San Diego's weekly gay newspaper the
Gay & Lesbian Times is 'dead,' says columnist
Nicole Murray-Ramirez, the
San Diego Reader reported.
The 22-year-old weekly failed to
publish its latest issue on Thursday. Its website was last updated
on October 7. Settings for the publication's Facebook account have
been turned private, and telephone calls at its main number are not
being answered.
A sister blogging site, GLTNewsNow.com,
was last updated on October 7, and tweeted its final message to its
1,526 followers on the same day.
“I can assure you that Gay &
Lesbian Times is dead,” Murray-Ramirez, a San Diego columnist
since 1973, said. “One of the writers is looking at starting a
weekly, and out-of-town gay publications [from Palm Springs and Los
Angeles] are looking at expanding here.”
The San Diego Reader is
reporting that several former staffers, including Murray-Ramirez,
have complained that Publisher Michael G. Portantino paid them with
checks that bounced.
Gay newspapers throughout the country
have struggled to remain open over the past several years. Last
November, after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, publisher Window
Media shuttered six publications, adding to the three properties
which it had already closed down. Its most recognizable paper, the
Washington Blade, returned in April.