Dear Lavender,
As a…read morereader of your magazine for 10 years, I thought it well past due to write you in the spirit of constructive criticism.
It is tempting to assess you as a "lifestyle" magazine. By this measure, you do several things quite well. Your reviews of restaurants, theater/classical music/opera performances are readable and engaging, and your calendar of events are crucial to gay-friendly businesses and organizations throughout the Twin Cities. The sophistication of your packaging (with its glossy pages and covers) makes similar queer publications in San Francisco or New York appear amateurish by comparison.
But even as we hold Lavender to the "lifestyle" genre, I call for a major face lift of your publication. To many of your readers, the folks you seem to be targeting are gay + white + middle class + Christian. With few exceptions, lesbians, the trans- and bi- communities, and people of color find few images or articles that appeal to their diverse tastes, interests, and beliefs.
Lavender demonstrates its loyalty to a small segment of the LGBT population in several ways. For example, your pages are front-loaded with ads for new condo developments and related services, such as realtors, home and garden supplies, and window treatments. Note: mass home foreclosures and the current credit crunch are not just figments of the heterosexual imagination.
Until recently you featured a column titled "Faith in Action", which intended to highlight spirituality in the LGBT community. Unfortunately, its writer (from your targeted demographic) seemed to view the project as his own budget psychotherapy service, allowing him to air his rants against the Christian church and share his personal journeys through religion. Fortunately you exorcised his column before his conversion to the Kabbala or Scientology.
Please be assured that I am not suggesting you revamp yourself into a journal of queer theory. Most of us are incapable of reading three pages of Foucault without developing a brain tumor. Nor do I recommend that you expunge those adverts for escort services, which feature shirtless models and their vacant faces. In this struggling economy those pretty boys are cat-fighting for jobs, too.
But I am encouraging you to consider the possibilities of your role in the community. Why not include more stories about issues affecting the broader LGBT community? Why not strengthen your work with queer movements that have raised awareness about our issues, and continue to work for equality?
Until then, I will continue to pick up each new issue of Lavender at my local coffee shop, gay bar, or restaurant. After all, despite the tone of this letter, I'll still look forward to your previews of the Guthrie season, and reviews of the newest gay owned business in town. And, of course, I want to know when's the next Miss Gay U-S-of-A pageant at the '90s.
