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GayToday, Nearly 8 Years Old, Says Goodbye to Its Readers Jack Nichols Reflects on the History of a Unique Publication Financial Considerations Force Publisher to Cease Operation By Jack Nichols, Editor, GayToday.com

Cocoa Beach, Florida-In the wake of 4 recent hurricanes here in Florida where GayToday is published, I find myself, amid the wreckage, reflecting with pride and satisfaction on the joys of nearly eight years as this newsmagazine's editor. For me, today's sad news spells the end of an era. Financial considerations have caused GayToday's owner to cease publishing. Among the unique features of GayToday, when contrasted with most news publications, has been its commitment to personal journalism, as opposed the mainstream's fantasy that there's actually such an animal as objective journalism. GayToday's Editor Jack Nichols at his home in Cocoa Beach It should be a no-brainer that no matter how many people are quoted to confuse a reader, so-called "objective" news articles still retain the perspectives of their reporters or the views dictated by that reporter's corporate overseer. GayToday, in contrast, has unashamedly presented the strong and sometimes conflicting opinions of knowledgeable individuals, embracing passionate subjectivity as an essential element in journalism. As a free news service of the Badpuppy.com web site GayToday's editor has known total freedom to provide provocative contributions from the very finest of writers and thinkers. Jack Nichols with Dr. Franklin E. Kameny From the beginning GayToday.com has hosted my long-time pioneering friends and cohorts from both U.S. coasts: genuine pioneers like Jim Kepner, a father of gay news opinion in the 1950s and the founder of the ONE Institute International Gay and Lesbian Archives or Dr. George Weinberg, who coined the word homophobia, or Dr. Franklin E. Kameny, the father of gay activist militancy with whom I was closely allied during the 1960s or my long-time comrade-in-action Lilli Vincenz or Barbara Gittings and her life partner, Kay Tobin Lahusen, who were also allied and whose friendships, which began in 1964, have only grown stronger through the years, There's also Randolfe H. Wicker, the first media whiz kid of the Movement who helped us bring homosexuality into early 1960s newspapers and magazines. As editor of GayToday, I have from the beginning, with the help of contributing writers, proudly opposed the regime of George W. Bush, including the publication of countless exposés of his theft of the Presidential Election in 2000. GayToday's low-profile publisher is Badpuppy.com's William G. Pinyon who has, during the period of nearly 8 years I've worked for his company, retained the loyalty of almost all of his employees, hired by him not to serve as mere lackeys of a corporate censor but to express themselves creatively within legal limits. GayToday.com commenced publishing on February 2, 1997. Its archives will remain online, I'm assured, and historians are already trying to make sure that all of the newsmagazine's web pages are preserved. I'm certain that were his own costs to allow, Mr. Pinyon would retain GayToday as the free service of his Badpuppy site. As I understand it, there are forces at work seeking to destroy the financial continuance of adult internet sites. My own personal view is that there are, in Bush's puritanical regime, those who only pretend to hug the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. I would like to thank all of GayToday's 75,000 weekly readers for their constancy. I'll always remember this publication as I would a stirring song. Judging from GayToday's readers' responses, those whom I've already notified, many other people feel the same.

For More ... Related Stories GayToday Welcomes You (1997) Gay & Healthy in a Sick Society What Makes a Man a Man? Bill Pinyon: A Badpuppy in Heat Related Sites Jack Nichols Badpuppy.com

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