Online global gay newspaper Gay Star News announced it folded July 30.
Ben Hunte, BBC LGBT correspondent, broke the news on Twitter late July 29.
The sudden closure, effective immediately, sent shockwaves through LGBT media.
Attitude owner Darren Styles called the closure a “great shame.”
The gay magazine publisher lamented in a tweet, “LGBTQ media is a small enough place as it is.”
He also offered to hire some of the 20 former GSN reporters who suddenly found themselves unemployed.
The online gay news outlet, launched in 2012, was listed as one of the top five gay news outlets in the world, reported Pink News.
In an open letter to readers published Tuesday, Tris Reid-Smith and Scott Nunn, founders of the news site, partially blamed the ongoing uncertainty over Brexit and a new trend in “tokenism” and “rainbow wash.”
The founders explained that companies were being selective of which LGBT organizations to support. Rainbow washing is when brands indicate support of the LGBT community by making their logos gay-friendly rather than donating to LGBT organizations or supporting LGBT media outlets through advertising.
“Worse still, we have learned that some brands have done this while at the same time funding anti-LGBTI politicians to the tune of millions of dollars,” wrote the founders. “Tokenism has reached a new low.”
Additionally, despite entering 2019 with confidence, as the year progressed assurance waned with delays with projects and major decisions, they wrote.
“Until the very end we had good reason to believe we would survive. We have fought through and won through so many times. We were incredibly close. But this one has broken us, and truly broken our hearts,” wrote Reid-Smith and Nunn.
“We are convinced we are closing at a time when more people want and need what we offer than ever before,” the founders wrote, noting that readership was at a high, but finances weren’t as robust.
Got international LGBT news tips? Call or send them to Heather Cassell at WhatsApp: 415-517-7239, or Skype: heather.cassell, or oitwnews@gmail.com.
