365 Gay Says Good bye
Hi 365gay readers,
Some of you have been reading since 365gay was started as a Canadian publication in the 1990s. Some of you have been reading since Logo took over, in 2006. Some of you are newer – last year, last month, last week.
I myself started with 365gay in April 2007 and it’s been quite a ride.
With the help of James Withers, who’s been freelancing for the site since September 2007 when he began writing for our election blog Visible Vote, and an incredibly dedicated, talented group of freelance writers, reporters, columnists and interns, 365gay has covered almost five years of amazing gay and national news.
Now, it’s coming to an end.
September 30 will be our last day of operations. Logo has shifted its online strategy and so the site is closing and I am moving on to other things. You’ve probably noticed in the past year or so that more and more space was devoted to Ask the Expert. That feature will live on at another site and I hope you will continue to see some of your favorite contributors there, like Herman Chan, Joe Kort and Steven Petrow.
Soon we’ll have a look back on what we’ve covered on the site, and some of our contributors will write you a special goodbye.
But I wanted to take time to thank all of 365gay’s contributors, past and present, who put their words and hearts on the site. Our weekly columnists, who have included John Culhane, Lisa Neff, John Corvino, Ali Davis and for a while Wayne Besen, were the voices that kept us all coming back. I am indebted to each of them.
Many other contributors gave us occasional commentaries – there are too many to mention here, but I want to give a special shout out to Nick Krieger, who wrote about living as a transgender person; Michael Duffy, who wrote under an alias so that he could provide dispatches on what it was like as a gay man to serve under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; Cody Daigle, who wrote beautiful, lyrical pieces about being gay and Southern; and David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement, who used his progressive fire to point out wrongs.
Jon Fairbanks contributed news briefs out of the goodness of his heart. Lisa Keen and Dana Rudolph sent us superb reported pieces that we didn’t have the staff to do ourselves.
We have one to three interns a semester and I am grateful to each of them. The site became better because of their questions and hard work.
Many, many people also contributed to Ask the Expert and they have my deepest thanks. Besides Joe, Steven and Herman, they include Matthew Link, Kirsten Palladino, Bryan Janeczko, Chris Salgardo, David Lester, Dr. Vincent Smith and many celebrities (Angelina Jolie! Joan Rivers! Cynthia Nixon!) who took the time to answer readers questions.
And I can’t thank James Withers enough. His steady presence and unique voice have, since the beginning, made this website feel like a team effort and not one that I was running alone.
Logo was a happy home for 365gay for a long time. My friend Sarah Warn, creator of AfterEllen and AfterElton, brought me on board; Dan Sacher fought hard for the site to keep going. Matthew Anderson, Kameron Zach, Friday Music columnist Jackie McBrien, Watercooler blogger Ray Hunt and Wedding Expert Shawn Hollenbach provided much needed production and writing support. The tech team kept us up and running every day – as did Logo ad sales and marketing. Charles Runnette and John Polly were invaluable colleagues and sounding boards. Barbara Simon, former Executive Producer of 365gay News, and her team at CBS made the weekly show something we were proud to watch and be part of while it was on air.
I’m sure I’ve missed folks, and I’m sorry about that – everyone who has contributed made the site what it was.
But mostly I want to thank you, 365gay reader. I met some of you in DC in 2009 during the Equality March, which is a night I’ll always remember with fondness and gratitude. You have been the witty, cranky, thoughtful, annoyed, pleased, fiery voices that I couldn’t wait to greet each morning.
I will miss each of you and the community we built together here.
Where am I going? Well, I’m still figuring that out. I was a freelance writer and syndicated columnist before 365gay, and I’m planning to freelance after, at least for a while. You can follow me – and gay news – on Twitter athttp://www.twitter.com/JenniferVanasco and at the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jennifer-vanasco).
Thanks for your readership, your comments and, in the case of many of you, your friendship. 365gay may be over, but the movement isn’t. DOMA needs to fall. GENDA needs to be passed. Our LGBT children need to be protected and celebrated. Let’s go out there and keep fighting.
Warmly,
Jay Vanasco
Editor in chief
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With a donation of $20.00(for UK and Canada $30.) Will send you FREE of charge and FREE freight the AF*Logo T Shirt shown on top of page. This will help us GREATLY to stay doing what we are doing to bring you these current postings. Just like 365 gay went out, there will be others. Please keep your gay Media going thru these hard times for all.
Comments