The History and Future of Wva's Queer News.
ABOUT WVA's Queer News
Wva's Queer News was established in February 2004 by editor-in-chief Terry Urban. His hopes were to be able to give something back to the very community in which he came out.
He wanted to give the gay community an outlet from chatrooms, night clubs, and book stores--a place that they could call their own. In the first months, there was not a lot of content but as people became more interested and aware, our magazine really came into its own.
Debut of Columns and History of the Magazine
March 2005 - Johnboy19778 joined the staff as bear writer for our section now known as "Bear It All." Divaangelstarr also started up the Transgendered Traxx section this month.
April 2005 - Theengagedfew joined the staff with True Colors. He has been one of the most consistent and praised writers of our site. He also won a Best Article Award at the 1st Annual Terry Awards Presentations for his article on "The Westboro Baptist Church Series."
June 2005 - Slayerscythe introduced his advice column "Ask Jonathan." He remains to be an intricate part of Wvas Queer News and has been with our magazine for over one year. Happy Anniversary!
June 2005 - The Terry Awards were introduced to the chat rooms. They started off through email voting and are now a big part of the fun and chat in
Gay.com and AOL.June 2005 - Longtime friend, Wade or Ablkmascguy introduced two columns to our readers. "The Way I see It" and "Perspectives". He also won Best Column 2005 at the 1st Annual Terry Awards. He was a very active writer for the magazine and major contributor to the success of Wvas Queer News until he had to leave us for personal reasons in March 2006.
July 2005 - Lazeecrazeeone introduced herself to the community with her column "Lesbian Limbo" and continued until January 2006.
July 2005 - Dragonkith, Our leather writer brought to the Links of Lust a new concept with doing weekly interviews with other respected parts of the Leather Community and continues to be an active part of Wvas Queer News and also won a Terry Award for his contributions within the magazine.
July 2005 - Divaangelstarr joined the staff as our "Transgendered Traxx" writer to introduce to the world a diva or transgendered person of the week.
July 2005 - Jediknightguy came to us as a movie reviewer and a Star Wars enthusiast. His movie reviews were a popular part of the magazine. He later became Terry's second hand man in December 2005 until he moved away in July 2006.
August 2005 - A man called Steve came to the staff of Wvas Queer News with a column known as "Steves Corner." He won a Best Writer Award in 2006 at the Terry Awards and continues to win in the monthly awards. He became Terry's managing editor in August 2006, and has been a great help and advisor in making Wva's Queer News what it is today and he is considered a friend.
August 2005 - Wvallstar joined the staff and took over our "Somewhere over the Rainbow" section and continued until February 2006.
September 2005 - Charlestonwvbotm came to Terry with an idea for a column called "No Bullshit". He continued to wow the readers until January 2006.
October 2005 - Wvas Queer News and Terry presents "The Veto Lake Murders" (murder mystery game). A good time was had by all who attended and took part.
November 2005 - Sexitim had took over "Transgendered Traxx" section for Divaangelstarr. His introductions and bios on the queens were quite exceptional and even won him a Newcomer of the Year 2005 award at the 1st Annual Terry Awards. He is still part of our staff and has even founded Rainbow Connections, Inc.
November 2005 - Terry's partner Tom decided to do his own take on things with a column called "Looking at a Different Side of Things." He has not won any awards yet, but his column is a much read part of Wva's Queer News.
December 2005 - Terry and Wvas Queer News presents Sex Sells, a
gay.com party at True Colors and his first ever staff meeting before. It was a good time for all, and a much needed outlet from the chat rooms.January 2006 - Bombayproof took over "Somewhere over the Rainbow."
January 2006 - Stacey Gabriel or L8dyvenus came to the staff and took over "Lesbian Limbo." She is up for multiple awards at the 2006 Terry Awards.
February 2006 - Airboy101 took over "Somewhere over the Rainbow."
March 2006 - We introduced to the world a new writer and a talented one at that, Froggluver who created his own section "Randomosities" and got rave reviews for his articles such as The Colors of the Rainbow.
