This week, we mourn the sudden and shocking loss of Troy Masters.
Masters was a trailblazing champion of LGBTQ journalism who demanded that LGBTQ voices had a seat at the table. He was and will always be a pioneer in queer media, informing the space as we know it today.
With a career spanning over 40 years, starting at QW Magazine, the first glossy magazine for gays and lesbians, then to LGNY , Masters founded Gay City News in New York in 2022, before moving west to fulfill what he called, his “sole purpose, of creating a voice for Los Angeles,” becoming the founding publisher of the Los Angeles Blade in 2017.
Troy Masters is survived by his mother, Josie Kirkland, and his sister, Tammy Masters.
He was 63.
“Troy advanced the power and impact of LGBTQ media in historic ways,” GLAAD Chief Communications Officer, Rich Ferraro, said in a statement.
“He was a relentless, passionate, and beloved leader in our community who helped create groundbreaking stories and news coverage that will continue to better our community for years to come. We mourn with his colleagues, family, and friends.”
In a statement released on Thursday, Blade management team said:
“All of us at the Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade are heartbroken by the loss of our colleague. Troy Masters is a pioneer who championed LGBTQ rights as well as best-in-class journalism for our community. We will miss his passion and his tireless dedication to the Los Angeles queer community. We would like to thank the readers, advertisers, and supporters of the Los Angeles Blade, which will continue under the leadership of our local editor Gisselle Palomera, the entire Blade family in D.C. and L.A., and eventually under a new publisher.”
The Masters family also released a statement, saying:
“We are shocked and devastated by the loss of Troy. He was a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ community and leaves a tremendous legacy of fighting for social justice and equality. We ask for your prayers and for privacy as we mourn this unthinkable loss. We will announce details of a celebration of life in the near future.”
View this post on Instagram
In 2017, Troy Masters partnered with Washington Blade’s owners and to launch the Los Angeles Blade, which prides itself on being Southern California’s LGBTQ news source, covering news, politics, opinion, arts and entertainment, including some national and international coverage from the D.C. Blade’s award-winning reporting team.
Masters has remained founder and publisher of the Los Angeles Blade’s since its founding in 2017.
Together, representing over 50 years of queer journalism, both the Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade’s relentless reporting reflects best-in-class reporting, reminding us all that LGBTQ issues and people have a stake in every news story and every headline.
Masters believed in this mission wholeheartedly and made it his purpose.
GLAAD’s Barbara Gittings Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Media honors a pioneering individual, group, or community media outlet that has made a significant contribution to the development of LGBTQ media. The award is named after Barbara Gittings in recognition of her groundbreaking work as editor of The Ladder, and for her appearances as an out lesbian on national news media throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Accepting the award, Masters told GLAAD: “It’s a perilous time. And it is perilous in a way that is new to a lot of really young people. That’s where having experienced hands, reporting from a journalistic perspective about things that are happening in the community is so important.”
READ MORE: TROY MASTERS ACCEPTS GLAAD’S BARBARA GITTINGS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN LGBTQ MEDIA
Last year, Masters wrote an editor’s letter about the ban on drag performances that has since become law in Tennessee, his home state, citing the blowback against Cracker Barrell when it tried to block the hiring of LGBTQ employees.
“Is it activist to report on the model of what could be done to tackle the ban?,” Masters asked.
“Or are we here just to report on the fact that the ban against drag could go nationwide, could actually affect a lot of people? We know it’s unconstitutional, but we don’t know that the Supreme Court would uphold that as an unconstitutional thing. So, what can we do in advance?”
He added, “We can look back at other actions that have happened and see if it works in this instance. Tennessee is home to some of the largest corporations in America. It’s got the fastest growing economy in the nation at the moment. And if they’re going to threaten us, we should figure out what the rebuttal is. I don’t consider that activist.”
“My papers have navigated the AIDS crisis, the early LGBT civil rights movement, the movement for gay marriage, trans and LGBT expansion and inclusion of larger communities and diversity and now this assault,” Masters told GLAAD at the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards in 2022, speaking to the wave of anti-LGBTQ bills and legislation sweeping through the U.S. at the time, which continue today.
“This is not the first time at the rodeo for the community. We know what we need to do. But sometimes it takes a newspaper to remind people of who they are and what we have to do.”