End of an Era: G Philly Says Farewell

While it is often said that all good things must come to an end, what is left out is that all great things must evolve.

In the years following its March 2011 launch, G Philly grew into one of the leading LGBTQ publications in Philadelphia. Today is the last day new content will be posted to the separate G Philly channel on phillymag.com, but its focus (and its archives) will live on, primarily but not exclusively in the site’s News and Opinion channel.

Why are we making this change? Simple: LGBTQ news is news, period, and Philadelphia magazine is going to start treating it that way.

As the channel’s longest-serving editor, I always had the goal of expanding how we covered our multifaceted community at large, shining a light on our most marginalized members and challenging norms of what it means to be LGBTQ in Philadelphia. For the past three years, we have become the most prominent voice on tackling discrimination within the Gayborhood and been a fierce advocate for intersectionality within the community. We covered local politics more frequently, profiled dozens of diverse movers and shakers, and were present when history was made. Our award-winning coverage helped inspire policy change and steer the course for a more vibrant LGBTQ community.

We were no longer a publication seeking the attention of just one segment of our community, but one striving to capture the interest of all. Readers like you helped prove that expanding coverage would increase engagement — thank you for evolving with us.

As LGBTQ visibility continues to increase nationwide, our coverage deserves more space, more promotion, and more consideration. When a member of our community makes history, everyone should know. When tragedy hits, everyone should know. When triumph and victory ascend, everyone should know.

Integrating LGBTQ coverage within our primary news and lifestyle channels helps send the message loud and clear that our publication believes that our community should be included in the larger conversation about Philadelphia and not segregated from it. Now more than ever, our stories deserve a larger platform to inform our allies and governing institutions to act. G Philly was the start of that conversation, and now it’s time for our publication at large to expand it.

Very soon, the publication will announce a new role for me, which I’m hugely excited to begin. But in the meantime, let’s just reflect on all the good times we’ve had as we embark on something bigger.

It’s so hard to say goodbye, so let’s just say hello to new beginnings.