Though it feels so much like one, to us and probably to you, this is not an inaugural issue. Our team has been populating Crazy Mochas, late into the night, for five years of Pride Magazines. The decision to turn our once-yearly labor of love into an every-month project has been a long time coming, and we couldn’t be more proud or honored to serve as a mouthpiece for a community we respect so much.
We could have branded the cover of our new baby, “The People Issue”: There are so many faces in this magazine! That is because there are so many movers and shakers among us right now — pioneers, pushing for equality; leaders, exciting change. We have dedicated ourselves to telling their stories. They inspire us to build a better community because, alongside these titans, we’re certain we can do anything.
The cover of this issue was one of much debate. We wanted it to “say” EQUAL and also to bleed the pride and patriotism we feel about our right to vote. We shot two beautiful couples, men and women, decked out in their own stylish manifestations of red, white, and blue. The tenderness between the two gentlemen on our cover exalts in us the will to keep fighting the good fight: We will love as equals.
We, as a magazine as well as an extension of the Delta Foundation, cannot endorse any candidate. We only hope to unite the community to go out on November 6 and to VOTE. Your voice has never been more important. Writer (and lawyer) Tiff Waskowicz has expressed her opinion in a well-researched article on page 30. We are moved by the points she has made and appreciate, especially, her diligence in creating a chart for us to compare the views of several candidates (wait until you see the symbols she’s chosen).
I leave you with a confession: I don’t exactly subscribe to the title of this new project. While I believe in our efforts to achieve equality in this world, to gain rights entitled to us — in the workplace, on marriage licenses, and even in the minds of others — I may never see us as “Equal.” You are too special to be the same as everyone else. We, together, are too strong to fit in. I promise to fight for you to feel evenly matched and to educate others in seeing you that way, even if only on the pages of this magazine, but in my heart, I’ll always hold you higher. You teach me too much. You are too wonderful. And, for that, I thank you.
With love,
Victoria Bradley-Morris
Editor-in-Chief, Equal Magazine
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