XY is a gay men's magazine which has been published in the United States since 1996. XY started as a gay male youth-oriented magazine and social network. during which most of its staff published as B Magazine.
Background
XY was founded by Peter Ian Cummings in San Francisco in 1996, and moved its operations to San Diego, California in 2001, and West Hollywood, California in 2004. It published roughly four editions a year until 2008; the Fall 2016 is Issue 50, the Wonderland Issue.
From its inception in 1996 through 2007, 49 issues were published. In issue 49 of XY (the winter 2008 issue), founding editor Peter Ian Cummings announced that he would be leaving the magazine for personal reasons; that he and his investors were looking for a new team to take it over.
When an exhaustive search produced no suitable buyers, the magazine remained in limbo until 2010, when Cummings filed for bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy proceedings, Cummings, seeking to protect users' privacy, complained to the Privacy Division of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a Federal Regulatory Agency, who warned the investors; the xy.com profile data and XY mailing addresses were ordered destroyed to protect users' privacy (more below). Sean Bentz, Adam Raphael, Steven Underhill, Christopher Makos, James Patrick Dawson and Peter Ian Cummings.
Website
XY operated the website xy.com, which featured magazine content as well as an online dating service "for young gay men." The publisher notes that XY.Com was the world's largest social network for young gay men "before Facebook and Grindr, with an estimated 500,000 members." XY's new website is at xymag.org.
Reader demographic
When XY launched in 1996, according to the publisher, the average age of its readers was 22. By 2001 this had lowered to 18, a demographic shift largely attributable to an increase in under-18 readers, "because people were coming out at younger ages." The publisher states that the new XY is aimed at "all ages and planets."
Another controversy involved XYs longtime Managing Editor, Michael Glatze, who left the magazine in 2001, co-edited the "XY Survival Guide" in 2003, and in 2007 announced that he no longer identified as a homosexual, and denounced homosexuality. He is now a conservative Christian who opposes gay rights.
In July 2010, the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission denied a request by XYs investors to obtain the customer database for the old XY magazine and profile files on the xy.com web site, which list about 100,000 and 1 million subscribers, respectively. Conforming with Cummings's and his staff's privacy policy of the magazine and site, which stated that they would "never sell its list to anybody", was found to take precedence over the desire of these investors to obtain the data for unspecified use. Many of those customers would still be underage and would not be out to their families yet, thus making their privacy of particular concern. As a result of this FTC warning, the names, addresses, and online profiles were ordered destroyed.
See also
- YGA
- XY: Men, Sex, Politics: a profeminist men's magazine, Australia, 1990-1997