Publisher

About SFGN Thank you for being here. It’s about time. It’s about us. A paper that speaks with you, to you, and about you. A paper that pulls no punches, protects our friends, defends our allies, and defines our adversaries. A paper that is gay in name only. The South Florida Gay News.com is a no holds barred review of our lives and our community for sure. But it is also recognition that we have a lot more in common with the mainstream community then they sometimes give us credit for. You see, the gay community is about business and enterprise, commerce and education. We are young students, elderly retirees, and we come together at Gamma Mu Parties and White Parties. We go to professional baseball games and the theatre. We are no different than everyone around us. We are a part of the world, not apart from it. We experience breakups and financial crises, endure sickness and loss, see our dreams deferred. Those of us who grew up in the age of AIDS have also seen too many young men die too young. This paper will record our past, not forget it. The South Florida Gay News.com will celebrate our lives with daily news briefs and storied features, breaking news and lifestyle profiles. You enter today on the dawn of our own national voice, a forum you can interact with, play to, post on, and read up about. This is a paper where you will find a page. It may be one article in one column or one match from one website. But here you will always find a home, a forum, a sanctuary, and a place to call your own, that no one will ever take away. Most of all, you will find a voice that speaks to your principles, advocates your interests, and defends your rights. A place to express yourself. Hmm, The Express- not a bad name for a local gay paper. Ten years ago, on January 24, 2000, that paper came to South Florida as a your voice, only to be lost to a national gay media company that collapsed last November. The Express is now just a name tied up in bankruptcy court, but we are still here, a community very much alive and thriving. And we need a voice. Why not use our own? The South Florida Gay News! We come together; all of us do, in various ways- from Hurricane Showdowns to Gay Choruses to Rainbow Alliances. Our community has become so vast and varied, hiking clubs and softball leagues, recreation and study groups, our own AA groups and Ski Weeks………the list goes on, doesn’t it? Can’t name them all, can you? Those lists, those local and regional events, from Lambda Legal to gay cruises will find a place and forum on these pages, online and in print. This newspaper is not going to be just a promo for a White Party, or a press release for an AIDS walk. A newspaper celebrates our victories but exposes our warts. The news has no agenda. It reports facts, from young hustlers offing their older tricks to closeted congressman covering up their secret identities. We will be reporting on book signings and artist exhibitions, seniors who have led cherished lives, businessmen who have made a difference and young men and women who have inspired us with their vision. Our goal is to have you make our paper your home page. When we have done that, we will have just begun our task. But we will better show you what we intend to do by doing it. Welcome to the South Florida Gay News, Day 1, Issue 1, Page 1, January 25, 2010.