YGA (magazine)
Encyclopedia
YGA was a bimonthly magazine
for LGBT
youth launched in December 2004. It was established by Benjie Nycum and Michael Glatze
and published in Halifax, Nova Scotia
, Canada
as Benjie Nycum, YGAs co-founder actually grew up there although he was an American. Benjie and Michael had met while both were working for XY Magazine in San Francisco. The two would end up being boyfriends
for 10 years.
The magazine had the distinction of being a unique publication catering for all queer
and questioning youth, as opposed to the male-only youth-oriented magazine XY
.
The magazine was an offshoot of Young Gay America, a non-profit organization
founded by Benjie Nycum and Michael Glatze in 2001.
The magazine became respected as a resource by high school and public libraries, youth groups, counsellors and parents. Many looked at the launch of YGA as a sign that the queer youth movement was beginning to take shape. The magazine attracted notability and received awards, including the National Role Model Award from Equality Forum, a major gay organization.
One of the two founders, Michael Glatze
, left YGA in 2007, after declaring he was no longer gay
and as a conservative Christian he now believes that homosexuality is a sickness and opposes LGBT rights. The magazine stopped publication soon after.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
for LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
youth launched in December 2004. It was established by Benjie Nycum and Michael Glatze
Michael Glatze
Michael Glatze was co-founder of Young Gay America and a former advocate for gay rights. Glatze received media coverage for publicly announcing he no longer identified as a homosexual and denouncing homosexuality.-Biography:...
and published in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as Benjie Nycum, YGAs co-founder actually grew up there although he was an American. Benjie and Michael had met while both were working for XY Magazine in San Francisco. The two would end up being boyfriends
Boyfriends
Boyfriends is a 1996 British independent film. Three gay couples, all of whom are suffering relationship problems, spend a weekend at the seaside and learn how to deal with their issues from each other. The film was written and directed by Tom Hunsinger and Neil Hunter...
for 10 years.
The magazine had the distinction of being a unique publication catering for all queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
and questioning youth, as opposed to the male-only youth-oriented magazine XY
XY (magazine)
XY was a gay male youth-oriented magazine published in the United States of America from 1996 to 2007. Its name was a reference to the XY chromosome pair found in males. XY magazine ceased publication in 2007, and its web site XY.com went offline in 2009...
.
The magazine was an offshoot of Young Gay America, a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
founded by Benjie Nycum and Michael Glatze in 2001.
The magazine became respected as a resource by high school and public libraries, youth groups, counsellors and parents. Many looked at the launch of YGA as a sign that the queer youth movement was beginning to take shape. The magazine attracted notability and received awards, including the National Role Model Award from Equality Forum, a major gay organization.
One of the two founders, Michael Glatze
Michael Glatze
Michael Glatze was co-founder of Young Gay America and a former advocate for gay rights. Glatze received media coverage for publicly announcing he no longer identified as a homosexual and denouncing homosexuality.-Biography:...
, left YGA in 2007, after declaring he was no longer gay
Ex-gay
The ex-gay movement consists of people and organizations that seek to get people to refrain from entering or pursuing same-sex relationships, to eliminate homosexual desires, to develop heterosexual desires, or to enter into a heterosexual relationship...
and as a conservative Christian he now believes that homosexuality is a sickness and opposes LGBT rights. The magazine stopped publication soon after.