Giving Compass' Take:

• Heather Dockray at Mashable interviews Mark Segal, founder of one of the earliest LGBTQ weekly papers, on the growth and direction of LGBTQ media. 

• Segal says that he wants to see LGBTQ journalism become more local with original stories. How can donors support LGBTQ media? 

• Read about moving the needle on opinions of LGBTQ rights. 

Before there was national LGBTQ media, there was Mark Segal.

Segal founded the Philadelphia Gay News — believed to be one of the earliest of its kind, an LGBTQ weekly paper — in 1976, long before most people even knew any out gay people, let alone cared about LGBTQ media. The Stonewall riots, which launched the gay rights movement, had happened just six years prior. Segal created the publication with the hopes of improving communication both within the LGBTQ community and outside of it.

Segal founded both the National Gay Press Association and the National Gay Newspaper Guild, which serve LGBTQ journalists and LGBTQ newspapers, and has been inducted into the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist's Association Hall of Fame.

Mashable caught up with the media pioneer to talk about his record of achievement and his faith in the future.

Mashable: What issues concern you most as an LGBTQ activist? How has the political climate impacted LGBTQ activism?

MS: Andy Warhol said that everybody would be famous for 15 minutes. Social media has made that 15 tweets, or likes. With the Trump administration trying to roll back any gains our community has made, especially with trans issues, it’s time to not simply shout. We need to act.

And like we did at Stonewall and what ACT UP did for AIDS [Editor's note: ACT UP was an organization formed in response to the AIDS crisis that put pressure on the medical community and government to respond], we need to do again. We need to become creative with our response to bigots, bullies, and blowhards. We should be united with other communities. This battle is not just about  LGBT people, it’s about race, it’s about women’s rights, immigration rights. Social justice is not limited to one cause.

Read the full article about LGBTQ media by Heather Dockray at Mashable.