Out Magazine

Back in 1967, The Advocate became the first Nationwide Gay and Lesbian magazine.  It existed in the dark corners of the newsstands, very close to the porn.

Then, in 1992 Michael Goff came out with, well, OUT.  A lifestyle, fashion and entertainment magazine, it was aimed at gay men, and to a lesser extent lesbians.

Unlike other gay magazines, Out was conservative in its content; no nudity, no personals.  And they worked very hard at attracting the best and brightest of the lavender quill set to offer articles on matters of concern to gays.  It worked even harder to attract another set of people; advertisers.  And it worked.

Most gay publications ran adds of "things of interest to gay men" which basically meant porn, sex toys, porn, and racy books.  However, Goff realized that there was more to his demographic than Jeff Stryker Videos and Crisco.

We buy cars.  We buy computers. We buy tires, and Tylenol.  And we buy clothes, grooming products and alcohol in insane quantities.  And those were the advertisers Goff wooed and won.

And of course, there are the music, books and movies that were always "of interest to gay men."

Visually, the magazine is slick, fresh, and cutting edge.  As always, the community tries to set the style.  It includes a couple of fashion lay outs, the fun kind where the models aren't always wearing an over abundance of clothes.  Then there are the standard letters, editorials, and a couple of Columnists, (Jesse Archer and Josh Kilmer Purcell) Gay by Design (your guide to the finer things in life) Scene, a discussion of all the too fabu parties and a retro look at where we came from, Back in the Gay.

But the real meat of the mag is the features.  They always hit a good scatter shot of topics; newsmakers, what's the latest in the fight for our rights, an interview with an out entertainer, or a hot actor playing gay in an upcoming film, truly, what ever might be important to today's gay man.

There are also seasonal favorites.  OUT's Top 100 features the hundred most influential gays and lesbians of the past year.  This year's list includes;

Calpernia Addams, Edward Albee , Brad Altman, Casper Andreas, Marc Andreyko, Gregg Araki, Jesse Archer, Joey Arias, Don Bachardy, Alan Ball, John Barrowman, Michael Bastian, Louis Bayard, Hunter Bell, Cory Benton, Dustin Lance Black, Kate Bornstein, Jeff Bowen, Michael Brewer, Kim Brinster, Jamal Brown, Miriam Browning-Nance, Doug Burkman, Ben Burkman, Dan Butler, Mario Cantone, Dean Caten, Dan Caten, Candis Cayne, Bruce Cohen, Amy Cook, Bradford Cox, Mart Crowley, Wilson Cruz, Guillermo Diaz, Jason Dottley, Kenyon Farrow, Tommy Fazio, Thom Filicia, Matt Foreman, Sia Furler, Robin Gans, Anthony Goicolea, Rigoberto Gonzalez, David Marshall Grant, Jodie Harsh, Scott Heim, Missy Higgins, Steven Hildebrand, Silvio Horta, Our Lady J, Cheyenne Jackson, Maurice Jamal, Dan Jinks, Tom Kalin, Michael Patrick King, Terence Koh, Francis Kurkdjian, David Levithan, R. Zamora Linmark, Jane Lynch, Taylor Mac, Luke MacFarlane, Rachel Maddow, Gregory Maguire, Hermes Mallea, Carey Maloney, Heather Matarazzo, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Ian McKellen, Florent Morellet, Amir Nikravan, Diana Nyad, Denis O'Hare, Todd Oldham, Catherine Opie, Amanda Palmer, Kimberly Peirce, Katy Perry, Lou Peterson, Tegan Quin, Sara Quin, Gene Robinson, Alex Ross, Sandy Sachs, Amy Scholder, Ari Shapiro, Parvez Sharma, Del Shores, Denise Simmons, Christian Siriano, Tom Rob Smith, Patrick Sean Smith, Sam Sparro, Andrea Sperling, Stephen Spinella, Todd Stephens, Jamie Stewart, Mathew Swenson, George Takei, Joel Tan, Basil, Twist, Gus Van Sant, Francesco Vezzoli, Bruce Vilanch, Laura Virella, Mark Walsh, Tom Whitman, and Evan Wolfson.  Each has a short bio and why they made the list.

Whew!  Then there are the 50 Most Powerful Gays and Lesbian list.  There is the Swimsuit issue, the Naked Issue (always fun) etc, etc.  The writing is always, clear, entertaining and on target.  Gay required reading periodical.

Whatever is going out in the world, if it is of interest to gays and lesbians, you will find it in Out.

This review is Lean-N-Mean at 666 words exactly.

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