Out is an American LGBTQ news, fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any LGBTQ monthly publication in the United States. It presents itself in an editorial manner similar to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was owned by Robert Hardman of Boston, its original investor, until 2000, when he sold it to LPI Media, which was later acquired by PlanetOut Inc. In 2008, PlanetOut Inc. sold LPI Media to Regent Entertainment Media, Inc., a division of Here Media, which also owns Here TV.[1][2][3] In 2017, Here Media sold its magazine operations to a group led by Oreva Capital, who renamed the parent company Pride Media.[4] On June 9, 2022, Pride Media was acquired by Equal Entertainment LLC known as equalpride putting the famous magazine back under queer ownership.
The Out100 is their annual list of the most "impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people".[5]
History
Out was founded by Michael Goff in 1992[6][7] as editor in chief and president. The executive editor was Sarah Pettit (since deceased). In 1996, owner Robert Hardman fired Goff and hired Henry E. (Hank) Scott, a former New York Times Co. executive, as president of Out Publishing Inc., with the charge to rescue the financially troubled magazine company. When Scott joined Out, the company had annual revenues of less than $4 million and expenses of $7 million. Scott changed Out's LGBT focus, arguing that gay men and lesbians had little in common other than political and legal issues. He fired Pettit and hired James Collard, editor of Attitude, a gay magazine published in the U.K., to refocus Out on an affluent and style-conscious gay male audience. Audited circulation grew by 67 percent to over 130,000 and the household income of the average Out reader, as measured by MRI, grew from $70,000 a year to $90,000 a year. With the help of Lou Fabrizio, a senior advertising executive whom Scott hired from The New York Times, Out began attracting major fashion advertisers and brands such as Saturn, which previously had not advertised in gay publications. Three years after Scott took control of Out, it had tripled its revenue and become the largest-circulation gay magazine in U.S. history. Those changes positioned the publication for a sale by Hardman to LPI Media in 2000.
In 2001 the circulation was 100,000. Judy Wieder, who was the first female editor in chief of The Advocate, became the first female editorial director of Out. By 2006, when the magazine was acquired by PlanetOut, Out's circulation had reached 130,000. Out attracted international attention when it published its debut Power Issue in May 2007, with a cover that featured two models wearing masks of journalist Anderson Cooper and actor Jodie Foster above the cover line, "The Glass Closet". Some lesbians have criticized Out for primarily focusing on gay men. A writer for the website AfterEllen noted that in 2008, no lesbians were featured on the magazine's cover, and that only 22% of the persons featured in the Out100 were lesbians.[8]
In 2008, Out, along with its sister publication The Advocate, was purchased by Here Media Inc. Since acquiring the brand, Here Media has expanded the magazine's web presence, OUT.com, and added a mobile application.
On April 18, 2012, it was announced that a newly formed company, Grand Editorial, would oversee the editorial content of Out as a contractor for Here Media. Out editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin founded Grand. Although the in-house editorial department was eliminated, Hicklin said that he would hire most of the editorial staff back as contracted freelancers.[9]
In 2013, Here Media and Out hosted the 19th annual OUT100 event in New York City at Terminal 5. The annual event celebrates the compelling people who have had a hand in moving forward LGBT rights.[10]Out introduced a Reader's Choice Award in 2013 in addition to its editorially curated list of the top 100 honorees.[11]
In 2017, Here Media sold its magazine operations to a group led by Oreva Capital, who renamed the parent company Pride Media.[12]
On August 2, 2018, Hicklin announced that he would be stepping down after 12 years as editor-in-chief. R. Kurt Osenlund, the magazine's managing editor since March 2014, assumed the role of executive editor and acting editor-in-chief for one issue.[13]
On August 23, 2018, Phillip Picardi was announced as the next editor-in-chief.[14] Despite editorial changes, the parent company and magazine were still rife with financial issues and frequent complaints from freelancers and contract employees.[15] Picardi left Out in December 2019, announcing his abrupt departure via Twitter.[16]
In September 2020, David Artavia was appointed as the magazine's new editor-in-chief.[19] On January 17, 2020 Diane Anderson-Minshall was named CEO of Pride Media and later that year became the editorial director of OUT.
On June 9, 2022, after OUT acquisition, Mark Berryhill was named CEO of equalpride. Joe Lovejoy is CFO and Mike Kelley is President of Global Growth and Development. Diane Anderson-Minshall is now the Global Chief Content Creator.
