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People Magazine Makes Gay People Ordinary

 

Articles like those about newly out lesbian WNBA superstar Sheryl Swoopes, openly gay actor Tab Hunter, gay marriage, real-life gay cowboys, and transgender teens have been part of the regular landscape for People Magazine for decades. So how did one of America’s most popular mainstream magazines also become one of the most gay-friendly?

AfterEllen.com recently spoke to Managing Editor of People magazine Larry Hackett about queer representation in the magazine.

AfterEllen.com: One of the great things about People is that a big deal isn’t made out of its being inclusive. It’s just part of the story of people in the entertainment industry, and of real people. It’s just very matter-of-factly reported.

LH: Well, I think that’s the way to do it. At least that’s the way to do it at this date and time. We did a gay cowboy story (“Out on the Range,” Vol. 65, #4, January 30, 2006 ) which is probably the most overt mentioning of sexuality that we’ve had in a long time. But, as you say, the other [stories] seem to be very matter of fact.

AE: What was the response to that story?

LH: The response was great. We did another story around Valentine’s Day. It was about couples – “When Lightening Strikes” – people who met and were totally swept off their feet. And we got a couple of letters from people who resented equat[ing] a gay couple to a heterosexual couple. But very few.

I think the readers tend to be rather sophisticated, which is not what people think the magazine is. Because the readers can be judgmental about a lot of things. I don’t know if you saw the latest issue, but in it 80% of our respondents side with Nick Lachey and they think Jessica Simpson’s crazy – for those who care about that kind of thing. So they’re not reluctant to make judgments about people like that. But in terms of sexuality, it’s just not an issue that we find polarizes the readership or forces us to take any kind of journalistic stand that we wouldn’t normally take.

AE: And it looks like that has been the case for many years. The magazine was founded in 1974, and by 1976 you ran a story about a gay couple in the Couples section. I know that you’ve been there since 1998, but do you have any sense of how this sentiment of including gay and lesbian people started?

LH: It was forged in the middle of the 1970’s. And at that time, if you look at old issues which I have done, there are lots of stories about the Women’s Movement, lots of stories about the sexual and social politics taking place on the home front and what was taking place in American life. Because that’s what really what the magazine is about. It’s taking issues and channeling and filtering them through individual lives. So the magazine had a lot of that sort of stuff in it. And clearly the [gay community] was struggling for recognition.

AE: When you compare what People was doing back in the 70’s to the other magazines that might have been perceived as its competitors, was there more gay content?

LH : I can’t speak to the 70’s so much, but I think the fact of it ? and again I appreciate the credit you give us for the coverage of gay issues differentiates us from the magazines we compete against now. They cover celebrity in a different kind of way, and those sorts of issues are just not the kinds of things that they discuss. Then of course there are the tabloids, which still treat it in this lurid, almost criminal sort of way.

AE: People has never outed anyone.

LH: Oh, no.

AE: It looks like the magazine has always been a platform for people to talk about themselves, a place where they could choose to reveal something about themselves in a personal way.

LH: Exactly, where they chose to define themselves, at least in those kinds of terms. One of the things in this weird celebrity world where things are getting very competitive, there’s this chase to find out who’s pregnant. I’ve come to the decision that short of the woman telling us she’s pregnant I’m not going to spend a lot of time chasing these things down. Because the fact of the matter is that even for celebrities, there are certain things in your life that you get to pick, that you get to tell people. And that’s one of them.

AE: And you have a circulation of 40 million readers.

LH: Well we have a paid circulation of 4 million readers, and we have what’s called a pass along of 10 per issue, which means that 40 million people see the magazine every week. Which is more than American Idol!

AE: So when you think about the tone that People has set in regards to covering gay issues, and then you consider the millions of people reading it, what impact do you think the magazine might have had on mainstream culture and its acceptance of gay and lesbian people over the last 30 years?

LH: Well, I’d like to think it has had some [impact]. I’d like to think that the context in which we put people’s sexuality ? the matter-of-fact quality that it reflects ? I think it more reflects what people think more than dictates to them.

