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Contact Us: Please use this space to tell us how you might be able to help with our new venture, especially if you would be interested in advertising in a new LGBT newspaper. Thank you! |
The Future of Southern Voice It's been a difficult week to say the least. None of the hardworking staff at Southern Voice expected that on Monday morning, we would find the locks changed and a note on our door stating that our parent company had ceased operations. The rest of the week has been a blur of sorrow, anger, planning, and most importantly, gratitude -- the support that so many of you have shown to Southern Voice, and to me and other staff personally, means more than any words can ever express. I know I haven't responded to many of you yet. Please know I am thankful to everyone, and will be in touch as soon as I can. Many of you have said our community still needs a credible, professional, ethical source of LGBT news. I couldn't agree more. And while I won't get into what I think happened to Window Media and why, suffice to say that it didn't happen for lack of stories, lack of dedicated staff, or lack of community support. Which brings me to where we stand now. Chris Cash, the original founder of Southern Voice, and I have been talking intensely all week. She sold the paper in 1997, had reached out to try to help save it as Window Media fell apart, and didn't get the chance. Now we want to work together to make sure our community's Voice -- many voices, really -- is not silenced. As of today, we have a mailbox, a bank account, and a domain name -- www.savesovo.com -- that mark the official public start of our efforts. We know we can't really save SoVo -- that name now belongs to a bankruptcy court and lienholders -- but we can save SoVo's mission. We want to try. We'll have a website up in the next few days, where you can give us your contact information to receive updates; tell us how you may be able or willing to help; keep up-to-date on our efforts; and if you feel able, even donate to help fund the initial stages of this project. It won't be tax deductible, but please know that we are volunteering our time -- any money we raise will simply help offset startup costs, like web hosting, incorporation and initial printing when we get to that stage -- that we are currently paying out of pocket. We're also planning a community meeting for the week after Thanksgiving (we're awaiting confirmation on availability for the venue) where we will invite everyone to come, tell us what you want from your LGBT news outlet, and help us name our new voice. We've started a ball rolling, but we want this to belong to all of us. Our vision now is a community-owned, community-led LGBT news outlet that focuses on reporting LGBT issues in Atlanta and beyond. We'll publish through a robust website and a companion print publication. We'll share more as we know more, and we want to know what you think. As I said at the beginning, it's been a difficult week. But it's also exciting and inspiring, and we're ready to continue the fight. Please join us. With deepest gratitude, |
