LPI Media (formerly Liberation Publications Inc.)"Four Questions for Joe Landry, SVP/Publisher, LPI Media"
Magazine Publishers of America, 2006-2007. Retrieved 29 December 2007. was the largest

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

and lesbian publisher in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The company targeted

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 ...

communities and published such magazines, books, and websites, with its magazines alone having more than 8.2 million copies distributed each year. '' The Advocate'' and '' Out'' magazines were the two largest circulation LGBT magazines in the United States, each with corresponding websites, Advocate.com and OUT.com. Additional publications included ''Out Traveler'', ''HIV Plus'', and LGBT-penned titles through

Alyson Books Alyson Books, formerly known as Alyson Publications, was a book publishing house which specialized in LGBT fiction and non-fiction. Former publisher Don Weise described it as "the world's oldest and largest publisher of LGBT literature" and "th ...

making it the "largest publisher of gay and lesbian print publications" and thus the largest print voice of the LGBT communities, including

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

and to a lesser degree bisexual people. They were also parent owners of

Specialty Publications Specialty Publications is an American publisher of gay erotic material. Specialty Publications was owned by LPI Media until LPI's publishing holdings were purchased in August 2008 by Regent Entertainment. Writers included Mickey Skee, J.C. Adams ...

, which produces adult (

pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

) publications ''

MEN A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chro ...

'', formerly ''Advocate Men'', ''FreshMen'', ''Unzipped'', and '' '. Specialty Publications was one of the largest gay adult erotica web and video production companies in the world. __TOC__

History

Liberation Publications began with a

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...

raid at the Black Cat bar in Los Angeles in 1966, prompting a handful of gay men to start a

mimeograph A mimeograph machine (often abbreviated to mimeo, sometimes called a stencil duplicator) is a low-cost duplicating machine that works by forcing ink through a stencil onto paper. The process is called mimeography, and a copy made by the proc ...

ed sheet newsletter for the gay community. This grew into ''The Advocate'' magazine the following year and remained the only US

magazine for nearly 25 years.Judy Wiede
''Happy birthday to us - letter from the editor in chief''
Advocate, The. Nov 12, 2002. Retrieved 29 December 2007. In February 2000, Liberation acquired Out Publishing Inc., which publishes '' Out'' and ''HIV Plus'' magazines.THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Merger to Link Gay Print and Internet Outlets''
By ALEX KUCZYNSKI, The New York Times. 23 March 2000. Retrieved 29 December 2007. Then president and chief executive of Liberation, James Franklin, said the deal would "move the print properties into the electronic arena" and added that the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

was popular with gay and lesbian readers because of "the

closet A closet (especially in North American usage) is an enclosed space, with a door, used for storage, particularly that of clothes. ''Fitted closets'' are built into the walls of the house so that they take up no apparent space in the room. Closet ...

factor." PlanetOut attempted in March 2000 to merge with LPI, but this was called off in March 2001. ''Out Traveler'', a magazine spin-off of ''Out'', launched in 2003. In November 2005, LPI merged with

Planet Out PlanetOut, Inc. is an online media company or entertainment company exclusively targeting the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) demographic. Originally founded as an early internet-based media company by Tom Reilly in 1995, it opera ...

, which mainly has developed online properties to become the world's largest media company targeting LGBT communities. LPI's "solid accounts list of fashion, retail and consumer packaged goods advertisers" was cited among its strong selling points. Criticism of the merger centered on two aspects: that a consolidation of national media outlets of a minority community is unlikely to add

diversity Diversity, diversify, or diverse may refer to: Business *Diversity (business), the inclusion of people of different identities (ethnicity, gender, age) in the workforce *Diversity marketing, marketing communication targeting diverse customers * ...

of voices; and that the publications were established and supported in an effort to secure

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

for gays and lesbians but now are instead delivering a market share to corporations. In April 2008, press reports said that the magazines published by LPI as well as the porn magazines published by Specialty Publications were to be sold by PlanetOut to

Regent Releasing Regent Releasing was a U.S. theatrical distribution company based in Los Angeles, California, under the umbrella of Regent Entertainment, which was owned by producers Paul Colichman (formerly of IRS Media) and Stephen P. Jarchow. Focusing on nar ...

, which owns

here! Here TV is an American premium television network targeting LGBT audiences. Launched in 2002, Here TV is available nationwide on all major cable systems, fiber optics systems, and Internet TV providers as either a 24/7 premium subscription channe ...

, a cable television network catering to LGBT audiences. A

SEC filing The SEC filing is a financial statement or other formal document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Public companies, certain insiders, and broker-dealers are required to make regular SEC filings. Investors and financ ...

indicates that the agreement was completed in August 2008, with Here Media Inc. the new owner of LPI,

, and LPI's book company,

Alyson Publications Alyson Books, formerly known as Alyson Publications, was a book publishing house which specialized in LGBT fiction and non-fiction. Former publisher Don Weise described it as "the world's oldest and largest publisher of LGBT literature" and "th ...

