Letter From The Publisher
From Just Out Publisher Marty Davis:
Effective December 26, 2011, Just Out newsmagazine, serving Portland’s LGBTQ community since 1983, is no longer in business.
Three years of recession have taken their toll.
Please direct all inquiries to Marty Davis at marty@justout.com. Thank you for your many years of readership and support.
So sad to hear this news…yet another significant loss for those attempting to “do good work” in these challenging times…I look forward to the reincarnation Marty…in whatever form your “good intentions manifest”…There is no death of good intentions and good works only the temporary transformation…
“Standing on the Edge of a
New Beginning…”
Best of wishes for what is to come.
Is it still possible to save it? What if every lgbt person who has benefitted from just out donated $10. Would it be enough? How about $50? I would.
Sad to see you go, Just Out. I have been reading the print edition and online for about 5 years, and it was clear the paper was on a downward spiral.
I agree, I would easily donate any $$ amount, if other LGBTQ people in Portland would agree to do the same, to save the magazine. We’re squelched enough as it is, it is imperitive that we do not lose this voice and possibly lose the forward strides we’ve made over the past decade or so.
Perhaps instead of dropping money into a dying ship we try to come up with a new and relevant source of queer media that also respects the staffers working there? You know – give back to the community by starting with treating the community with respect from the INSIDE of the organization, not by disrespecting the employees by working in a poisonous and downright illegal at times workplace. There was never any respect shown from the publisher for her staff; she often choose to be mad at people for no apparent reason, she would pit employees against each other in business matters, and was also known to distort circulation figures to small businesses to make them think advertising in Just Out was a value. And let’s not forget that she would forego paying her employees if she didn’t have the money for it. Or, better yet, would buy them nice food and cakes in lieu of pay! This decline has been several years in the making, and it’s just nice to see that Marty has come to her senses and put an end to the inevitable. I wish all the best of luck to the remaining staffers and I would advise you to notice whether or not you are exhibiting behaviors related to PTSD.
@Jonathan~ I heard this about Marty, and then some. Not a nice person. I’d like to see a new Oregon LGBT publication come on the scene that comes from a positive person and space. I believe that alone would create some incredible possibilities in our community.
Something new will come along, probably online. It would be best if someone other than Marty Davis was the publisher. I have never forgiven her for her antics during the Sam Adams/Beau Breedlove scandal.
If you publish the only newspaper serving a minority community, you shouldn’t allow that paper to serve as ammunition for enemies who are attacking that community. That’s what Marty did, time after time, on many more issues than the Sam Adams recall. I miss what Just Out used to be, many years ago, when we were fighting the OCA. I do not miss what Just Out had become by the time of its demise.
I remember embarrassingly picking-up my first copy of Just Out as a 20-year-old wannabe “ex-gay” conservative Christian back in the late 1990s. The paper’s community organization listings including numerous churches was an important resource for me in my coming-out. Thank you!
I started to read Just Out, when it was first Published in 1983. And had the great joy of knowing Jay Brown from the beginning of the paper. also had the pleasure of knowing Re’nee LaChance.
I moved to Portland in late 1982 for the Oregon coast at the age of 23 and was first coming out to myself and other and the paper was a welcome resource to the Gay Community and for me also.
So, it is sad to see a outstanding publication closing it doors. Best Luck to the People who brought us such a great newspaper.
Tad Johnson
So in other words, the quality of LGBT news coverage in Portland just increased tenfold. Good riddance, Marty — and in your future endeavors, may you remember that this community never forgets, and rarely forgives. I hope Bonnie Tinker and Sam Adams are smiling a little bit after getting this late Christmas present.
Have some respect, people!
The fact is, eight people (and a handful of freelancers) lost their jobs. Portland has lost an institution. Marty Davis did what she could to keep it afloat, and as one of those eight people, I have nothing but respect for her attempt to keep this institution alive in the midst of a horrible economic climate.
Whether you agree with her or not, Marty Davis is a human being, and I have never seen so many people delighting in kicking a woman when she’s down.
Please find your humanity and gloat about the end of Just Out somewhere else.
RESPECT!?! You have GOT to be KIDDING!!!! Respect is NOT what Marty and JustOut exhibited when doing a cover SMEAR against Bonnie Tinker. Such a BLATANT attack against SUCH an honorable and lifelong activist got Marty and this RAG JustOut a wooden karma stake RIGHT through the heart! Sometimes it just takes a while, but this goes to show that yes, karma IS a BITCH!!!!
my feeling is that if those who voice such ill feelings had done anything to get off their pampered asses, what they are complaining of might not seem so aggravating- but then hey, this is only portland, land of fog, the delusionally centered and insipidly cool
really, all you have done was to wait for someone else to do something and then to complain about it-
that’s a big HA HA
Capital letters don’t make arguments more persuasive.
Aimee’s right.
Oh, so sad. As a 59 year old lesbian, who has been out for over 40 years, I have found comfort in knowing Just Out has been our means of communication, news and even disagreements. Thank you for many years of hard work, I will miss you!
I’ve heard a lot of sad news this holiday season, but for some reason this is particularly painful. One more icon of the days of my coming out is gone. Firt the “pink triangle” was dismantled, some pieces flung to other parts of the city, some dead, never to return. Bars that had been homes to groups for years have closed as “redevelopment” moves in. Even at the remaining places things are not the same. But there had still been “Just Out.” A newspaper that told me about the events and people that I cared about, that were relevant to where I wanted to be. Now that too is gone.
People say that it’s no longer necessary because information is online, but while someone does have to post things online, it is not as personal. It’s an e-reader instead of a book, a text instead of a handwritten “I Love You.” Even if the message is the same, the way it is delivered can make a huge difference.
Maybe I’m just sentimental because the new year is around the corner; maybe I’m feeling old. Whatever the reason, I will miss you “Just Out.”
Was pretty disappointed to hear this a few days ago. I did not agree with a lot of what Marty did with the Sam recall and other things, but not having a paper to pick up that shows the happenings of what goes on in the gay community really is too bad in a city this size.
What is going to happen to all of the old issues of the paper? Are there plans to transfer them to the Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest? It’s important we preserve this history for new generations to come. I would be more than willing to volunteer my time to make sure the archives are saved in an accessible place for all.
And I’m very sad to hear that the paper is no more. One of my biggest personal accomplishments since moving to Portland 5 years ago was being featured in a news-brief in Just Out in late 2007. I actually brought the article home to my Mom and Grandmother as their Christmas presents that year.
Onward and not defeated! :)