we march forwardinto the 21st century—in atime when an ever-increas-ing portion of the LGBT com-munity is coming of ageafter Ellen DeGeneres cameout on primetime television,after Will & Grace helpednormalize gay life for themasses, after Gavin New-som made gay marriagelegal in San Francisco, which,though later repealed,warmed the national con-sciousness up to the idea,eventually allowing severalstates to follow suit, eitherwith gay marriage or civilunions—it’s hard not tonotice that the rules of the

gay game are fast chang-ing. Some worry that theLGBT community is losingits activist voice, its identi-ty, its cohesiveness—a vic-tim of its own success. I haveno such worry because Ibelieve our community isnot dying, but evolving. Weare out—now what? As wecontinue to accept ourselvesand find our place in socie-ty, we must move beyondour “gayness” and continueworking toward self-actu-alization. We are alreadydoing this in a myriad ofways, holding high-poweredpolitical offices, adoptingchildren and giving legiti-

macy to our relationshipsby marrying.

Words cannot expresshow incredibly humbled I amto be a part of this move-ment as editor in chief of INLos Angeles. With this publi-cation,I hope to continue giv-ing historical context to ourcommunity by never forget-ting the enormous strugglesfaced by our gay forebearswho have laid the ground-work for the community weknow today. I also hope todo my small part to drive themovement forward, toinform our readers with newsand political analysis; to spot-light gay business owners,

entertainers and personali-ties; and to illuminate gaylife here in the City of Angels.It may seem a tall order; luck-ily, I am fortunate to workwith some of our communi-ty’s best publishers, editors,writers,photographers, illus-trators,graphic designers andpublic relations people, who

are the real key to this mag-azine’s success. I look forwardto serving our community aswe continue to evolve inways our revered gay prede-cessors could never haveimagined.

John HobbsEditor in Chief

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

WE’RE OUT — NOW WHAT?

Letters Editor HORIZ 1012 8/18/09 3:28 PM Page 1