The National Gay Media Association ( NGMA ), which brings together the top regional newspapers serving the U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ( LGBT ) communities, announce the addition of three new papers to its membership. As of November 2015,Watermark in Orlando, The Pride in Los Angeles and Philadelphia Gay News have joined NGMA.
NGMA is an alliance of the "best of the best" in LGBT media, representing long-time legacy brand names in regional media, including the Bay Area Reporter in San Francisco and the Washington Blade, both founded more than 40 years ago, the Blade in 1969 andBAR just two years after the Stonewall Riots marking the start of the modern gay-rights movement. Other NGMA members are Bay Windows ( Boston ), Between the Lines ( Detroit ), the Dallas Voice, Gay City News ( New York City ), GA Voice ( Atlanta ), South Florida Gay News, and Windy City Times ( Chicago ).
Watermark is a bi-weekly paper in Orlando, Florida, reaching more than 13,000 readers in a market near many of Florida's resorts. It describes itself as "a multi-faceted media company using opportunities and innovations to communicate and advance LGBT interests, with a corporate emphasis on professionalism and profitability."
The Pride Los Angeles, a bi-weekly paper and the only LGBT newspaper serving Los Angeles, the second-largest metro area in the U.S. Founded in October 2015, The Pride Los Angeles was created by Gay City News founder and former publisher Troy Masters. The Pride Los Angeles presently distributes 20,000 copies and primarily utilizes an innovative door-to-door delivery strategy to distribution throughout key LGBT neighborhoods.
Philadelphia Gay News is the nation's longest-running continuously published LGBT paper and is considered a definitive source of the LGBT community's news. "We strive to focus on and promote businesses and populations within our community to engender mutual success," reads a statement on PGN's website. "As a community newspaper, PGN's mission is to be a platform for the LGBT community to communicate with each other on all their various viewpoints, as well as to communicate with the mainstream/ally community."
Rivendell Media, the oldest and most experienced media rep firm representing LGBT media to advertising and marketing companies, founded NGMA. "NGMA is the premiere vehicle for national advertisers to reach the gay and lesbian marketplace," said Todd Evans, president of Rivendell, which also represents more than 100 other LGBT media companies to advertisers.
"Gay media is local media," said Evans. "It provides the best on-the-ground information to serve the diverse LGBT community."
NGMA has its roots in the old National Gay Newspaper Guild, which provided the impetus for growth in the gay marketplace by providing the first verifiable readership demographics surveys of the gay press that sparked interest by Madison Avenue.
ABOUT NGMA:
The National Gay Media Association is a professional organization dedicated to bringing together common marketing procedures and standards to local gay media outlets, print or digital, to encourage and promote national advertising.