.

So 3,000 copies of Options' Pride issue were set aside for various distribution sites, including bars and coffee houses. There, the paper is free.

Meanwhile, Options' 3,800 or so subscribers received a letter in the mail asking for contributions, instead of the newsmagazine.

It also included a more detailed explanation of the newsmagazine's dire financial straits. 'The bottom line is that we cannot afford to mail you a free issue of Options at this time or remain in our current office,' wrote the board, staff and volunteers in its letter. 'It is likely that you will be asked to subscribe to cover the costs of mailing the magazine to you. If all 3,800 people on our mailing list subscribed [for money], we would have a healthy future.'

Additionally, Options' future plans include the construction of a new website, the development of a business plan, the recruitment of a new board of directors, the addition of new staff members to increase advertising sales and work on development.

Options also plans to publish 12 issues a year rather than the current 10. Options, a 24-page publication, also plans to increase its number of pages, including more 'relevant' content, along with a wider range of distribution.

Once a political activists' newsletter, Options, founded in 1982, has evolved into newsmagazine. As a business entity, Options is now a 501[c][4] non-profit. Consequently, donations to it are not tax-deductible by law.

Past history and current events suggest a real need for the publication. A reader survey last fall garnered 'amazing' responses, according to Stowell. One respondent, for example, said, 'Options has been a life saver for me. I've been reading every issue.' Another respondent put it this way, 'Please don't leave us.'

'On the one hand, Options has never been stronger. Our readership is terrific, advertising is great. We enjoy a wonderful reputation,' Stowell said. 'The economy just hit us. Some advertisers pulled out, donations were down. We were operating under a very old model.'

Options' fight for survival, as well as its ready-response team, may provide lessons - and hold out hope - for other LGBT media struggling to adapt to ever-changing technology, new media, and industry-related economic downturns. 'I'm very proud to be the steward of this publication,' said Stowell, who has served as managing director for three years. 'I'm positively tickled to think we could be an example to anyone else.'

- Chuck Colbert

Editorial leads to vandalism, stolen copies

Nearly six months after the publisher of an Oregon LGBT newspaper called upon Portland's openly gay mayor to resign, details of the controversy and subsequent aftermath continue to emerge.

Marty Davis, publisher of Just Out, editorialized earlier this year that Mayor Sam Adams should step down after he admitted lying about a previous sexual relationship with then-18-year-old Beau Breedlove. Adams apologized for his actions, but Davis stressed in her editorial his mea culpa was not enough.

As a result of her editorial, Davis said someone had vandalized distribution boxes and stole copies of her publication. She asked Adams to intercede with those who allegedly committed the vandalism, and Davis soon received a phone call from the embattled mayor.

'Via text messages, we agreed to meet for early coffee the following morning,' she wrote in a subsequent issue of Just Out. 'This meeting clearly was important to me. Adams is still the mayor, he is/was a friend of mine, and we needed to talk.'

Davis did not respond to repeated requests for comment, but she wrote that her meeting with Adams 'was cordial and personal.' The mayor also agreed to write a letter that urged his supporters to stop vandalizing and stealing copies of Just Out.

'Do not do it in defense of me or for any other reason,' Adams wrote.

He further apologized to Portland residents for what he described as 'my well-publicized bad judgment.' Oregon Attorney General John Kroger announced late last month he did not have enough credible evidence to support the allegation Adams had sex with Breedlove before his 18th birthday. The mayor's former paramour has since posed seminude for Unzipped magazine. Adams faces a possible recall vote.

- Michael K. Lavers

Distributor of gay-themed content feels economic pinch

As the economy continues to take a toll on newspapers and other media outlets across the country, one of the country's largest distributors of LGBT-themed movies and other content has announced it plans to downsize as part of a larger reorganization.

TLA [Theater of the Living Arts] Releasing announced in April that it had laid off two of its 17 employees. The company, which is a subsidiary of the Philadelphia-based TLA Entertainment Group, further said it plans to either sell or license its catalog of more than 200 films it distributes on DVD, television and video on demand.

'Like the rest of the world, we have been impacted by the recession,' Kelly Burkhardt, managing director of TLA Releasing, told Press Pass Q. 'Downsizing integral staff was a very difficult decision, but in the end we eliminated two positions. TLA Releasing has been regrouping and restructuring our organization because we believe it is extremely important to provide quality, thought-provoking films to the gay audience.'

Founded in part by film projectionist Raymond Murray in 1981, TLA currently operates four video stores throughout Philadelphia and surrounding areas. The company has operated a web presence since 1997. This includes TLAvideo.com, TLAraw.com and TLAondemand.com, which launched in April 2005. TLA, which once owned the Theatre of the Living Arts in downtown Philadelphia, also founded the annual Philadelphia QFest [formerly known as the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival].

Burkhardt said he has already launched many of the films contained within its catalog through television and VOD platforms. Amazon, iTunes, Logo and Here Networks are among the media that have already agreed to carry them.

'We do have other deals pending for future releases too,' Burkhardt said. The company has further plans to release a 'slate of gay-themed films' this fall.

- Michael K. Lavers

Please follow the link http://survey.communitymarketinginc.com/se.ashx?s=359D342B3A93BD36 to find information on the Community Marketing Survey of the LGBT press.

