This week, as we were preparing to go to press on our glossy edition, the stars aligned and dropped a present in our lap. The hit Bravo show “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” was down the street from our offices helping transform a local man into a slightly more cosmopolitan version of himself.

The show stands as a glowing example of the acceptance and understanding of gay life in America, and reaffirms the idea behind this special edition - that people of all orientations and from all cultures make up this great borough of Queens. We often use these special editions to explore the ethnic diversity that makes this borough strong, but we decided to focus this time on the diversity that makes Queens proud.

Inside these pages you will see a wide spectrum of gay life in Queens - from the teens coming to terms with their own sexuality to seniors looking back at the long road they marched, from gay parents raising children to straight parents raising gay children.

Every day we live and work around gay members of our community. Let’s take a moment here to take a serious look at queer culture in Queens.