New Year, New G Philly

Our editor shares his goodbyes.

Shutterstock.com

Shutterstock.com

It’s with very mixed emotions that I inform everyone that December 31, 2015 will be my last day managing G Philly.

The decision to leave G Philly was one that I made at the start of the month and is mine and mine alone. What many of our readers don’t know about me is that I am a full-time educator and have been for ten years. I took the editorship of G Philly on back in June 2015 as a very part-time freelance gig and, in many ways, I feel like the part-time status is simply not enough to adequately cover LGBTQ folks in Philadelphia. I have, quite literally, been a one-man show, managing and creating almost all content and our social media presence since June (with, of course, the help of several wonderful and amazing contributors who have been such a pleasure to work with).

I also am extremely passionate about the arts, and have made no qualms that I want to focus my writing work towards performance arts reviewing and feature stories. You’ll still be able to catch my pieces for Philadelphia magazine on our arts and entertainment channel, Philly Mag Ticket, and I will also be writing for several other national publications over the next few months.

The end of the year is often a time when people ponder resolutions, or put out wishes that they hope will “come true” during the upcoming 12 months. One of the things that I’ve truly been blessed to experience during my time with G Philly is the countless number of individuals in the region who are trying so very hard to make an impact on people’s lives. There is no doubt that the LGBTQ “community” in Philadelphia is one of the most challenging that I’ve ever had to work with, but with that challenge comes some of these wonderful souls who are really doing the work. My wish for 2016 would be for folks to realize that there are plenty of voices who demonstrate a living, breathing example of what it means to impact LGBTQ citizens, and that it is time to recognize that change is not only important to move forward, it is mandatory. In short, if you don’t change, you wither away.

G Philly will continue with a digital presence. The magazine is currently searching for a part-time freelance content curator to take my place, and they’ll make an announcement soon about the status of that position.

In closing, I also want to thank our readers who have been such a critical part of our success. I have developed really wonderful friendships with some of you, and I hope that we can stay in touch. Follow me on Twitter @bryanb82. Have a wonderful and healthy new year!