''HERO Magazine'' was an American glossy bimonthly

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

magazine co-founded in 1997 by

Sam Jensen Page Samuel Page (married name Sam Francis Page; born September 19, 1974) is a celebrity fitness coach, actor and bodyguard in Los Angeles, California. Early life and education Born on September 19 in a suburb of Salt Lake City, Sam became an entrepre ...

and

Paul Horne Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

. The

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

stopped publication in January 2002. It was based in Los Angeles.

Overview

The magazine rode the wave of the "mainstreaming" of

LGBT culture LGBT culture is a culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. It is sometimes referred to as queer culture (indicating people who are queer), while the term gay culture may be used to mean "LGBT culture" o ...

and was the first LGBT magazine to be classified as "highly recommended" by ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

''. It published the first automotive column in a national LGBT magazine. HERO turned away from the "sex sells" attitude of many other LGBT publications,

Michael Warner Michael David Warner (born 1958) is an American literary critic, social theorist, and Seymour H. Knox Professor of English Literature and American Studies at Yale University. He also writes for ''Artforum'', ''The Nation'', '' The Advocate'', and ...

, '' The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life'', Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, 2000, p. 41 and did not accept adult or

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

advertising. The magazine was also more inclusive of men over 40 than other LGBT magazines at the time. After fast growth in its first 3 years, the magazine's financial backing was frozen after September 11, 2001, and the publication ceased operations in January 2002. Parent company HERO Media continues to develop other online and print publications, including SpaTravelGuy.com.

References

Magazines established in 1997 Magazines disestablished in 2002 Defunct magazines published in the United States LGBT-related magazines published in the United States Magazines published in Los Angeles Bimonthly magazines published in the United States {{mens-mag-stub