Carol: I would say PGN is my home away from home. As a straight Italian woman raised in South Philly by two very strict Italian-Sicilian parents, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be working in the LGBT community. I have learned so much working at PGN. First of all, I’ve embraced the community and consider myself part of an extended family. I can’t imagine working anywhere else and enjoying what I do. The staff is exceptional. We’re a close-knit family here at PGN and I love them all. Thank you for having me as part of your family.
Don: PGN has been family for me for 40 years. It’s the reason I get up in the morning and come in, day after day. I’ve seen good and bad family over the years, but the one we have now is the best.
Greg: In life, there are places and experiences that you can never quite describe to people who haven’t experienced them first-hand; working at PGN qualifies as one of those. For me, it will always be a place that accepted and embraced me from my first day here, allowed me to do meaningful work with people that I care about and provided a lot of laughs along the way.
Jaleesa: PGN is home. Being pretty new to Philadelphia, PGN was the first thing I saw that made me feel safe, connected and comfortable. I’ve never seen an LGBT publication so readily available to the public and easy to find. Not knowing a single person, I turned to PGN to help me figure out my way around town and also to get to know what was happening. Working here has really become my home away from home.
Jen: PGN started out as a job, my first straight out of college, and has become a driving force in my life. Apart from spending 40 hours a week within its four walls, PGN gave me a crash course in LGBT politics, LGBT history and the power of the LGBT community. It showed me my strengths and weaknesses as a writer and editor. And most importantly, it gave me my own community of coworkers who have become more like family — by far the weirdest and wackiest I could have ever imagined, but also the most driven and devoted.
Larry: What PGN means to me is that there is still a place in the ever-changing digital world for an actual newspaper where people can take the time and the energy to tell as complete a story as possible and relay information to communities that often aren’t given the proper focus by the majority of physical and online publications.
Mark: PGN is a family of hardworking, dedicated individuals who understand our mission of giving a voice to all members of the LGBT community. We work together every week to put out a paper that tells the stories that need to be heard, and we do that with a commitment to professional journalism.
Paige: I joined PGN in the fall, when preparations for its 40th anniversary were already a well-established part of the conversation. One of my assignments for the milestone issue was to chronicle the paper’s coverage through the decades. Having the excuse to comb through the archives, starting in 1976, was the perfect primer for me in moving from a legacy publication to “advocacy journalism,” as our publisher Mark Segal calls the paper in his memoir. It has really impacted me as a journalist to cover a dynamic community in Philadelphia.
Prab: The Philadelphia Gay News has enabled me to get a deeper understanding of our LGBT history and community. I’m joyful of the milestones we have accomplished, and I’m very proud to call myself a member of our PGN family. Here’s wishing continued success for the next 40 years and beyond!
Sandy: PGN … Taught me about not just Philly’s dynamic LGBT community, but the world’s LGBT community. Taught me that patience, persistence and perseverance — and a generous helping of good humor — are the traits of a true activist. Reaffirmed for me that the fight is very far from over, for this population and all marginalized populations. Reaffirmed for me that straight allies are valued voices in the community. Introduced me to the real movers and shakers of this town — because when they talk, the powers-that-be really do listen. Introduced me to a new group of hard workers, creative souls, witty watchdogs, good friends … Regular folks who often face irregular circumstances. Made me realize that, although I’m only here one day a week, I’ve been part of the family for exactly one-fourth of its existence. Happy birthday, PGN!
Scott: Working at PGN gives me an extraordinary amount of community involvement and recognition that I never planned on or expected. Kay Lahusen asked me once for a print of a Prop. 8 protest photo and, while that was pretty humbling, also memorable was when Gloria Casarez called me the “chronicler of LGBT Philadelphia.” What I do is a huge part of who I am and there is no greater gift than getting to do what you love as your work. I feel that through PGN and the help of 10,000 of my closest friends in the community, I am creating a scrapbook, a tapestry, of our collective lives. I hope that some day all of these moments recorded in the pages of PGN will be looked at in the William Way archives and serve as a time capsule of the early 21st century and who we all were. Through PGN, all of us are a little immortalized — and that’s really cool.
Sean: PGN means always shining a light on issues that would otherwise go ignored and a consistent commitment to fair and even-handed coverage.
Tim: For 40 years, PGN has been the newspaper of record for the Philadelphia-area LGBT community. It’s been an important source of news that otherwise wouldn’t be available. On a personal level, it’s offered an opportunity for self-expression that’s been very rewarding. For that, I’ll be forever grateful.