We are honored to have reached a milestone together—25 years as part of Florida’s gay community. As with people who have personal milestones, Hotspots Magazine and the gay community has come of age, too. Together we’ve grown as a community and experienced changes we one day would have never believed possible. A multitude of gay musicians, actors, athletes and politicians have come out to live their lives as openly gay – Ricky Martin, Ellen DeGeneres, Barney Frank, George Michael, Neil Patrick Harris, Rosie O’Donnell and Chris Colfer, just to name a few. At this point in our history there are now more laws at local, state and federal levels protecting our rights than there have ever been before. Many of us even live publicly within legally recognized marriages and civil partnerships and soon we may be able to serve in defense of our country without having to hide who we are. We really have come a long way, baby.
We are honored to have reached a milestone together—25 years as part of Florida’s gay community. As with people who have personal milestones, Hotspots Magazine and the gay community has come of age, too. Together we’ve grown as a community and experienced changes we one day would have never believed possible. A multitude of gay musicians, actors, athletes and politicians have come out to live their lives as openly gay – Ricky Martin, Ellen DeGeneres, Barney Frank, George Michael, Neil Patrick Harris, Rosie O’Donnell and Chris Colfer, just to name a few. At this point in our history there are now more laws at local, state and federal levels protecting our rights than there have ever been before. Many of us even live publicly within legally recognized marriages and civil partnerships and soon we may be able to serve in defense of our country without having to hide who we are. We really have come a long way, baby.
The last few years have been particularly challenging for all of us, with many longstanding names in print media fading into history (the words “print is dead” have been whispered by more than a few). We are proud to have endured; in fact, we’ve grown to record levels statewide and attribute it to two things: innovation and commitment.
The evolution of the internet has changed all of our lives. We embraced the internet by introducing the first virtual magazine of its kind with turn-page simulation to reach more eyes than ever before and we’ve added social networking integration with Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare. You can even chat with other HotspotsMagazine.com users and exchange messages through our web site! We now connect more people and more businesses than we could have reached at any other time in our history and we’re not done yet. We’re happy to announce an upcoming application for iPod, iPad and iPhone.
We know we could not have come this far without you. We have always tried to exceed your expectations and are proud to be the leading voice of our community. We promise to never take your loyalty for granted. Thank you for letting us serve you for more than a quarter of a century!
We’ve reached our 25th anniversary thanks to you–our readers and our advertisers–our community. Who knows what the future will bring? We’ll let you know!
Peter Clark
Owner/ Publisher
