PUBLISHER’S GUEST |
by Robin Will
just out
TM
January 2013
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
Jonathan Kipp
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Alley Hector
ART DIRECTOR
Horace Long
Looking Back
Just Out, started during a controversy over the L-word, turns 30 years old in 2013.
Picking up Volume I, Number One, of Just
Out, (October, 1983), is like walking into an
argument in progress.
“We’re back, folks!” Jay Brown announces in
the very first editorial. “And we’re doing it our
way.”
From the distance of 30 years, it isn’t clear who
had been missing, where they had gone, whose
way they had been doing it before, or even what
“it” was.
However, queer Portlanders in 1983 knew that
“it” was the issue of inclusion; and by the way,
we never, ever called ourselves queer in those
days. It was a sneering, pejorative, oppressive
term, and, to this day, some elders in the com-
munity have difficulty saying it. Nowadays, the
term “queer” lets us avoid the alphabet-soup
LGBTQI label that never seems to fit; but in
fact, in 1983 we didn’t have the alphabet soup,
either. The story of Just Out began in the con-
troversy over changing the name of 1983 Gay
Pride to “1983 Lesbian & Gay Pride.”
Emotions ran high. Lesbians, and plenty of
other folks, favored inclusion. The publisher
of Portland’s only gay newspaper at the time,
the Cascade Voice, believed that “gay” was in-
clusive enough. “Lesbian & Gay Pride 1983”
finally won out, but two staff members at the
Cascade Voice, editor Renee LaChance and
assistant editor/photographer Jay Brown, felt
the value conflict strongly enough to leave the
Voice and start up their own newspaper. In
Just Out, the two of them were indeed back –
back in print, and running their own very in-
clusive show.
Portland watched to see if the town would sup-
port two gay newspapers – or, rather, one gay
newspaper, and one lesbian and gay newspa-
per with regular contributions from the Black
community, plus writers in Roseburg and the
Klamath Basin.
Yes, Portland supported Just Out; or, more
correctly, Just Out earned its place in Portland.
By any measure, each of the early issues looked
healthier than the one before, with more ad-
vertising, more local articles, and more en-
gagement with the community.
The little publication overcame two potentially
fatal problems during that first year. Plans for
paid regional distribution fell through, and
local circulation plunged when Just Out sud-
denly cost 25 cents per issue, possibly because
people outed themselves just by buying one.
Renee and Jay went back to distributing their
papers for free at friendly locations. Also in the
first year, the pressroom at Nickel Ads abruptly
refused to print Just Out any longer, causing
the young publication to miss an entire issue,
and leaving the staff scrambling to locate a
printer who found the content morally accept-
able.
A&E EDITOR
Ken Hoyt
HISTORIAN AT-LARGE
Robin Will
COPY EDITOR
Ellen Fiscus
REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS
Cathleen Busha Anna Deligio
Atlas Flynn Jonathan Hopp
Anne Jaeger Brad Larsen
Logan Lynn Scott MacDonald
Lyska Mondor Courtney O’Donnell
Leo Schuman Aaron Spencer
Rev. Jennifer Yocum
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORS
Brian Jackson
Ron Ulrich
SALES MANAGER
Eddie Glenn
just out™
P.O. Box 10609
Portland, OR 97296
editor@JustOut.com
sales@JustOut.com
distribution@justout.com
Phone/Fax: 503.828.3034
Nonetheless, at the end of the first year, in
October, 1984, Just Out was up to twenty well-
filled tabloid pages from the original sixteen,
and looking good.
For those who were wondering, Cascade Voice
printed their last issue in December 1984,
changed ownership, and came back as The Ea-
gle Newsmagazine from January through Au-
gust of 1985. The City Open Press, City Week,
Oregon Gay News, The Portland Monitor, and
The Alternative Connection all came and went
between 1985 and 1993.
Just Out continued, inclusively. Jay Brown
died in 1990. In 1998, Renee sold Just Out to
Marty Davis, who ran the publication un-
til 2011 when it was acquired by its current
owners. §
©Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
Published by
Glenn-Kipp Publishing, Inc
Rivendell Media, Inc.
authorized national advertising representative
just out™
Founded in 1983
FORMER PUBLISHERS
Founders Renee LaChance & Jay Brown
Marty Davis
Just Out has a long and proud history of informing and
entertaining the LGBTQ community in Oregon and
SW Washington, our supporters near and far, and working
to build bridges that lead to justice, fairness, and
equality for all people.
Published by Glenn Kipp Publishing, Inc.
Printed in the U.S.A.
6
JustOut.com
January 2013