dear advocate

i just received my november 20, 2007, issue of the advocate. boy, am i disappointed in you guys.

some suggestions. just one actually: go back to gay.

it's time for post-post-gay, the sort of gay that isn't just faux-bourgeois-straight. i, too, believe in expanding horizons + crossing boundaries, but you're no vanity fair. in fact, you're no t.v. guide even.

details is beginning to publish more hard-edge glbt stories than the advocate + out.

do i see ebony + jet running cover stories like 'our 2007 list of the coolest caucasians'? do i see christianity today running cover stories like 'our 2007 list of righteous hindus''? sure, cate blanchett + arianna huffington are pretty neat, but what's gay about them? + do we really need you to tell us who the 'coolest straight people' are?

anywhere else i can get movie reviews of 'american gangster' +'no country for old men'--is that latter one about gay clubs, by the way?

+ enough with zac efron already. i like shirley maclaine, joni mitchell, jennifer jason leigh, + dana delaney as much as the next man does, possibly more, but do they really need the advocate to shill for them?

+, yes, i'm defined by a lot more than my sexuality + i agree with those people who say it's a mistake to ghettoize ourselves, but i subscribe to the advocate to get gay news, culture, politics, + even gossip + humor. i subscribe to general interest magazines, too--so i don't need the nation to start covering men's fashion. you see what i mean?

while i'm on the subject. if you're going to interview straight people, all the time it seems, stop asking them whom they might 'go gay' for or what they really admire about their gay friends. stop asking straight actors 'what they learned about themselves' while playing gay characters. it's embarassing + pathetic ... like offering backrubs to jr. varsity jocks.

if you are really curious about glbt matters, ask some glbt people.

look at some back issues of the u.k.'s gay times + france's tetu. get in touch again with your homosexual roots. please.

p.s. lose the 'big gay following' feature. the last thing we need is to persuade straight b-list celebrities that our one aim in life is to blow smoke up their asses on a regular basis.