The Advocate

The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBTs. The magazine was established in 1967, and is the oldest continuing LGBT publication in the United States.

History
The Advocate was first published as a local newsletter by the activist group PRIDE (Personal Rights in Defense and Education) in Los Angeles, California. The newsletter was inspired by a police raid on Los Angeles gay bar the Black Cat Tavern. Richard Mitch (using the pseudonym "Dick Michaels") and Bill Rau (under the name "Bill Rand") joined PRIDE and, along with artist Sam Winston, transformed the newsletter into a newspaper, which they titled The Los Angeles Advocate. The first issue bore a cover date of September 1967. By early 1968, PRIDE was struggling to stay viable and Mitch and Rau paid the group one dollar for ownership of the paper in February of that year. In 1969 the newspaper was renamed The Advocate and distributed nationally. By 1974, Mitch and Rau 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. Under Goodstein's direction, The Advocate transformed into a national news magazine covering events important to the GLBT community, including the gay rights movement, art and culture. Goodstein also worked toward reducing sex-oriented advertisements in favor of more mainstream sponsors.

Goodstein and Dr. Rob Eichberg created "The Advocate Experience". Loosely based on the then-popular EST (Erhardt Seminars Training), it 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 remained strongly opposed to state intervention during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. He argued even though "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.

Soon after Goodstein's death in 1985, the magazine was transformed from a tabloid-size newspaper format in two sections (with the second section carrying sexually explicit advertisements), to a standard magazine format, beginning with the October 1, 1985 issue. The magazine stopped carrying sexually explicit advertisements in 1992, with the launch of a newly created sister publication, Advocate Classifieds. The magazine changed hands through a series of mergers and acquisitions, and is published by Here Media.

Starting in 2010, Here Media consolidated the distribution for The Advocate and Out magazines. The Advocate print version continues to be published and is available enclosed with Out as a combination package via subscription.

In 2010 there were press reports of freelance writers not being paid for their work.

Notable writers, present and past

 * Jasika Nicole
 * Calpernia Addams
 * Alison Bechdel
 * Adam Block
 * Chaz Bono (pre-transition)
 * Kate Clinton
 * Howard Cruse
 * Gerard Donelan
 * Benoit Denizet-Lewis
 * David Francis
 * Michael Joseph Gross
 * Allan Gurganus
 * Janis Ian
 * Tyler Helms
 * Josh Kilmer-Purcell
 * James Kirchick
 * Tony Kushner
 * Lance Loud
 * Ryan Murphy
 * Robert Opel
 * Christopher Rice
 * B. Ruby Rich
 * Gabriel Rotello
 * Vito Russo
 * Randy Shilts
 * Michelangelo Signorile
 * Donald Spoto
 * Andrew Sullivan
 * Urvashi Vaid
 * Bruce Vilanch
 * Kenji Yoshino