Gender-critical outlet Lesbian and Gay News shuts down due to lack of support and advertising
The LGB Alliance has been branded a ‘hate group’ by LGBTQ+ community leaders. (Getty/ Mark Kerrison)
Gender-critical news outlet Lesbian and Gay News has been shut down with its management team seemingly blaming the LGB Alliance and trans people for its downfall.
The so-called Lesbian and Gay News was set up in February 2021 by Boyz magazine owner David Bridle after he was widely condemned for his support of LGB Alliance, widely considered to be an anti-trans pressure group.
The website’s “about” page says it was set up to “reflect the lives, politics and culture of same-sex attraction and to report major debates around sex and gender”. In its one year in operation, Lesbian and Gay News focused almost entirely on trans rights.
In a post published on Sunday (27 March), the website’s management team confirmed that it is no longer in operation.
The team said it is proud of its “important and signifiant contribution to the GC [gender critical] movement at a critical point”, but went on to say “cancel-culture activism” from “gender ideology hate groups and activists” had stopped it from getting advertising revenue.
The lengthy article went on to reflect on the founding of Lesbian and Gay News, saying the website was set up after Bridle was subjected to what it called “a campaign of hate, vilification and cancellation”.
The team said they wanted to provide “an important publication for the LGB gender-critical movement” and that they were “optimistic” they would receive the right amount of community support for the website to thrive in the long run.
However, the website’s management team said it had not received the support it anticipated – in particular, it named the LGB Alliance, saying Lesbian and Gay News needed its “full and proactive support” if it was to survive.
“LGN was the country’s only GC LGB publication; and LGB Alliance was the country’s only national GC LGB organisation,” the team wrote.
“The constituency of GC LGB activists is still small, and there was no way we were going to be able to flourish unless LGB Alliance kept us in the loop, continued to actively promote us, and regularly provide us with information and material to publish in relation to their activities and planned activities.
“As time progressed, it became clear that we were overwhelmingly being kept at arm’s length – notwithstanding some tokenistic gestures that fell far short of what we needed.”
Closing out the post, Lesbian and Gay News‘ management team said: “It is simply not possible for us to carry on at the moment, as much as we would have liked to do so.”
PinkNews has contacted David Bridle and LGB Alliance for comment.
Lesbian and Gay News was set up after Boyz magazine lost its support base
Lesbian and Gay News was set up in February 2021 after a tumultuous few months for Bridle, the owner of Boyz magazine, a monthly magazine aimed at a gay male audience.
In November 2020, Bridle’s magazine promoted a webinar hosted by LGB Alliance, an organisation that has been described as “transphobic” and as “trans-exclusionary” by MPs, activists and scholars. LGB Alliance denies it is transphobic.
Bridle later issued a grovelling apology in which he acknowledged that “readers, venues and advertisers” had been “deeply upset” by his support for LGB Alliance. Just weeks later, he hit out at a HIV charity for withdrawing an advertisement in his magazine, claiming he was being “punished” for “debating” trans issues.
Boyz magazine. (Facebook/Boyz)
He went on to claim that LGB Alliance “believes in biological sex rather than gender-based public policy” and urged LGBT+ people to listen to the organisation.
As part of his efforts to atone, Bridle briefly appointed trans woman Rebecca Fallon de Havilland as Boyz magazine’s trans affairs editor. In February 2021, she resigned, saying she was “absolutely horrified” by Bridle’s defence of LGB Alliance.
Shortly afterwards, Bridle set up Lesbian and Gay News. Over the course of the last year, the website has largely focused on “gender critical” talking points, with a selection of writers and commentators arguing against the inclusion of trans people within the LGBT+ community.
In its one year of operation, Lesbian and Gay News has enjoyed popularity among “gender critical” Twitter users, but it has apparently failed to connect with a wider LGBT+ audience.
