User:Vishare Huang/sandbox

Bay Windows is a newspaper focused on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. It is published weekly in Boston to serve the area of New England in the United States. Bay Windows has been in existent for the last 36 years where it has brought its readers high-quality articles and editorials about areas concerning LGBT. This newspaper was established by a publisher Sasha Alyson in 1983. It was later purchased by James Hoover in 1985. It has later been purchased by, the co-publishers Jeff Coakley and Sue O'Connell from Hoover in 2003. The Bay newspaper identifies that everybody has rights, and the society has the responsibility to protect those rights. The society has to be provided with enough information which would eventually make them understand the logic underlying LGBT community. This could mainly be achieved through editorial articles which are edited and provided to readers in a periodic manner. Bay Window achieved beyond the expectation of the founder up to a level that it could provide coverage onto the mainstream level. In the early 21st. Bay Window acted as the reference for information resources for the international media who wanted to learn more about LGBT to help develop their content.

=History= Alyson established Bay Windows in 1983 where he had not dreamed of the paper being the center of the marriages equality in New England. As stated by a former campaign director (who?) in the Mass Equity, Bay Windows flagged off; it rallied the troops; it held advocates and those who make law liable and also exposed those people who were opposed and discriminated the equal rights to all. Alyson acknowledged that the lesbian community and gay needed someone to voice with a different perspective. He identified that the community needed more local news and coverage issues that had recently been named “AIDS” (denoting gay cancer, ARC and GRID)

Bay Window experience financial challenge in its early years which was dealt with a few years later through the use of classified and phone sex adverts as a source of income. This was also a challenge since it was hard to find such advertisers in 1983. Due to financial pressure Alyson sold out Bay Window to Hoover and he opted to publish LGBT focused materials and books at the Alyson publications, Hoover also launched a travel company for LGBT folks called Alyson adventures. This newspaper was coined when Alyson wrote a feature story about a local couple to tell their stories. The article features photos of the couples Ralph Hodgdon and the late Paul McMahon side by side. The two were had become icons of civil marriage rights movement, where they appeared in many rallies and debates on same-sex marriages. This was projected in their sign announcement for decade’s long commitment. This story became the foundation for this newspaper.

=Expansion= When Hoover worked at South End News in the Boston neighborhood, he professionalized its business side by bringing Jeff Epperly to raise the standard of the organization to the journalistic standard. Epperly who was the leader in covering presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s support for the gay community was an excellent writer who wrote award-winning- articles. This provided an opportunity for the Bay Window to tap on his enormous expertise. The challenges at this level for the business was the fact that many folks, straight or gay, were afraid of being associated with gay publications and whenever a call was made the advertisers always opted to use receptionist as to respond or to receive messages on their behalf.

In the 1990s, the revenue for the enterprise boomed, this was attributed to the presence of strong local businesses, personal, real estates, and national promoters. The news and editorial content began to flourished, becoming more focused and harder-hitting. With the business going well, Jeff Coakley and co-publisher bought the Bay Window from the ailing Hoover in 2003. The new energy in the two publishers increased revenue from advertising through print and online. They also raised Bay Windows to a key LGBT source of news in the mainstream media. In 2005, a new player ( Susan Ryan- vollmar) joined to work as an editor, this enhanced the breadth and depth of coverage for the Bay Window newspaper. The newspaper became timelier, persuasive, and informative and it raised LGBT issues that other mainstream practitioners missed.

Bay Window was a good insight for the world media in 2004 in the debate by lawmakers to making same-sex marriage legal. The international media checked into this paper for resources about LGBT to inform their coverage. This was very good limelight for the Bay Window newspaper. Bay Window newspaper acted as a key mix in the advocacy confrontation between lawmakers, courts, advocates and the public. This strong media coverage made the battle to end sooner since everybody was informed.

=References= http://www.baywindows.com/ "Bay Windows acquires monthly paper". The Boston Globe, January 26, 2011.