GAYLETTER

lstw, or “Lez Spread the Word,” a Montréal-based initiative of about 20 queer women, began printing their magazine in the fall of 2016. Committed to fighting queer visibility, they began as a website exploring Canada’s various lesbian communities and have since launched a film series, a bi-monthly party and are onto their third print issue (Issue #3) with Lena Waithe donning the cover. (Past cover-women include the Canadian pop-rock queer-twins Tegan & Sara and the former Gaultier muse and DJ/model Ève Savail).

Creating a magazine is no easy feat. In digitized culture, the print medium has lost market value and readership across international borders. Yet the necessity for the medium remains. Not every corner of our world has access to the internet, you know. And there is no better way to spread culture, especially queer culture, than passing along finite, printed matter.

To help celebrate the launch of Issue #3, we sent Florence Gagnon – founder and publisher of lstw – a few questions to learn more about the publication’s creative process, the initiatives’ goals and what doing print means in 2018.

How did you come up with the name of the magazine? In 2012, when I was first contemplating launching a website, I knew I wanted to bring lesbians together and I knew I wanted to increase our visibility. My goal was to create the resource that had been missing when my friends and I were first coming out. “Spreading the word” was the departure point and “Lez Spread the Word” the obvious next step. …