Welcome to Lavender’s biggest issue of the year! We’ve got pages of people, organizations, articles, celebrations, advertisers, and well-wishers for you…all for the low price of free. Free for the pickup, free for the download, and free for archival online. We are so thrilled to provide this magazine to the community, whether folks are in the closet or have been living out and proud longer than Pride’s been celebrated in the Twin Cities. We hope you find yourself somewhere in the pages of our issues. That something piques your interest. That you learn something you didn’t know. That you encounter a person who’s new to you. That you find community in our pages and on our website. It’s why we’re here.
We’re also here to make sure you know who supports you in the community — our advertisers are more than just the companies that allow us to give this magazine to you for free, they’re letting you know that they support you and want your business too. So, when you see a magazine of this size with this number of companies choosing to advertise in it, please know that it’s a pretty impressive show of support for us as a magazine and us as a community. And that feels good.
This issue is all of our usual sections combined in one place. It’s what we usually split up across the editorial calendar throughout the year. You’ll find bars, arts, food, travel, sports, columns, fashion, dating, weddings, health, senior living, pets, children and family, community, international affairs, homes, and vehicles, as well as special coverage of Twin Cities Pride. Also look for additional coverage of Pride in our next issue, the Pride Weekend Issue.
I want to thank all of the people who answer “yes” when I contact them for collaboration or inclusion in our issues, especially the Pride Issue. It is such a feel-good project, and the people make all of it so worthwhile. From our team at Lavender Media to the photographers and writers and producers and subjects and advertisers, this is something that is built by this community, for this community.
I hope you feel it. I hope you know that though Pride would still happen without this Pride Issue, we hope this helps you feel pride about the community you live in and choose to engage with. We are nothing without this community, and that’s the truth.
Be healthy, be happy, enjoy Pride…and enjoy this Pride Issue. I’ll see you out there.
With love and thanks,
Andy