These surveys provide a very useful sales tool for national advertisers, and if you get enough responses they will segment out your own results for your local sales team. We refer to the previous surveys often, and so I highly recommend that you participate. This is an easy way to get the male/female, education level, income level, single or double household information that so many advertisers want and need to make their media buys.

Each publication's information is private to them and then results are combined for an overall survey to promote the LGBT press as well as provide information for us to pursue national accounts like pet products or cell phone usage.

In years past, these surveys cost a lot of money, but this survey presents no out-of-pocket expenses to the publication, just your own time and work to promote it so that you get at least the amount of responses needed to have your very own demographics and your own sales tool for your local staff or yourself - to know who your reader really is. Please go to the link as soon as you can if you are going to participate.

I hope everyone sees the importance of this. If you have any questions about the details of the survey and what is involved please contact Tom Roth, president of Community Marketing Inc. at 415-437-3800 or tom@communitymarketinginc.com. Of course, if you need more information on the value of having your own demographics, please feel free to contact me.

Todd Evans
CEO, Rivendell Media
Mountainside, N.J.

The Guide always amazes me that it is so blatantly, wondrously political in a time of political vanilla-ization ['Pressing Questions: The Guide: Gay Travel, Culture & Politics,' June 2009].

Some of the best gay writing I have encountered in the past few years has been in it, and all of this in a magazine whose main income comes from venues that are, to say the least, very 'sex positive.' It is really a blast of very fresh air in the more and more corporatized gay publishing world.

Perry Brass
Author, 'Carnal Sacraments: A Historical Novel of the Future'
Bronx, N.Y.

Preserving our LGBT media history

Thanks for the history of your work ['Three decades professionalizing LGBT media: As Rivendell Media turns 30, editors and publishers reflect on role company played in industry's growth,' June 2009]. I hope it is being preserved somewhere. While some may doubt the interest now, I believe future generations will want to know how the LGBT media affected our community and movement, and this is a major part.

As to The Guide, I am interested in how a publication serves two 'masters' or agendas. One group of readers will want travel/tourist information, while others also want serious discussion of LGBT issues. The Guide seems able to serve both groups.

Billy Glover
Bossier City, LA

Kudos from a longtime reader

I just want to chime in and express a big 'thank you' to Rivendell CEO Todd Evans and all the staff of Press Pass Q for your continuing commitment to publishing this invaluable publication. I have been a grateful subscriber for almost a decade.

Jenni Olson
Editor, QMovieBlog.com
San Francisco, Calif.

[Editor’s note: What’s your opinion? We’d like to know. Send your letters to editor@PressPassQ.com. Letters should be kept to a maximum of 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.]

[Editor’s note: Are there important changes going on at your publication? E-mail the information to editor@PressPassQ.com.]

JARRETT BARRIOS, former state senator from Massachusetts, has been named the new president of the GAY & LESBIAN ALLIANCE AGAINST DEFAMATION. He begins his new job in September.

HERE NETWORKS LLC and its publishing affiliate have completed its merger deal with PLANETOUT INC. The new public company resulting from the merger will be named HERE MEDIA INC. with STEPHEN P. JARCHOW serving as chairman and PAUL COLICHMAN serving as CEO.

LOGO, MTV Networks' LGBT channel, suffered layoffs last month as part of MTV's layoff of 50 employees, 1 percent of MTV's workforce.

PINK PAPER, Britain's LGBT newspaper, suspended its print edition last month citing the economic downturn.

QMOVIEBLOG.COM, a publication of WOLFEVIDEO.COM, launched a website redesign that includes up-to-the-minute feeds of new LGBT DVD releases and an automatic feed of new LGBT movie trailers from YouTube.

XTRA, based in Toronto, celebrated its 25th anniversary last month with a special issue on June 4.

BOB WITECK and WES COMBS, of WITECK-COMBS COMMUNICATIONS, have been named the 'dynamic duo' by WASHINGTON LIFE MAGAZINE as part of the publication's Power 100 list of 2009.

ON THE WEB. At the Press Pass Q website - www.PressPassQ.com - you'll find back issues and subscription information. Also, at the Q Syndicate website - www.qsyndicate.com - you'll find up-to-date information on the 12 columns and features we distribute to gay and lesbian media: A Couple of Guys, Bitter Girl, Book Marks, Deep Inside Hollywood, Editorial Cartoons, Now Playing, Out of Town, The OutField, Political IQ, Q Puzzle, Q Scopes, and Sex Talk. For information about subscribing to Q Syndicate content, write to qsyndicate@pridesource.com or call toll-free 888-615-7003.

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, 1248 Route 22 West, Mountainside, NJ 07092.

Publisher: Todd Evans, todd@PressPassQ.com
Editor: Fred Kuhr, editor@PressPassQ.com
Associate Editor: Dave Brousseau, dave@QSyndicate.com
Contributing Writers: Derrik Chinn, Chuck Colbert, Tanya Gulliver, Liz Highleyman, Michael K. Lavers, Matthew Pilecki

CHUCK COLBERT is a freelance journalist based in Cambridge, Mass. He can be reached at crciiiund@aol.com.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS is the Mid-Atlantic Editor for EDGE Publications. His work has appeared on Gay.com and in the New York Blade, the Fire Island News, and other publications across the country. His blog, Boy in Bushwick, can be found at www.bushwickboy.blogspot.com.

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