A Second NYC Gay Paper Is Needed

Tom Allon, the publisher of the West Side Spirit and other publications, has recently announced his candidacy for mayor of New York City. This year he folded one of the publications he owned, the weekly New York Press.

Instead of shutting down the paper, a better idea would have been to transform it into a gay and lesbian paper. There hasn't been a second gay paper in New York since the Blade went belly up. The Gay City News could use the competition, if for no other reason than to keep its staff members on their toes and not take the gay community for granted.

With so many talented GLBT writers in this city, staffing a new Press would have been no problem. I hope Allon will reconsider the closing of the paper and resurrect the Press, if not every week, maybe every two weeks.

If he does bring the paper back, I would be among those with a resume in hand, eager to do the kind of journalism I once did in the 1980s for the now-defunct New York Native. That writing caught the attention of Joe Beam in Philadelphia and persuaded him to offer me an opportunity to contribute an article about Harlem Renaissance writer and artist Bruce Nugent for his groundbreaking anthology, In the Life.