Out into the world.

As often as I can. I drive to the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts from my home n Manhattan. I always stay at the same inn on a farm near Williamstown. On a Bay too rainy to go to the the top of Mount Greylock, the state's highest point, I went instead to the Chapin Library at Williams College to see an original copy of the Declaration of Independence (something about that opener, "When in the course of human events." made me want to see it firsthand). While I was reading the document, a student worker approached and invited me to see something he said was off-limits to mere tourists like myself. He led me to a room situated between two floors--entered from a stairwell landing--that housed rare, signed first-edition books. All of my favorite writers were there, in one place--Truman Capote, Elizabeth Bishop, Willa Cather, Theodore Roethke. For hours, we toured the shelves together, pulling out favorite books and reading passages aloud. There was no need to state the obvious: that we were both gay. Rather, we were glad to have found each other's company and to share a common interest. It was the simplest--and tamest--of meetings. But it was a defining travel moment because I was able to spend time with someone who had similar sensibilities. That mattered.

When traveling, most of us seek out gay-friendly experiences and places--oftentimes, that means simply being able to see and meet other gay people when we're away from home. No matter how adventurous we are as travelers, we covet destinations where we can be uninhibited, free to experience the people, sites, moods that define those places. The Out Traveler takes readers there.

Do gay travelers have different expectations of a destination than straight people do? Do we travel differently? Are our choices limited? Not really. Like everyone, we want our vacations to be memorable, but we do have variables to contend with that straight travelers do not: Will the proprietor of the inn welcome our request to share a bed? Are the locals going to "find us out"? Is there any place for us to go after dinner other than the hotel vending machine?

Our magazine tells readers where to find fellow gay travelers and local residents. We reveal cities and events through the eyes of experienced gay writers. We introduce notable gay people who are on the road constantly. We trace routes taken by famous gay people and immerse you in the gay history of an iconic site. Everything in these pages speaks to the gay and lesbian reader. In our Straight Looking column, we even do so through the unflinchingly honest perspective of a straight man who provides some cultural insight that reveals a lot about who we think we are. In The Out Traveler, no one gets excluded.

So off--and out--we go into a world that s not getting smaller but rather bigger and more inclusive all the time.