The Advocate

The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed bi-monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a website. Both magazine and website have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people. The magazine, established in 1967, is the oldest and largest LGBT publication in the United States and the only surviving one of its kind that was founded before the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, an incident that is generally credited as the beginning of the LGBT rights movement.

History
The Advocate was first published by Dick Michaels and Bill Rand, of the Los Angeles activist group PRIDE in Los Angeles, California in 1967 as a local newsletter titled The Los Angeles Advocate. In 1969 it was renamed The Advocate and distributed nationally. By 1974, Michaels and Rand were printing 40,000 copies for each issue. It attracted the attention of David Goodstein, an investment banker from San Francisco who bought the publication in 1974.

Goodstein's influence
Goodstein instituted several changes to the publication once he acquired it, including switching from newspaper to magazine format. Under his watch, The Advocate fully transformed into a national news magazine covering events important to the homosexual community, including the gay rights movement, art and culture. Goodstein also worked toward reducing sex-oriented advertisements in favor of more socially acceptable ones.

Goodstein also created, with Dr. Robert Eichberg, "The Advocate Experience". Loosely based on the then-popular EST (Erhardt Seminars Training). The Advocate Experience was a two-weekend, all-day series of extensive self-realization workshops to bring self-acceptance, awareness and tolerance within the LGBT community. Goodstein and Eichberg facilitated the workshops for much of their duration.

Goodstein's later editorials reflected his years as a participant in the LGBT community's fight for civil liberties. For example, during the AIDS epidemic, he remained strongly opposed to state intervention. He argued even through "our lifestyle can become an elaborate suicidal ritual, ...our safety and survival depends on each of us and our individual behaviour," as opposed to government public health regulations (Advocate, March 18, 1982, page 6). Some of his critics have argued that earlier state intervention would have saved lives, and that his writings on civil liberties at this time were extreme and failed members of the gay community who contracted HIV.

Soon after Goodstein's death 1985, the magazine changed hands through a series of mergers and acquisitions, and is published by LPI Media, a division of the American premium television network here!

Notable writers, present and past

 * Chaz Bono
 * Kate Clinton
 * David Ehrenstein
 * Steve Gunderson, politician
 * Allan Gurganus
 * Janis Ian
 * Tony Kushner
 * Lance Loud
 * Ryan Murphy
 * Robert Opel
 * B. Ruby Rich
 * Gabriel Rotello
 * HeathCliff Rothman
 * Vito Russo
 * Tully Satre, youth journalist
 * Michelangelo Signorile
 * Donald Spoto
 * Andrew Sullivan
 * Urvashi Vaid
 * Bruce Vilanch
 * Kenji Yoshino

Editors

 * Editor in Chief: Anne Stockwell
 * Managing Editor: John Jameson
 * Deputy Editor: Rachel Dowd
 * Arts & Entertainment Editor: Corey Scholibo
 * News & Features Editor: Sean Kennedy
 * News Editor: Kerry Eleveld
 * Associate Editor: Neal Broverman
 * Art Director: Craig Edwards
 * Photo Editor: Albert Smith
 * Associate Photo Editor: Meghan Quinn
 * Editorial Assistant: Michelle Garcia

Executive officers

 * CEO: Karen Magee
 * Vice Presidents: Lisa Barker, John Knoebel, Brett Mattingly