New magazine targets Cincinnati's gay community

Business Courier - by Lucy May

Date: Monday, January 3, 2011, 2:41pm EST

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• Lucy May
• Senior Staff Writer
• Email: lmay@bizjournals.com

Greater Cincinnati’s gay community can ring in 2011 with a brand new online magazine aimed at telling the stories overlooked by local mainstream media.

Northern Kentucky native Troy May has launched TriStatePride.org, which he said will cover the large, diverse gay community within a 100-mile radius of Cincinnati. The magazine will reach even farther if the story is good enough, May said, noting that Lexington, Ky., recently elected its first openly gay mayor without sexual orientation even being an issue in the campaign.

“I’ve got some really big, interesting stories coming out that I’m working on right now,” said May, who is no relation to me for all of you readers who noticed we share the same last name. “There’s a large population of gay people who really fade into the background here. This is really going to open the door to shine a spotlight on them.”

Already, TriStatePride.org is live, and May said content will be updated regularly. He has launched the publication as a nonprofit so he can seek revenue from sponsorships as well as grants and donations, similar to the model used by National Public Radio, he said.

May grew up in Taylor Mill, Ky., and graduated with a degree in journalism from Northern Kentucky University. Before moving back to town this past summer, he was editor and publisher of a magazine in Silicon Valley aimed at gay readers and their friends, families and supporters. That magazine fell victim to the recession, he said, when many of its key advertisers went bankrupt and could no longer pay their bills.

That inspired May to launch this effort as a nonprofit owned and operated by May Media Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit media company. May said this is just the first of many online and print publications that May Media Institute plans to launch.

Take a look at the site and tell us what you think. Does our region need an online magazine focused on these issues that are rarely covered elsewhere? What about the directory that May says will help point gay and lesbian people to friendly businesses?