''The Advocate''

''Out''

''HIV Plus''

''HIV Plus'' magazine is based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

and was founded by Anne-Christine d'Adesky in 1998. Instead of subscriptions, the "national magazine sdistributed at doctors' offices and organizations offering services for

people with AIDS People With AIDS (PWA) means " person with HIV/AIDS", also sometimes phrased as, Person Living with AIDS. It is a term of self-empowerment, adopted by those with the virus in the early years of the pandemic (the 1980s), as an alternative to the p ...

" including AIDS service organizations,

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

community-based groups, and physicians' offices as well as other qualifying groups and organizations. It offers "the latest stories on research, economics, and treatment". ''HIV Plus'' provides "news that raises awareness of HIV-related cultural and policy developments in the United States and throughout the world", including issues of "cultural stereotypes about incarceration, drug use, and HIV." Writers and contributors include contributing fitness editor

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 columnist LeRoy Whitfield, whose "Native Tongue" column ran in ''HIV Plus'' magazine starting in May 2004 and was "one of the magazine's most popular features."''LeRoy Whitfield, 36, Dies; Wrote of AIDS Battle''
by The New York Times. Published: October 16, 2005.

Alyson Publications

is a publisher founded in Boston, Massachusetts by

Sasha Alyson Sasha Alyson (born May 22, 1952) is an American writer and businessman who started Alyson Publications in 1979. He later founded the Boston gay and lesbian newspaper ''Bay Windows'' (1983), the travel company Alyson Adventures (1995) and Big Brot ...

which specializes in feminist and LGBT fiction and nonfiction. Notable books and authors published by Alyson include the ''

Dykes to Watch Out For ''Dykes to Watch Out For'' (sometimes ''DTWOF'') was a weekly comic strip by Alison Bechdel. The strip, which ran from 1983 to 2008, was one of the earliest ongoing representations of lesbians in popular culture and has been called "as import ...

'' cartoon series, by

Alison Bechdel Alison Bechdel ( ; born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip ''Dykes to Watch Out For'', she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir ''Fun Home'', whi ...

; '' Daddy's Roommate'' by Michael Willhoite; ''Melting Point'', ''Doing it for Daddy'', '' Macho Sluts'', and ''Doc and Fluff'' by

Patrick Califia Patrick Califia (born 1954; formerly also known as Pat Califia and by the last name Califia-Rice) is an American writer of non-fiction essays about sexuality and of erotic fiction and poetry. Califia is a bisexual trans man. Prior to transitioni ...

; ''

Young, Gay and Proud ''Young, Gay and Proud'' is a book written for adolescents who are exploring a gay identity, published by an autonomous collective of the Melbourne Gay Teachers and Students Group. A new USA-edition was released in 1980, edited by Sasha Alyson an ...

''; '' Latter Days'', a novelization by T. Fabris for the 2003 major motion picture of the same name; ''The Femme Mystique'' and ''Pillow Talk'', edited by Lesléa Newman; '' Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology''; ''Love, Bourbon Street: Reflections of New Orleans'', winner of the 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Anthology; '' Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out'', edited by

Loraine Hutchins Loraine Hutchins is an American bisexual and feminist author, activist, and sex educator. Hutchins rose to prominence as co-editor (with Lani Kaʻahumanu) of '' Bi Any Other Name'', an anthology that is one of the seminal books in the bisexual rig ...

and

Lani Kaʻahumanu Lani Kaahumanu (born October 5, 1943) is a Canadian bisexual and feminist writer and activist. She is openly bisexual and writes and speaks on sexuality issues frequently. She serves on the editorial board of the '' Journal of Bisexuality''. Sh ...

; and ''The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe'', winner of the 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual category.

Specialty Publications

LPI Media was the parent company of

, a publisher of adult gay erotic and pornographic publications. Their ''

Men A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chro ...

'' magazine (formerly ''Advocate Men'') has been the top-selling gay male erotic magazine for over 25 years, and tends to portray men aged 25 to 40. ''

Freshmen A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

'' is an erotic magazine published monthly since 1991. It is geared toward gay and bisexual men. ''Freshmen'' has long been the best-seller in its

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

and features top-line male porn models from

Bel Ami ''Bel-Ami'' (, "Dear Friend") is the second novel by French author Guy de Maupassant, published in 1885; an English translation titled ''Bel Ami, or, The History of a Scoundrel: A Novel'' first appeared in 1903. The story chronicles journalist ...

Falcon Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene. Adult falcons ...

, and others; it specializes in young but not twinkish men, primarily 18 to 25 but some to age 30. Other items, such as calendars and playing cards, are also published using the same label. "Freshman of the Year" contests are held, with many fledgling porn stars going on to greater success including Sebastian Bonnet, Roman Heart, Dick McKay, Zack Randall, Marcus Allen, and Billy Brandt. Specialty Publications also produced ''Unzipped'' and '' ', making it one of the largest gay adult erotica web and video production companies in the world.

References

External links

''The Advocate''''OUT''''HIVPlus''
{{LGBT, rights=yes LGBT-related mass media in the United States Magazine publishing companies of the United States Companies based in Los Angeles LGBT book publishing companies