March 2006 - The 1st Annual Terry Awards Presentations were held at the Dils Center in Parkersburg, Wva. This night was a great success because of fine community people who took part in both financial backing and participation, these individuals include Linda from the Dils Center, Amanda Love and Utopia, Papa Bear from Vice Versa, Geena Jordan, Sahara Lee, Tammy Faye, Michelle St. James (Terry Award winner for Drag Queen or Diva of the Year 2005), Cherrypoppers, Charleston AIDS Network, and Donnashlandky.
April 2006 - David Turley brought to the pages of Wvas Queer News, a section for his hometown of Beckley, Wva, "Sex and the Little City."
May 2006 - "Straight Up" was introduced as a column by Tammy Trippet, a single straight mother who gave her opinon on gay issues.
May 2006 - "I'm Not Gay" was also introduced by Theholywriter who continued until Sept. 2006 when he accepted a job with a Marietta Printed Publication.
June 2006 - July 2006 - Witchchris came to the staff of Wvas Queer News, taking over two columns "Gay Teens" and "Somewhere over the Rainbow", his work here has been a great addition to our magazine.
June 2006 - A great writer, Bionicjoeyawitch came to the staff of the magazine, taking over two important sections "The Way I see It" and "No Bullshit". His work is praised by all who read it.
June 2006 - "The Columbus Report" was started by Holttim.
June 2006 - "The Chalkboard" was brought to life by Wvutowner. The article about Wonder Woman and another titled "Sound The Alarm" are among his best remembered.
June 2006 - Len from Stonewall Society, became a part of our staff, bringing to the magazine two columns, "Discrimination, The Demon Within" and also his "Up and Coming Legends" (GLBT artists reviews). He is a very active part of Wvas Queer News.
July 2006 - Steve of "Steve's Corner" became managing editor of Wvas Queer News. He was promoted for his hard work and dedication plus his skills as a copy editor.
July 2006 - Troy or Tman79 introduced his column "Rainbow Politics" and it has been a favorite within the Terry Award polls.
July 2006 - Terry started a new section, "Speak Out," in which he interviews individuals who work to advance the GLBT community.
August 2006 - Terry introduced three new state pages to help show show support to areas around West Virginia. "Gay Ohio," "Gay Pennsylvania," and "Gay Kentucky."
September 2006 - Naval20yards introduced his column "The Blind Truth."
September 2006 - Luciousleeza took over the column "Straight Up" to get a better understanding of the gay community and to offer her feelings on those issues.
September 2006 - "From the People" was introduced, and is a outlet for anyone who wants to write an article and express his or herself. So, feel free to let all your feelings flow. "Just Mikey" came to us this month and looks to be a great addition.
October 2006 - "Sunbeam, A Ray of Light" and" Styles" were both introduced to our magazine.
November 2006 - River Tees, started a line of Wvas Queer News products(shirts, calendars, and much more) Also this month we welcomed to the staff, Washwritr, with his new column "Robine's Roost".
December 2006 - "Cruisin" and "From Beyond" were both introduced to the magazine, From Beyonds writer is bodyshaves4u@aol.com ALso this month we discontinued Gay Ohio, Pa, and Ky. for fear of losing our state involvement.
January 2007 - Theengagedfew@aol.com begans his series on Fred Phelps, with his new section called "Addicted to Hate". Also this month we welcomed to the staff, Seth with his new column "At your Service!" and with the expansion of the lesbian page, we welcomed to the staff Flame with her rants, raves, and reviews.
February 2007 - Wva's Queer News expanded the lesbian and bears section. Adding many new columns and writers. he new sections are Christina's Corner, Good thing I like maple Syrup, Dating 101, Female Star Factor, What the "L". In the Bear section - Perspectives came to life in the 21st. At the end of February, we added Into the Light with Jim Lawson, What If with Tatudboi4life, Wvjeepbear and Bearin it with Mike. Also, Mikey ended his column "Just Mikey."
