Lavender (magazine)


Lavender is a biweekly award-winning print and online magazine, part of Lavender Media, published in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community. Each issue highlights current trends and happenings in cuisine, nightlife, news, travel, and style. It is distributed free of charge in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul and in some other cities throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

History

Founded in 1995 by George Holdgrafer and Stephen Rocheford, Lavender's mission is "to appeal to the greatest number of Minnesota GLBT readers, and direct them to advertisers." Lavender published its 500th issue in June 2014.
In 2010, Lavender drew attention to Lutheran pastor Rev. Tom Brock who was privately homosexual as well as being critical of homosexuals joining the Lutheran clergy. Although Brock was put on leave, he was not fired from his position.
In 2017, Stephen Rocheford, CEO of Lavender, publicly voiced criticism of the exclusion of police officers from the 2017 Twin cities pride festival parade.

Controversies

In 2016 after the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, Lavender editors wrote an article accused of anti-Muslim bias. The opposition to the articles organized a Change.org petition aimed at Stephen Rocheford for singling out Islam as a source of violence.

Awards

In 2016, Lavender was named Magazine of the Year by the Minnesota Magazine & Publishing Association. It has also received more than 90 MMPA awards in the categories of overall excellence, best digital media, best internet site, best director, best single cover, best feature article, best regular column, best single topic, best how-to article, best use of visuals, best redesign, best media kit, and best editor's or publisher's editorial.