We interview Fusion Magazine and The Michigan Gayly.

Running a student-run queer paper in rural Ohio isn’t a setback for Fusion Magazine editor-in-chief Alex Miller; instead, he sees those circumstances as a call to action.

“As students, we're not afraid to go towards hard-hitting topics and news; we keep it very real and authentic since it's not corporate at all,” Miller said. “We don’t see a lot of queer people out and about all the time, so we're really making sure that we're represented and that our voices are being heard.”

Fusion Magazine, founded at Kent State University in 2003, is one of a handful of LGBTQ-focused college papers nationwide. Others include The Michigan Gayly, which was started in 2019 at the University of Michigan, and OutFAU, created by Florida Atlantic University senior Mary Rasura last year.

Rasura created OutFAU, which publishes online and in print once a month, in protest of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ growing anti-LGBTQ legislative attacks in Florida.

“We’re like a little flower growing out of cement,” Rasura said. “No matter what you want to do legislatively, we're here, and we have our First Amendment rights.”

Rasura’s sentiment of harboring a safe space for the queer community through journalism resonates with Jackie Moreno, editor-in-chief of the Michigan Gayly.

Moreno, the second editor-in-chief of the newly-created paper, said having a space where underrepresented voices are championed opens the door to creativity and visibility.

“Especially with more mainstream newspapers, there are hundreds of different topics, and it has to be said in a very specific voice,” Moreno said. But [with our paper], it can be very personal, and it can be whatever you want to make it.”

This personability embedded in the paper shone through in a piece Moreno said she is most proud of, called “Pride and Prozac.” It’s about Moreno’s journey, navigating being depressed as a queer person and going through the experience of a first breakup.

She said the piece helped her affirm her bisexual identity amid the presence of biphobia in the LGBTQ community.

“Writing that piece was very encouraging for me,” she said. “It just helped me feel a lot better about my own identity, about my sense of self. It kind of pulled me out of that dark place.”

Moreno’s experiences with biphobia mentioned in the piece echoed a real-life concern she had when assuming the role of editor-in-chief almost two years ago.

“I was really worried that people wouldn't want me to be in that role just because ‘I wasn't queer enough,’” she said. “The thing I love about the Gayly is that it's like an open dialogue, and everyone's been very supportive and [affirming that] ‘You are queer, you don't have to prove anything to anybody.’”

The Michigan Gayly is comprised of multiple sections, including features, current events, opinions, and creatives, which Moreno said many use to publish poetry.

Miller said writing about issues that affect the queer community every day fills in the gaps of mainstream media coverage.

“I think it's really special that we get to tell our own stories,” he said. “We don't really see this representation in most media. So I think we have a really unique voice being students, sharing our lived experiences and just being able to show people that we exist.”

Fusion Magazine runs one to two print issues each year and publishes multiple sections online, including news, entertainment, opinions, and interviews for and about the LGBTQ community. Being a magazine focused on queer topics comes with balancing stories of pride with hard-to-digest topics.

Though the magazine has faced struggles juggling these topics, Miller said it’s necessary to strike that balance and focus on what readers and staff will connect with.

Writing such open and personable pieces also leads to a fair amount of online negativity, Moreno said. Many people will leave hateful comments under online pieces like the ones where the writer discusses their trans identity. Although it’s “very easy for us to delete them,” as Moreno put it, she said it still puts down the staff every now and then.

In order to keep the staff motivated, Moreno said in-person events and writing sessions help boost morale because it provides an opportunity for everyone to connect and understand they aren’t alone.

She also said everyone on campus has expressed kindness and appreciation for the paper in person. Many people come up to her at events and school festivals who aren’t queer to ask how they can sign up for reminders when stories are published.

Before Moreno graduates next spring, the legacy she hopes to leave behind for future writers is simple: acceptance and connection.

“[My] main concern is maintaining a safe queer community that all knows each other and is able to communicate and hang out,” she said. “While we are a newspaper, we really do focus on building a community first and then producing something second.”

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