Non-payment controversy
In February 2019, Women's Wear Daily reported that more than forty contributors wrote an open letter to Pride Media and Oreva Capital, its operating entity, as well as its former editorial management partners Grand Editorial and McCarthy LLC, demanding payment for past work.[20][21][22] They filed a nonpayment grievance via the National Writers Union. "The National Writers Union is now representing 25 freelance contributors to Out magazine, who are owed more than $40,000 for work that was contracted, produced and published," the union said in a statement.[23]The New York Times detailed the nonpayment issues and that the total owed was in excess of $100,000.[24][25] The New York Post reported Pride Media owed more than $100,000 in unpaid ad commissions to PinkNews, a London-based digital publisher catering to the global LGBT audience.[26]
Other controversies
In 2018, it was reported that Adam Levin, the owner of Oreva Capital, the parent company of Pride Media, had a history of donating to Republican politicians who have publicly taken anti-LGBTQ stances, including Devin Nunes, Dean Heller, Josh Mandel, and Dana Rohrabacher.[27] Rohrabacher has said that gay people should be denied the right to buy a home and has consistently opposed legal advancements for the LGBTQ community.[28]
In 2020, OpenSecrets showed additional donations of $2,800 each to Thom Tillis and Steve Daines. Both senators received a zero on the Human Rights Campaign's congressional scorecard for not supporting legislation such as the Equality Act and have voted to confirm anti-LGBTQ judges and cabinet members.[29] The Charlotte Observer's editorial board wrote an article in 2019 called "Thom Tillis is no friend of the LGBTQ community".[30]
Out100
Since its beginning, Out offered an annual list, the Out100, documenting a hundred "influential, inspirational" LGBTQ personalities and celebrities[31][32] and "founded to celebrate and honor some of the most influential LGBTQIA figures."[33] In conjunction with the listings is the annual Out100 Awards honoring a handful of that year's celebrities with: Ingenue of the Year, Reader's Choice, Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year.[34] In 2019, editor Phillip Picardi said the Out100 was the magazine's "greatest and most well-known tradition".[35]
Wilson Cruz is an American actor known for playing Rickie Vasquez on My So-Called Life, Dr. Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery, and the recurring character Junito on Noah's Arc. As a gay man of Afro-Puerto Rican ancestry, he has served as an advocate for gay youth, especially gay minorities.
The Advocate is an American LGBT magazine, printed bi-monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a website. Both magazine and website have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people. The magazine, established in 1967, is the oldest and largest LGBT publication in the United States and the only surviving one of its kind that was founded before the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan, an uprising that was a major milestone in the LGBT rights movement. On June 9, 2022, Pride Media was acquired by Equal Entertainment LLC known as equalpride putting The Advocate back under gay ownership.
A gay anthem is a popular song that has become widely popular among, or has become identified with, the gay community, although some of these songs have also become anthems for the wider LGBT community. Not all songs labelled as "gay anthems" were written intentionally to become gay anthems, but those that do are often marked by themes of perseverance, inner strength, acceptance, pride, and unity. Research in 2007 suggested that the song most commonly identified as a gay anthem is "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor, and described the song as "a classic emblem of gay culture in the post-Stonewall and AIDS eras".
Teen Vogue is an American online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to Vogue, targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like Vogue, it included stories about fashion and celebrities. Since 2015, following a steep decline in sales, the magazine cut back on its print distribution in favor of online content, which has grown significantly. The magazine had also expanded its focus from fashion and beauty to include politics and current affairs. In November 2017, it was announced Teen Vogue would cease in print and continue online-only as part of a new round of cost cuts. Other publications would also follow and go digital, such as InStyle. The final print issue featured Hillary Clinton on the cover, and was on newsstands on December 5, 2017.
Ari Michael Shapiro is an American radio journalist. In September 2015, Shapiro became one of four rotating hosts on National Public Radio's flagship drive-time program All Things Considered. He previously served as White House correspondent and international correspondent based in London for NPR.
Gay Star News (GSN) is a news website focused on events related to and concerning the global LGBTI community. Headquartered in the UK, it is privately owned and was founded by Tris Reid-Smith, and Scott Nunn in December 2011.
CC Slaughters is a gay bar and nightclub located in Portland, Oregon, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Portland bar is located in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, and the Puerto Vallarta bar is located in Zona Romántica.
misterb&b is a travel and social networking website that provides a searchable database of LGBT+ friendly rentable lodging, including rooms, apartments, hotels, and homestays, primarily catering to gay men. It is accessible via a website and a mobile app.
LGBTQ+ conservatism in the United States is a social and political ideology within the LGBTQ+ community that largely aligns with the American conservative movement. LGBTQ+ conservatism is generally more moderate on social issues than social conservatism, instead emphasizing values associated with fiscal conservatism, libertarian conservatism, and neoconservatism.
Phillip Picardi is an American journalist and editor. He is the former editor-in-chief of Out.
Mark S. King is an American HIV/AIDS activist, blogger, writer, and actor. King tested positive for HIV in 1985 and became an HIV/AIDS activist soon after. In 2020, the Association of LGBTQ Journalists presented King with the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for the LGBTQ Journalist of the Year. He is the creator of the video blog My Fabulous Disease, which won the 2020 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Blog. Out magazine named King to its 2020 Out100 list of LGBTQ+ influencers.
Them is an American online LGBT magazine launched in October 2017 by Phillip Picardi and owned by Condé Nast. Its coverage includes LGBT culture, fashion, and politics.
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