AE: Do you think People educates?

LH: I think in a subtle sort of way it does. I don’t think it lectures, but I think the way we cover things ? yeah, I think it does help illuminate the various experiences of American life.

And that clearly ties in to when homosexual couples have this happen to them or that happen to them, and other people can relate to them. You know, the most effective journalism or art shows us how we’re the same, not how we’re different. And that, I think, is one of the things that makes the magazine so compelling.

AE: It does. And the manner in which these stories are reported is very humanizing. I was thinking about the recent Brokeback story you ran, about the real-life gay cowboys. It’s like the argument about why it’s important for individual gay and lesbian people to come out to the other people who are in their lives. Because it puts a human face on an issue or controversial topic and makes it personal. I think that People‘s human interest stories do quite the same thing.

LH: Well they do. This is a brand known by 98% of all Americans. And it’s a trusted one. So, yes, I’m aware that when we write about things, it comes with an enormous amount of trust and that helps some readers reach a certain level of understanding. That is what we are.

AE: I noticed that People is really willing to cover gay and lesbian themed-entertainment in a very matter-of-fact way ? much like how individuals are covered. Like a review of Season 2 of The L Word, or a discussion of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as simply a good television show.

LH: I must tell you, and I know it probably sounds crazy, but it’s not like we talk about it a lot. It’s like, this is a show that’s out there, it’s really good. The fourth or fifth element of that conversation may be that it has gay themes.

We’ve had debates here about Brokeback, are people going to see it or are they not. But it’s not ? I don’t want to say it’s “unconscious,” because everything one does in a magazine is decided. But it’s not as if we’re sitting there with beakers and tubes and coming up with a formula of how much to do. It’s really more organic than that.

AE: That’s pretty impressive because I don’t know if people would think of the magazine that way.

LH: Well if you could help spread the word that would be great! (laughs)

AE: In the years you’ve been there, since 1998, the political climate has changed. A lot. There have been increased attacks on civil liberties for gay and lesbian people. Have you seen any sort of backlash with your readership in that time, maybe a change in the letters you receive?

LH: I haven’t. And I read them every Friday when we get them. I was looking at last week’s letters and we did get that one about gay marriage, but no, not really. Because of the nature of the magazine, our readers are a curious, hungry, engaged group of people.

These issues are solved by you getting to know who your neighbor is. I wish that damn show had aired ? what was that show again? The one they pulled off? About the people in the cul de sac, it was going to be a mixed race couple and a gay couple. I know that it was probably provocative for provocations sake, but on the other hand, I thought, the end of this might come out well. [Editor’s note: the show was ABC’s Welcome to the Neighborhood.]

AE: Any particular articles or topics that have been meaningful for gay readers that you’ve gotten a lot of kudos for addressing?

LH: I think our coverage during the Matthew Shepard time.

AE: I know that GLAAD has been a big supporter of People magazine.

LH: Yes, always.

AE: On the flip side of that, have you ever been aware of any organizations trying to boycott or target People magazine because it’s been friendly to gay people?

LH: I haven’t, and if there have been I guess it wasn’t very effective. I haven’t seen any organization or pressure group say, “Don’t buy this” because of that. I would remember it if we did because I would want to engage those folks and ask “Why do you think that?”

But again, we take it as business as usual.

AE: Well that’s actually more exciting to hear.

LH : I hope so.

AE: You’ve been working in your new capacity as Managing Editor since January 2006. What are you long or short-term goals in relation to this type of coverage.

LH: To make it an ordinary type of American life. The goal is to make the magazine as vital and compelling as it can be. [To] show how we live now and to tell compelling narrative stories that are well-written about how Americans live their lives and about what somebody goes through can be shared or learned from by somebody else.

I think that’s very thrilling. And if gay and lesbians are taking part in those stories then you know they’re going to be in this magazine. That’s who we are and that’s what we need to reflect in this country.

AE: Thanks for your time, Larry.

LH: Thank you for all of your support.

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