Out (magazine)

History

Out was founded by Michael Goff in 1992 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 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 UK, 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 US 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 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.

In 2008, Out, along with its sister publication The Advocate, was purchased by Here Media Inc. Here Media expanded the magazine's web presence, OUT.com, and added a mobile application. In April 2012, Out laid off the twelve members of its editorial staff with one month severance; editor-in-chief Aaron Hicklin said he intended to hire back most of them as contractors with his new company Grand Editorial.

In 2017, Here Media sold its magazine operations to a group led by Oreva Capital, who renamed the parent company Pride Media. In August 2018, Hicklin stepped down after 12 years as editor-in-chief and was replaced by Phillip Picardi.

Despite editorial changes, Out and Pride still faced financial issues and frequent complaints from freelancers and contract employees. 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. 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. The New York Times detailed the nonpayment issues and that the total owed was in excess of $100,000. 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.

In December 2018, Raquel Willis was appointed as executive editor, becoming the first trans woman to take on a leadership position at the publication. While at Out, Willis won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Magazine Article for "The Trans Obituaries Project".

Picardi left Out in December 2019, announcing his abrupt departure via Twitter. In September 2020, David Artavia was appointed as the magazine's new editor-in-chief. In January 2020, Diane Anderson-Minshall was named CEO of Pride Media and later that year became the editorial director of Out. In June 2022, Equal Entertainment—the largest LGBTQ-owned media company in the United States—acquired Pride Media and took on the name Equal Pride.

Out100

Since its beginning, Out offered an annual list, the Out100, documenting a hundred "influential, inspirational" LGBTQ personalities and celebrities and "founded to celebrate and honor some of the most influential LGBTQIA figures." 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. In 2019, editor Phillip Picardi said the Out100 was the magazine's "greatest and most well-known tradition". Out introduced a Reader's Choice Award in 2013 in addition to its editorially curated list of the top 100 honorees.

Notable contributors

References

References

1. Picardi, Phillip. (November 2019). "Out100 2019".
2. Sandra L. Caron. (February 2008). "An investigation of content and media images in gay men's magazines". Journal of Homosexuality.
3. "Magazines in Alphabetical Order". Radcliffe Institute.
4. Dorothy Snarker. (November 13, 2008). "An open letter to ''Out'' magazine". Logo Online.
5. "'Out' lays off its entire editorial staff, but editor Aaron Hicklin wants to hire 'most' back into his new startup".
6. (2017-09-07). "Publisher of High Times acquires LGBT publications". Reuters.
7. "Phillip Picardi Leaves Condé Nast for 'Out'". Fashionista.
8. "''Out'' Magazine, Pride Media Rife With Challenges for New Editor". [[Women's Wear Daily]].
9. (February 8, 2019). "Unpaid ''Out'' Magazine Contributors Demanding Payment Amid Fresh Layoffs". [[Women's Wear Daily]].
10. Weiner, Sophie. (January 30, 2019). "''Out'' Magazine Contributors Are Still Waiting to Be Paid".
11. (February 7, 2019). "Pride Media says the check's in the mail".
12. (February 26, 2019). "''Out'' Magazine: Pay the Freelancers!".
13. Peiser, Jaclyn. (February 25, 2019). "''Out'' Magazine's Fresh Start Overshadowed by a Bitter Money Dispute". [[The New York Times]].
14. (February 26, 2019). "''Out'' Magazine owes freelancers more than $100K".
15. Kelly, Keith J.. (March 6, 2019). "''Out'' magazine owner owes more than $100K in unpaid ad commissions".
16. (December 10, 2018). "Transgender Activist Raquel Willis Appointed Executive Editor at Out Magazine".
17. (2020-07-30). "UPDATING: Award Recipients at the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards".
18. (December 11, 2019). "Advocate and Out Magazine Editors-In-Chief depart amid turmoil". [[Los Angeles Blade]].
19. (2020-09-28). "Pride Media Taps David Artavia as New Editor in Chief of Out Magazine".
20. (June 21, 2022). "Pride Media acquired by Equal Entertainment—making it the largest LGBTQ+-owned media company".
21. (2013-11-12). "OUT100 List Adds '30 Rock's' Maulik Pancholy, 'Glee's' Jonathan Groff,' 'American Horror Story's' Denis O'Hare".
22. Hubbard, Amy. (November 7, 2013). "Out magazine rolls out its 19th Out100 list of LGBT celebrities".
23. "This Year's Out100 List".
24. "The 2014 OUT100 Awards celebrate two decades of LGBT advocacy". AXS.
25. Picardi, Phillip. (November 18, 2019). "Welcome to the 2019 Out100".
26. "Out Celebrates the 19th Annual Out100 Presented by Buick".
27. "Dale Peck".
28. (2017-10-01). "2010: 'It Gets Better' Founder Dan Savage Reflects on The Groundbreaking Youth Project".
29. "Syllabus: 1980".
30. "Some other places with writing by T Cooper".
31. (December 10, 2006). "Sporno". The New York Times.
32. "OUT Magazine talks PrEP and features AFC'S Jim Pickett".
33. "Jesse Archer".
34. "Bob Smith".
35. (2010-05-24). "Dustin Lance Black: Pillars of Salt".
36. "Kimberly Drew".
37. (2019-02-13). "How Our Generation Is Changing the Definition of 'Femme'".
38. (2019-08-05). "We Need to Decolonize the Body Positive Movement".
39. (2019-11-27). "Chani Nicholas Gives You the Only Astrology Reading You Need for 2020".
40. (2019-09-09). "India's Gay Prince Says Repealing Sodomy Ban Isn't Enough".
41. (2024-03-21). "RuPaul, Out's cover star, is ready to be a role model — and knows the world is watching".
42. (2025-10-14). "Out100 Icon Niecy Nash-Betts will be on the 'front lines' against anti-LGBTQ+ hate".
43. "Vampires in L.A. by Francois Rousseau // OUT".
44. "Roger Erickson".
45. "James Marsden for OUT Magazine by Photographer Matthias Vriens McGrath".
46. "About PMc".
47. "Ave Joe Oppedisano!".
48. "Chloe Sevigny by Terry Richardson for OUT Magazine".
49. "Spanish actor Jan Cornet by Xevi Muntané for OUT Magazine".
50. "Walter Pfeiffer".
51. "Power Point".
52. (2020-04-17). "Out Cover Star Mike Ruiz's 7 Portraits of LGBTQ+ Icons".