Are you turning 40 this year? Are you turning 40 this year and gay? Are you turning 40 this year, gay and alone? Panic much?


Forty, gay and alone is like the perfect psycho-homo storm. Turning forty is a difficult period of time to reconcile with yourself. Youthful 20’s are over and gone are the days when a generous person would ask you for ID when picking up your Reunite On Ice at the Circle K. If you don’t have kids, everyone around you has them and suddenly you’re a parent or uncle/aunt to rowdy teenagers.


For gay men and women alike facing this period of time can be traumatic. But what is often lost in the number is what it can represent to you as a gay person – survival. If you are turning forty this year, you remember the devastating losses the gay community suffered in the 80’s before the advent of AIDS treatments in the 90’s. You experienced some of the greatest victories over injustice as gay men and women stood up, organized and demanded inclusion.


If you are turning forty this year, you have lived, witnessed and survived. You are starting on your next forty with a lifetime of experience. That’s a huge head-start.


It is then for you that we bring On Top Magazine. It’s new, you know. Each week we hope to bring you information and news that is relevant to your new journey. And hopefully we will add our own 40’s perspective to the current events going on around you and shaping that journey.


As for your loneliness, dear reader, when did it become so important to be in a partnered relationship anyway? Don’t get me wrong, a strong daddy at home making sure my dinner is ready, would be sweet. But don’t panic, I promise you someday when having your same-sex sex someone will look into your eyes and want more than just your lifetime of experience.


PS – If you’re turning forty this year, partnered or married, and at total peace with yourself, please stick around too. And mabruke (that’s Arabic for congratulations).