Living Out Loud with Darian

CLIK Magazine, America's #1 magazine for gay men of color for the past ten years will bid farewell in its next issue. Editor-in-chief Dwight Powell released an official statement on CLIK's website yesterday with the news.

"Publishing this magazine has been a dream come true; to honor, recognize, uplift and highlight the Black Gay Experience in America. This magazine came OUT around a time when Black Gay men were ashamed, in hiding, and greatly underrepresented. After ten years, all of that has changed. Changed in part to the diligence, tenacity, and the drive of our magazine as we aspired to be the best, command respect, and garner appreciation from the audience we serves and beyond. Today our community is vibrant, out, and proud.

As with everything, all good things must eventually come to an end. Yes, Clik Magazine has reached the end of the road that it’s been traveling since May of 1998. I am elated to say that our job here is done. We’ve inspired, motivated, informed, educated, and entertained, which from day one, have been my objectives. To that end, I’ve succeeded."-Dwight Powell

While CLIK Magazine as we once knew it will no longer be a reality, the magazine will return in digital format online over the summer, so hopefully this will soften the blow for CLIK readers.

Although I understand and respect Dwight's decision I have to admit the news is bittersweet for me. I'm sure you're all aware that I'm apart of the CLIK family so this also feels like the end of an era for me as well.

I owe a great deal to Dwight Powell. He was the first person to acknowledge that I had a talent for writing, a talent that I wasn't even really aware of at the time. When I set out to start my blog I had no idea how far reaching it was going to be and how many doors would open up for me as a result of my work. Dwight took a chance on a writer who had never been published and gave me an outlet to further live out my purpose and for that I will be forever grateful.

Over the past couple of years that I've been apart of CLIK I've interviewed or met people that have had such a profound impact on my life. If someone had told me years ago that I would be in the same room or on the other end of the phone with E. Lynn Harris, Keith Boykin, Billy Porter, Maurice Jamal, Carlton Wilborn, Jonathan Plummer, or Kevin Aviance I wouldn't have believed them.

CLIK has been such a wonderful gift to my life as well as the lives of so many black gay men, who were able to pick up a magazine that reflected a part of their world that was often shunned by the mainstream press.

Many thanks to Dwight Powell for having the courage and determination to create a magazine that uplifts, empowers, and entertains. Ten years is simply not long enough.

Preview the final issue by clicking here.