Rewiring the news.

This year The Advocate began its 30th year of reporting gay and lesbian news. A trailblazer since its humble beginnings as a clandestine mimeographed newsletter two years before the Stonewall riots, the magazine quickly filled a niche as the nation's most widely respected source of gay and lesbian news and opinion. The Advocate has always been the leading source of in-depth analysis and original investigative reporting--the kind of forward-thinking news organization our discriminating readers demand. And now, beginning with this issue, in order to add new vibrancy to the way we do this, we're pleased to debut a striking redesign that reaches beyond conventional limitations to give readers a highly sop newsmagazine that is uniquely gay and lesbian.

After all, we're more than a newsmagazine, we're the gay and lesbian newsmagazine--and there is power in the fact that we're different. We're confident that our new design presents the contents and analysis of the news in a comprehensive and unexpectedly entertaining way, a way that reflects the creative and provocative vision of gay and lesbian culture.

The Advocate's top-to-bottom redesign begins with its cover, which showcases a fresh and authoritative new logo. Some of the familiar sections have been overhauled and rearranged. The Advocate Report, which will contain opinion columns, key news summaries, and health, and money features, replaces the Agenda section. The arts and media section has been expanded and integrated into the news section Since gay arts and media stories can be significant political and social events, the new design does not draw conventional lines between news and entertainment. The most visible example of this philosophy is that The Buzz--where we report the inside scoop on the spiciest gay entertainment news--has been moved to the front of the magazine.

Rethinking how we present the news in our digital age would be incomplete without including the Internet, since it gives us a unique opportunity to enhance our coverage and connect the magazine to our readers in another dynamic way. So along with the magazine's new design, we're debuting our revamped Web site at www.advocate.com. There you'll find daily news updates, reader forums; The Advocate Poll, which measures gay and lesbian opinions; and a free real-time chat room to connect people in the community.

And as a way of providing enhanced digital information, we've added a new feature, the Internet Link. Whenever an Internet Link symbol appears in the magazine, we've provided a place on our Web site where you can get more information on a specific subject or see how The Advocate has covered the issue in the past. We've also provided links to important community resources and organizations.

Not only will our bold, new graphic design and interactive Web site make reading The Advocate more engaging, it's another way for us to prioritize the news. The new design clearly reflects strong, concise points of view and ultimately, if we're doing our job, will challenge you, the reader, to reach your own.