Region’s gay newspaper seeking new ownership

The headlines told the stories of a community: “Queer Sounds on the Airwaves,” “Gays can learn from civil rights backlash,” “Come OUT Spokane, Join the Journey.”

Since 1992, Stonewall News Northwest was the only newspaper in the region that offered articles and advertising specifically for the GLBTQA – “gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning and allied” – population.

That’s why so many readers were devastated to see this month’s front-page headline: “Our Final Issue: Stonewall suspends publishing.”

“It’s really upsetting to me,” said longtime subscriber Greg Presley of Spokane. “There’s this void that other print media in Spokane can’t really fill.”

Now, less than a month before the annual Pride Celebration in Spokane, the region’s only gay newspaper is up for sale.

The asking price for the 25,000-circulation publication is $5,000, but Publisher Mike Schultz won’t sell it to just anyone.

“He’s looking for someone who will take into account the historic value of 15 years of GLBTQA history,” explained Christopher Lawrence, Stonewall’s arts and entertainment editor for the last four years.

The newspaper, after all, isn’t just the actual publication, he said; ownership of the Stonewall would mean being entrusted with the historical archives of the region’s gay and lesbian community.

May 2 was Stonewall’s last issue. Schultz, who bought the newspaper two years ago, announced his decision to stop publishing in a press release last month. “This decision comes after much consideration amidst a climate of declining advertising revenue, chronic problems securing payment from existing key advertisers, and low community engagement with the publication,” he wrote.

Nationwide, many businesses want to advertise in gay and lesbian publications, Schultz wrote in his final column this month. That’s because these readers not only have the highest disposable income among all minority groups, he said, they also tend to be very loyal to the advertisers.

“So what happened at Stonewall? Something very simple, actually,” Schultz wrote. “Our advertisers didn’t hear from you, our reader.”

Schultz’s decision to halt publication isn’t the first time in Stonewall’s 15-year history. The late John Deen, the newspaper’s editor and publisher from 1995 to 2005, also threatened to quit several times due to declining ad revenue.

In June 1998, Deen did indeed follow through with his threat, but local businesses and readers started the “S.O.S. – Save Our Stonewall” campaign, which persuaded the late publisher to change his mind.

Stonewall was never the voice of the gay community, Deen once said. But at least the newspaper gave the community a voice.

Like Deen, Schultz couldn’t make a living running a newspaper, Lawrence explained. Most of the newspaper’s writers and editors were volunteers, he said. And although the circulation had tripled since he took over from Deen two years ago, Schultz also made the decision to publish twice a month instead of just once, which made for even more work.

“As the lights go out at Stonewall, the door of opportunity remains open,” Schultz wrote in his farewell column. “Perhaps someone motivated and committed to a level of outreach that transcends the insulated tendency of our community will come forward to assume ownership of this publication despite the cost of personal time and energy.

“I also hope that our community can arise from its apathy and let advertisers who are reaching out to us know that we appreciate their support.”

Schultz didn’t return phone calls for this story.

Stonewall was founded in 1992 by activist Larry Stone. Its name refers to the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City, which happened as a result of a police raid at a gay night club.

Before the newspaper, members of the gay community passed out mimeographed copies of a newsletter known as “The Swan,” according to Lawrence.

Until it ceased publication this month, the Stonewall was the only publication to serve the gay and lesbian community in Eastern Washington, North Idaho and Montana.

In small communities where many gays and lesbians remain closeted, the newspaper provided a sort of life line, according to readers. Nowhere else could they find stories about rural life for gays and lesbians or in-depth discussions on domestic partnership issues and human rights. To celebrate the new year, for instance, Stonewall interviewed and photographed local gay and lesbian couples who have celebrated many anniversaries. Their love stories and pictures took up the entire front page.

“It was a unifying force for gay and lesbian people,” said Presley, who had been a faithful Stonewall reader since he moved back to Spokane nine years ago.

The newspaper also had regular readers who aren’t gay but remain active in the human rights arena. “Reading the Stonewall has enhanced my life,” said John A. Olsen, a retired optometrist and board member at PFLAG – Parents and Friends of Lesbians And Gays. “Losing Stonewall means losing access to insight into the gay and lesbian community. That’s a huge loss for this city.”

While people can still gain that by reading Jill Wagner’s columns on gay life in The Spokesman-Review’s 7, it’s not quite the same as having an entire publication dedicated to gay and lesbian issues, Olsen said.

OutSpokane – the volunteer group responsible for the annual Pride Parade, Rainbow Festival and other events – will publish an eight-page, full-color newspaper at the end of the month, said Lawrence, OutSpokane’s chairman. The publication, which has yet to be named, will focus on the events of Pride Week. The group also will continue to update its Web site and Stonewall’s community calendar, he said.

In the meantime, as members of the GLBTQA community search for a new publisher, Lawrence and others remain optimistic that Stonewall or another gay newspaper will emerge in the coming months.

“We’ve come a long way since I moved here 15 years ago,” he said. “I’m very hopeful. I know that many of us will not let our community voice die.”