The SHADOW: On Black Gay Magazines

recently, i've been introduced to a few different magazines targeted to the urban gay community- UNeQ, bleu and clik. after browsing through them all, i concluded that, in this case, art really does imitate life. what i mean by this is that when one takes a close look at the black gay community (at least here in new york - and, this could very well be just my opinion), he or she finds a consistent amount of shade, and an even larger amount of competition. as a community, we have not yet gotten to the point of being able to support one another and truly help each other out without asking first, "what's in it for me…"

all of the aforementioned magazines have everything in common with the exception of one thing- their names (i'll get to that later). the look and feel may be different, however all of the content is the same. i asked around to find out a little more information about the creators of these magazines, and was not so surprised to come to learn (in a subtle way) that each magazine was created as a response to the other simply existing in the first place. this begs the question, "why in the hell are we competing against each other?" seriously… money and "fame" aside, is there some prize to be won for having "the best" urban gay publication out there? i doubt it.

now, i'm not asserting that these magazines are insignificant and have no voice. in reality, they have more of a potential voice in the media than many of the urban (period) publications on the stands today. for the most part, the content is actually good. but, in my opinion, what is keeping these publications from reaching the mass success everyone is apparently looking for is the fact that all of them have the exact same message; and so why then is there any reason to read either one of them?

i think all of these guys should get together and create one incredible, fierce, provocative and entertaining magazine. imagine what would be possible if all of these people (who are supposedly friends anyway) got together and set a standard for what an urban gay magazine should be. there is so much talent between the 3 of them, but each one is looking to take control of the spotlight. there is nothing wrong with creating something new and fresh together. do it for education. do it for acknowledgement. do it for timelessness. but do it right!

i look forward to reading your joined publication effort in the near future.

…and as for the name of this new publication - can you, you know… spell it correctly? we might be of a different mind, attitude and , but we're not stupid nor ignorant!