A V EICHENBAUM

Editor-in-Chief, Seattle Gay News

What’s the point of Seattle Gay News?

SGN is one of the longest-running LGBTQIA+ focused newspapers in the United States. We provide weekly coverage of issues that affect our community. We’ve been around since 1974, which is huge for a publication like this. Every week we put out the paper is an open act of protest. We’re here as a symbol of Seattle’s queer community, for better or worse. It hasn’t always been pretty, but we’ve fought to stay in print every single week because our community deserves to be represented. We want to amplify the voices of people who have traditionally been silenced and spoken over. Because the current generation is one of the most diverse in the US, and more people openly identify as LGBTQIA+ than ever before, a lot more issues fall under the gay news umbrella. Every week we cover labour rights issues, civil rights issues, attacks on the trans and drag communities and so much more.

How’s your circulation?

We currently run 2,000 issues a week, available for free at select locations around Seattle and Tacoma. We’re also available in every library in the King County, Pierce County and Seattle Public Library systems. Because the paper’s available at brunch spots and bars, we estimate a pass-around rate of approximately 2.5, which puts our in-print readership at around 5,500.

A lot of our readership is online these days. We see about 180,000 readers monthly on our website, and that doesn’t count the engagement on social media platforms. We aim to be a part of our readers’ lives as much as we aim to be a reliable news outlet, so outreach integration is incredibly important. We remain in print in whatever capacity we can because not everyone has access to the internet. Not everyone can afford to pick up a newspaper for US$2.50, so we don’t run a subscription-based business model. It’s also a great way to remind people we’re still here. And, of course, there’s something to be said about the comfort of reading a newspaper over a hot cup of coffee and talking about the news with your partner or friends.

What’s been your biggest story so far this year?

Every week it seems like there’s another transgression against the rights of our community, whether it’s outcry over a celebrity coming out, the Far Right protesting a drag queen brunch, or another state congress attempting to ban books that feature the inklings of discussions of gender or LGBTQ-related topics. My favorite story recently, though, was our coverage of the Trans Day of Visibility here in Seattle at Volunteer Park. The headline was Seattle Trans Community Unites in Joyful Rebellion. It’s important to cover the resilience of our community in the face of everything that’s been thrown at us.

It always feels like every generation of queer kids is starting over from scratch because LGBTQ+ elders keep dying or getting killed. We keep track of the history of the fight for future generations. When the majority of people have the 24-hour news cycle in their pocket, they’re going to miss some of what’s important to them. We shed light on the things that could affect the daily lives of our readers.

‘Seattle Freeze’ – true or false? Burst those cliches.

I’m not a born-and-bred Seattleite, so I’m not going to deny the existence of the Freeze like some of my colleagues. I will say this, though – the Seattle Freeze seems to be self-implemented and self-enforced. The people here are friendly, but it does take them some time to get used to strangers. They’re kind of like cats, and I love cats.

50th anniversary next year: some amazing celebrations planned?

We’ll be hammering out the details in the next few weeks before it’s all hands on deck for Pride. n