Editor’s Note: Wednesday, October 8, is LGBTQ+ Media Giving Day. The publications within the News Is Out collaborative would appreciate your support.
The LGBTQ+ Media Mapping Project is giving queer journalism something it’s never had before — a living, breathing record of who’s telling the stories and where they’re being told.
It was the subject of the latest episode of the ‘Keep It Local’ podcast with Local Media Association host Ryan Welton.
Spearheaded by News Is Out, a collaborative of seven legacy LGBTQ+ publishers, the map catalogs the nation’s queer media ecosystem for the first time. The project was made possible with support from the MacArthur Foundation, the Local Media Foundation, and the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
“This was really inspired by Tracy Baim from Windy City Times, who realized that while queer media has a century-long legacy, it’s never been comprehensively documented,” said Dana Piccoli, managing director of News Is Out. “We needed to show who we are, where we are, and why it matters.”
The findings are both illuminating and sobering. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ outlets operate on budgets under $100,000 per year, often without full-time staff. Eighteen U.S. states — including Wyoming, North Dakota and Mississippi — have no queer media outlets at all. Many existing publishers have faced harassment or political pressure so severe that they’ve scrubbed physical office addresses from their websites.
Yet Piccoli said there’s cause for optimism: a rising generation of readers and creators, an openness to shared services, and renewed philanthropic interest in local, identity-based news. “We’re seeing surging audiences and a real willingness to collaborate,” she said. “That’s a huge shift from when queer outlets saw each other strictly as competitors.”
Piccoli emphasized that funders should view LGBTQ+ journalism as essential civic infrastructure. “By supporting queer media, you’re investing in truth, representation, and connection,” she said.
The full report and interactive map are available at newsisout.com.
🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/02YdoE3EqRp3IYzfykou98
🎧 Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mapping-the-future-of-lgbtq-media-with-dana-piccoli/id1808196993?i=1000730469216
🎧 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAup5tmL4Bg
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Editor’s note: Artificial Intelligence was used to transcribe and create an initial summary of this article, which was then edited by LMA staff.