The Advocate Journalism Project
Preserving Pride
Since 1967, The Advocate magazine has been the voice of the LGBTQ+ community. Your donation will help make YOUR voices stronger, louder, and prouder.
For nearly 60 years, The Advocate, the nation’s oldest and leading LGBTQ+ magazine, has inspired readers. Its journalists have broken major news stories and landed exclusive interviews, securing a significant place in LGBTQ+ history.
The magazine started as a newsletter shortly after the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day 1967. Being queer was illegal in most states, and police routinely raided gay establishments. When patrons of the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles shared celebratory kisses, undercover police moved in, arresting and beating customers and employees in a bar bust that changed history.
LINK TO PHOTO OF PROTESTS
*Please credit ONE Archives/USC Libraries
The protests that followed led to the formation of gay rights organizations and a newsletter called The Advocate, published by a group called PRIDE: Personal Rights in Defense and Education.
That newsletter grew into The Advocate magazine. The publication is now the only surviving national print and digital magazine of its kind, founded before the 1969 Stonewall riots and protests in New York after similar police brutality.
Current Challenges Facing The Advocate
On the eve of its 60th anniversary, the publication is now caught in the crossfire of another difficult climate and needs your help sustaining and expanding its coverage.
LGBTQ-focused journalism serves as a vital tool for community safety. It connects marginalized voices and acts as a watchdog against harmful narratives. People who are both queer and part of a racial minority group, or who have disabilities, can face compounded discrimination, stress, and intersectionality.
(magazine examples, perhaps use as artwork)
Some LGBTQ+ individuals experience economic hardship and are low-income; some have lost jobs due to their identity. Others find themselves homeless after family rejection, and some contemplate or commit suicide.
The Advocate’s print magazine, website, and social media provides actionable, even lifesaving information. People experiencing mental health challenges, trauma, and emotional difficulties can find help and support.
Equalpride, publisher of The Advocate, has made this digital and print publication the centerpiece of The Advocate Journalism Project.
Our journalists tell the queer stories that no one else can or will, and that reporting leads to real change. We hold the powerful accountable.
The Advocate Journalism Project
Giving to The Advocate Journalism Project will help continue the impactful, essential community reporting The Advocate’s journalists provide, giving a voice to this vulnerable community.
Your donations will help:
Fund full-time editors, journalists, and freelance reporters, photographers, videographers, and producers
Pay for special investigations, video series, and podcasts
Bring diverse voices together and reduce polarization of marginalized communities to foster cohesion
Monitor government institutions and decisions to help readers navigate changing policies, laws, and developing issues that could affect their safety
Create fellowships and internships to train future journalists in this specialty area of reporting
Hire another reporter in Washington, DC, to create a bureau to produce video and print articles to keep up with news and breaking stories in the heart of the nation
Continue to keep online content free without a paywall. This ensures instant reader access and provides the community with urgent, even lifesaving information at the touch of a button
Keep print magazine flipbook subscription costs low by helping sustain printing, postage, circulation, and distribution. 10 million U.S. households don’t have a home internet subscription, and print magazines remain a valuable source of news and information
Send LGBTQ+ community centers free magazine copies
Protect The Advocate's near 60-year print magazine archive, which documents the queer civil rights movement and preserves the community's history
Develop philanthropy efforts: grant applications, fundraising, marketing campaigns, and assisting in the administration of the project
Support travel costs for journalism conferences, interviews, shoots, award ceremonies, fundraisers, meetings, and events
With your support, The Advocate can reach the widest possible audience and continue its mission of award-winning journalism that directly impacts people’s lives.
