Atlanta community responds to Southern Voice/David shutdown
Monday, November 16th, 2009A sampling of statements from the community today as word spread about 
the shutdown of Southern Voice and David:
“The shuttering of Southern Voice and David magazine saddens me deeply. In the early 1990s, some of my very first bylines in Atlanta ran in SoVo as a freelance reporter for them. I have long admired the newspaper’s commitment to covering the city’s gay and lesbian community.
As a David reader, I became a fan of columnists Topher Payne and Ryan Lee who added gifted young voices and fresh perspective to the city’s gay community as they bravely shared the universal intricacies of their lives.
With mainstream media outlets simultaneously undergoing financial challenges and downsizing in the current economy, the work of Southern Voice and David was more important than ever. It will be much missed.”
—Richard Eldredge, reporter, former writer for the AJC’s Peach Buzz
“The reportings and opinions of Laura, Matt, Dyana, Ryan – and so many others with Southern Voice and David – have meant a tremendous amount to me over the years. I remember the first time I picked up a Southern Voice as a closeted teenager and what it meant for me to know that I wasn’t alone and that I was part of a community that was large enough to sustain a print newspaper! (I worked up a little more courage and picked up David – a rather risqué publication for a Southern Baptist kid from north Georgia – a little later on. I always enjoyed it’s content.) Thanks for over 20 years of service to our community. Our struggle for full equality continues and it’s up to us to find new ways to communicate with our community to report truth, empower identity and inspire action.”
—Kyle Bailey, LGBT activist, former head of National Stonewall Democrats
