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L Style G Style, a new gay and lesbian lifestyle magazine, hit the streets of Austin yesterday. Executed in a “two magazines in one” format, the print pub is flip-able, like the old Spiegel catalogs from back-in-the-day, with the "L" side tailored to ladies and the "G" side for the guys.
“Our goal with the magazine is to offer the public a different view of the gay and lesbian community,” said founder & publisher Alisa Weldon. “I want to profile the best in our community – capturing stories about visionaries, entrepreneurs and creatives – so that we ‘normalize’ who we are in the view of those who may not know us.”
Copies are available at the 2nd Street District, the Domain, Central Market Plaza North & South, all RunTex locations, the Hotel San Jose and Pure Austin.
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"Normalize"? *Shudders. That sounds perfectly awful. Apparently normalize = conform, and apparently conform = be a white, upper-middle-class yuppie. Give me a break, and no thanks.
You don't want to read a magazine about normalized people? I can't imagine anything more exciting than reading stories about normalized people just like you or me!
Obviously someone's got a business degree.
I'm looking forward checking it out, I think the flip design idea is pretty brilliant. I've met Alisa Weldon, (when she was connected to the AGLIFF and she's got impeccable taste, fun ideas and design savvy.
I don't think anything she's connected to = white, middle class yuppie.
The original use of normalize appears to be in quotes so it should imply some irony.
I'm interested in reading the L Style side myself. I mean, I've always known I was a lesbian trapped in a mans body but only recently did I realize that my internal lesbian is black and loves spiked hells, she's also a natural blonde.
I refuse to be normalized!
Every few years, some group of homos gets together and decides that the reason bigots do not like us is because the media's image of gays is too "queer" for the mainstream (no -the quotes here do NOT imply irony). They then decide that publicizing a more normal, mainstream vision of gays and lesbians is our ticket to acceptance. What they need to realize is that the bigots do not like us because they are bigots, and it is counter-productive to turn around and shun a sub-group of our culture in hopes that it will make the rest more appealing.
Don’t try to go for an argument like “Hey, WE’RE not the freaks! Those people over there – they’re the Freaky ones!”
If you seek acceptance, preach acceptance.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28491
kudos to the L/G team, but amen to alan! there's certainly a bourgeoisie (with a homo twist) feel to all of this. you walk a very fine line when trying to showcase only the best of your "community" because, in turn, you silently acknowledge that you'd rather not share nor promote the rest of that "community."
i also see this from the tangible side of things. this is a magazine, but it isn't JUST a magazine. it's a project. it's a graphic designers dream. someone has to sit down and come up with layouts, color schemes, font collections, photo shoots, etc. this is the brainchild of alisa weldon, no doubt.
i'm a homo, a designer, and i loved the spiegels catalogs, so keep your eyes on the prize... the next flip-able outta the gate will be mine. it will be less business-savvy, more raw truth and glory. and that glory will have no definitive sexual orientation. ;]
Right on, homos. Right on.
"normalizing" is exactly what austin's gay community doesn't need. that's the thing i hated about living in austin the most - as a more alternative-minded gay boy, there was simply nobody else like me - everyone seemed to have one eye on buying a house in cedar park. just go to any of austin's sad gay bars on any given night and you'll see the most 'townie' of atmsopheres - something a bit too college-down for austin's britches. best of luck with this magazine, i guess...