Is Philadelphia Magazine Out of Touch

Executive Director of PhillyGayCalendar

When the new magazine G Philly (an off-shoot of Philadelphia Magazine) was launched several years ago, it was greeted with mixed feelings. The new gay rag was praised by some as an amazing new resource for the LGBT community, while others saw it a straight magazine trying to make a buck off the local gay community. While they sometimes supported local LGBT events – their online blog, written by Natalie McDonald, touched on diverse aspects of the local LGBT community – the paper magazine was often viewed as "out of touch" with the community.

Recently Philadelphia Magazine published an article about Philly’s A-Gays (including a call out to specific "A-Gay".) Murmurs flew around the community about the article being very out of touch, listing a group of only white men. Mark Segal, publisher of the Philadelphia Gay News, took the magazine to task on Philly.com calling them "out of touch."

"I have heard it suggested by some that Philadelphia Magazine is racist and sexist but I never believed that — but now I’m actually beginning to think it might be so. And maybe we might add homophobic."
— Mark Segal (full article)

So we want to know what the community thinks – was this an over site? or an out of touch magazine?

UPDATE January 21: Former blogger for G Philly and writer for G Philly Magazine posted a response via philly.com – What Homophobia is – and isn’t Infighting and the state of gay media in Philly today where she took Mark Segal to task for calling Philadelphia Magazine "homophobic" [Editors Note – she also claimed that PhillyGayCalendar’s Boys of Summer Swimsuit party is just "young gay men twirling on the catwalk in their skivvies" – although we are not sure anyone ever thought otherwise]

UPDATE: January 22: Philadelphia Magazines Tom McGrath officially responds to Mark Segals column with harsh criticism – Mark Segal’s Reputation Deserves Better Than Mark Segal

OTHER POSTS:

Attn. Young(ish) Gays Of Substance: Why On Earth Have None Of You Toppled Mark Segal Yet? [Philebrity]
What’s the Matter with Mark Segal? [Josh Kruger, writer for Philly Q]

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