''Lavender'' is a biweekly award-winning print and online magazine, part of Lavender Media, Inc., published in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

, for the LGBTQ+ community. Since 1995, Lavender Media, Inc. has been producing an award-winning glossy magazine and events aimed at the local, national and international lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and LGBTQ-friendly audience. ''Lavender'' is published bi-weekly in print, online, iPad and smartphone editions. It is distributed free of charge in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and in some other cities throughout

and western

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

History

Founded in 1995 by George Holdgrafer and Stephen Rocheford, ''Lavenders mission is "to appeal to the greatest number of Minnesota LGBTQ+ readers, and direct them to heiradvertisers." ''Lavender'' published its 500th issue in June 2014. In 2017, Stephen Rocheford, CEO of ''Lavender'', publicly voiced criticism of the exclusion of police officers from the 2017 Twin Cities Pride festival parade.

Controversies

In 2016, after the

Orlando nightclub shooting On , 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a three-hour standoff. In a ...

, ''Lavender'' editors wrote an article accused of anti-Muslim bias. The opposition to the articles organized a

Change.org Change.org is a worldwide nonprofit petition website, based in California, US, operated by the San Francisco-based company of the same name, which has over 400 million users and offers the public the ability to promote the petitions they care abo ...

petition aimed at Stephen Rocheford for singling out Islam as a source of

violence Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened ...

Awards

In 2016, ''Lavender'' was named Magazine of the Year by the Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association (MMPA). It has also received more than 100 MMPA awards in the categories of overall excellence, best digital media, best internet site, best director, best single cover, best feature article, best regular column, best single topic, best how-to article, best use of visuals, best redesign, best media kit, and best editor's or publisher's editorial.

References

External links

{{Portal, LGBT
Lavender Magazine website
Biweekly magazines published in the United States Free magazines LGBT in Minnesota LGBT-related magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1995 Magazines published in Minnesota Mass media in Minneapolis–Saint Paul