Federal government releases
document addressing GLBT health
Q-Notes T April 14,2001 ▼ PAGE 23
by Anabel Evora
Special to Q-Notes
WASHINGTON, DC — The federal
governments release of a document that will help
address the health care needs of GLBT Americans
over the next decade has been hailed as a signifi
cant step forward by national activist and advo
cacy groups. The Companion Document for Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health is an historic
and federally funded publication that will address
the needs of the GLBT community and possibly
save lives.
“Having a nation of healthy people starts with
policies that are wise enough to recognize specific
health care needs and bold enough to find com
mon-sense solutions,” said Winnie Stachelberg,
Political Director for the Human Rights Cam
paign (HRC). “The Companion Document for
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health
meets this challenge and is a history making at
tempt to address the unique healthxare challenges
affecting the LGBT community.”
The Companion Document for Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender Health is written to
complement last year’s release of Healthy People
2010, a publication designed to increase the qual
ity and years of healthy life and eliminate health
disparities among and between populations.
The Companion Document v/ns released March
30 at a meeting of the National Coalition for Les
bian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health. This
Coalition, first brought together to work on in
cluding sexual orientation in Healthy People 2010,
will continue to work to improve the health and
well being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
individuals.
“We are pleased to be members of this im
portant coalition,” said Stachelberg. “Through
our efforts, the LGBT community will receive
unprecedented health care representation at the
federal level.”
There are health care disparities between and
among our nation’s GLBT population. While in
creased research is certainly needed, some stud
ies have already highlighted these disparities. For
example, research suggests that some types of
cancer may disproportionately affect GLBT
people. V
[ To obtain a copy of the Companion Document
for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Health
contact the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association at
ivww.glma.orgi]
Window Media, parent to Southern
Voice, buys Blade papers
by Clay Ollis
Q-Notes Staff
ATLANTA — Window Media, owner of
Southern Voice, the Atlanta-based GLBT weekly,
is expanding its reach again. Just months ago.
Southern Voice began covering the entire South
east by merging its New Orleans paper. Impact
News, with South
ern Voice, and
combining some
editoral content
with Window’s
other paper,
Texas’ Houston
Voice. Now the
company has an- •
nounced the im
pending purchase
of the nation’s
oldest and best known GLBT newspaper. The
Washington Blade, and the affiliated New York
Blade News.
The acquisition, which was to be completed
by press time, will make Window Media the
largest GLBT newspaper group in the US.
Window will have offices in five major metro
politan areas, including the nation’s capital and
the city with the largest gay community. Offi
cials at both organizations praised the deal as a
new opportunity for gay publications.
Chris Crain, co-founder and editorial direc
tor of Window Media, told Southern Voice that
the “combination of those two papers with the
publications we already have takes us to an en
tirely new and unprecedented level. We now
have the ability to cover stories important to
gay people in ways no other media company
ever has.”
Crain has written editorials in Southern Voice
criticizing other gay media mergers — particu
larly the acquisition of Out magazine by the
parent of the Advocate — arguing the merger
diminished the diversity of perspectives avail
able to GLBT readers. He argues the same won’t
be true of Windows Media, because “we aren’t
buying our competition.”
The Washington Blade, founded in 1969, is
the country’s oldest GLBT newspaper. Current
Blade publisher
Don Michaels
was first a volun
teer at the paper,
and became its
first paid staff
person in 1977,
he told Southern
Voice. Today The
Washington Blade
numbers weekly
readership at
100,000. In 1997, the New York Blade News
was launched and also reaches 100,000.
Besides Southern Voice and Houston Voice,
Window Media also produces Eclipse, a regional
guide to gay nightlife that originated in New
Orleans, and SoVo magazine, a quarterly about
gay life in Atlanta. Adding the Blade papers will
allow all four to cover more issues better, Win
dows sources said. The Washington Blade’s cov
erage of GLBT-related issues in the federal gov
ernment — unequaled because of their ability
to conduct in-person interviews and have re-,
porters on site every day — will now be avail
able to Voice readers from Atlanta to Houston.
At the same time, being able to share some
wider-interest stories written by Voice report
ers should free Blade staffers to make local cov
erage even better in Washington and New York.
But the papers will remain separate publications
retaining their current names and each will have
a strong local focus, according to Windows Me
dia representatives. ▼
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