March 2007 - Steve resigned as managing editor and Jim Lawson took over the position. Jim Lawson, is not only managing editor and friend but he is also writer of Into the Light, Hiv living with Aids, and contributor to Speak Out. On March 7th, 2007 Randomosities celebrated one year as a column. We celebrated two years as a magazine on the 12th of March. We also set a new record of visitors in a day with a count of 280. We also had our second annual Terry Awards presentations and first ever Ms Wvas Queer News pageant on March 31st at Club Utopia.
April 2007 - Sex and the little City celebrated one year as a column but signed off to relocate. With that being said, we welcomed two more columns The Power of One, and Life in a Small Town and disposed of Feminine Star Factor and Lezbian Dating 101. On April 11, True Colors celebrated its two year anniversary with the magazine. April 18th, and after a few weeks of vacationing from the magazine Steve debuted his new column "La Super Raquel." On April 25th, we welcomed "True Gay Love" as a column.
May 2007 - CHevycub4u@yahoo.com debuted his column Street Beats. May 9th we hit a total number of 287 unique visitors on the site. On May 19th, at the Tap Room we crowned our first ever Mr Wvas Queer News 2007, Robbie Miller. On May 26th, we had our first ever Pride in the Park Picnic, with COGLES and James.
June 2007 - Bionicjoeyawitch celebrated his one year anniversary with The Way I See It. Witchchris2000 celbrated his one year anniversary with Gay Teens, but switched over to Looking at a Different Side of Things. Len also celebrated one year of service with his two columns Discrimination and Up and Coming Legendary. Debuting this month, were Live and Learn, SASS, The Columbus Report, Dear Leather Daddy, Power Exchange and ending this month is Good thing I like Maple Syrup. A real loss but relocating was a priority , we wish her the best with things and she will be missed.
July 2007 - We lost Len with Discrimination , just celebrated a year anniversay and also his column Up and Coming Legends. Adding to the staff, was Mydaddyjimm with "Daddyjimm Talks", Hfparanormal with "Folklore of WV', Jamesraywalt with "History's Homosexuals", and Wvstevenbear with "Leatherbear". Also, we welcome back to the staff, Froggluver with "Randomosities". Welcome back. I also want to take time out to say Great job to Chris for switching to a great new column "Looking at a different side of Things". Jason and his column Links of Lust celebrates his second year anniversary with us. We have also revamped and enlarged the divas page.The month of July brought our readership up and our largest amount of viewers in a day, we hit 320 on July 13th but on the 27th we hit 369 visitors. AWESOME!
August 2007 - Greener debuted her new column "Out of the Rain."
September 2007 - Debuted columns were Adam with "Martinis With Adam", Jim with "Wicked Leather", and Poeticbutchgirl with "Lesbian Soup". Luciousleeza celebrated her one year anniversary with us.
October 2007 - Debuted columsn are "Pawing around with Cubbie T", and Ty with"Medical Tips by Ty".
January 2008 - West Virginia Queer News became a non-profit organization. Dear Spirit, Gay-taining and Lesbo a Go- Go ! debuted.
February 2008 - First monthly meeting to educate the Parkersburg area on gay issues at the Vienna Public Library. Also in February, we hosted our first fundraiser at Woodstarr and raised over 500 dollars .
March 2008 - We turn four years old, and we celebrate our third annual Terry Awards along with our second annual Ms West Virginia Queer News pageant. Miss Martina Dezerae won Ms West Virginia Queer News and Miss new face goes to Miss Lacey Lynn Taylors and Edie Sedgwick. Our largest crowd ever and Sean Krystofer Colby hosted the event as well as Woodstarr, Mimi, and Vince.
April 2008 - The Second Annual Mr West Virginia Queer News was a success, six contestants who battled for the title. Mr Frankie La Valle was officially named WINNER!
Also this month, Angel brought a new column to the magazine, Answers from Angel and took over Gay Teens.
June 2008 - We added Sky with The Sky's the Limit and also Dave with Both Sides of the Fence.
July 2008 - We added Brenda with Then and Now, and Kevin with Youths Fountain.
Other notables.
Erik (Drivemecrazy80) - No Bullshit
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Love of a Pet
Wvutowner - The Chalkboard
Open your Eyes
Artist Man's Corner
Tabby's Tavern