Neil, you have asked an aweful lot of questions. Though, I must admit that the answers to the vast majority should be obvious, I feel.

>>>Is it really necessary to write an article about homophobia in contemporary witchcraft??? Seems very ironic to me.....if you are involved in witchcraft or wicca then by the very nature of The Rede, homophobia should not be an issue at all. I mean, there is no central authority or anything like organized religion.....if your coven if anti-LBGT, there is always another coven somewhere.....or better yet, start your own?!?<<<

Well, as long as unquestioned homophobia is so rampant within the Craft, yes, such an article really is necessary. Sadly, no one has taken to addressing this issue before (which is really a disservice to the broader comm.); and, as a Gay man I am the perfect candidate for discussing this topic! As a freelance scholar, I argue that the concept of homophobia within the Craft is, in itself, an irony! And, while one may argue that the Craft is "unorganized", this cannot excuse the presence of homophobia within the Craft. However, this also hinges upon how one defines "organized", because on certain levels, the Craft really *is* organized in many ways!

And, as far a Covens, I do not worship within one; as a consecrated Priest of An Morrighan I prefer my solitary Path as I continue to preserve Her Mysteries. At this point I may found my own Tradition!

>>>Now......tackeling the subject of Gay "Rags" and Mags......they serve a purpose. Instead of being ingrateful, why not just be happy that they exsist at all? Remember when such resources where not so readily available??? I do! Not every 'straight' mag has a spirituality section or even a horoscope section, so why should LBGT ones??? It would be nice, but I am not going to make a big issue over it.......and definitely not losing sleep over it. Anyway, the purpose of those rags hit a target audience........and NEWSFLASH, you are part of that audience in fact you made a comment on an Ed. in Chief's and CEO's looks.<<<

But, you apparently do not understand what I am talking about; these magazines often served a purpose a while back, but now they no longer do; now, they are merely Capitalist diatribes with nothing of real substance to offer!

No, I do not demand that every rag ought to have a spirituality section; just that they contain articles of substance! Who the hell cares about the latest gadgets and fashion trends (you can find out about these on-line, anyway). I don't know about you, but *I* hold print media to a higher standard.

Also, I argue that making a comment about how someone looks does not engender me as a part of one's target audience; that is rather specious, don't you think? After all, how attractive the Ed. may be is purely incidental! After all, I am hardly a part of their target audience, because I have no interest in their magazines, as a result of their lack of any real substence. Whom their target audience seems to be are superficial socialites, of which I am not a member.

>>>As for your Genre scandal.......I lived in LA for the past 15 years before recently moving back East and I have temped at Genre and personally know staff there and lived with one of their regular models. I also am good friends with some of their contributors and writers, so again, maybe you should write more about what you know before shooting off at the mouth...........and even who cares if there are straight models on gay magazines? There are tons of gay models on straight mags........and let's not even forget to mention all the 'straight' porn stars that appear all over the 'gay' porn industry magazines..... <<<

All I have ever asked anyine in my life is to not side-step an issue with a peripheral argument, which is offensive to my intellect, and a form of blatant obscurrantist behaviour, I must admitt. My charge against Genre is a quite valid one, according to a relatively well respected source for GLBT news: www.queerty.com/news/no-tr...r-20071211/

Please do not take what I say as a personal attack on the people with whom you are personally acquainted, my friend! I would never lower myself to such vilead hominem arguments in order to justify a polemic I may have.

Now, as for the issues with models; their sexual orientation is not objectionable to me, in itself, but it is the fact that they were used to sell Gay remationships and, in fact, misrepresented a cover story--their readership was fed a story that turned to be entirely fictitious! This is intelelctually dishonest, and *that* is what I have a problem with. I don;t care if they use straight models, as longs as it's not bandied as photographic documentary evidence of two Gay men in a loving relationship in order to buttrice a fictitional story; although, being that it's a Gay men's magazine,a dn the corpus of Gay models available, it should not have been hard fr them to have found a pair to employ! In fact, they should make it a rule to look for Gay models to fulfill their needs, and only then to straight models, IMHO.

>>>Genre and Out have evolved as magazines......they have to in order succeed in a fickle business, so cut them some slack. You know, running a magazine is very expensive so unless you can find a better way, just be grateful they we have a voice and are visible.<<<

"A voice" and "evolved"? Please forgive me, but I simply must argue with both of those points: their "voice" is so damned superficial that it's like a 100-page commercial ad! If they want to succeed they ought to try and write something of real value and interest; something engaging, rather than a survey or lube, o what clothes are hot and popular! Fuck *that* shit!

And, "evolved"? I say that they have drastically devolved from what they *used* to be, when I actually bbought them to to the quality of their articles. They simply need to publish more articles like the one I related re: safe-houses.

Now, I hate to be the one to point it out, but...they are sending the new generation of Gay men a horrible message, (and I don't give a damn about how hard it is fr magazines to succeed--it's their job to do just that without comprimising the integgrety of their publication; they owe us MUCh more than what they are giving us now).

>>>Lastly, if you are so distraught over the lack of quality magazines out there, why not start your own?<<<

You misunderstand me, I fear. They used to be magazines of high quality; but they are not anymore--that is what I object to so staunchly.

>>>Personally I think this is more of an issue of where you live more than anything else.....I mean Iowa's 'bustling cities' aren't exactly known for either their LBGT atmosphere nor their religious pluralism and tolerance. <<<

Well, you should move here for a time--Iowa's very progressive! Out capitol cities are, in fact, well known for their GLBT atmosphere, etc.! In fact, our own local publication (which is free, by the way, and published at a local major US University) is filled with substantial material of high repute! If local papers can do that, than national (so-called "mainstream") publications can maintain these standards too, damn it! ;o)

Take Care,
Wade@MacMorrighan.Net
http://MacMorrighan.CovenSpace.Com