Dear Reader,

I was having a smoke outside the SGN office the other day.

It's a terrible habit, I know, but it gives me space to think.

Sitting there, blowing smoke out of my nose, I watched as one of our neighbors took the time to trim and water the roses growing in a nearby roundabout — a task she did with great care that gray morning, a task we both knew she didn't have to do.

One person went out of their way to tend to something that brightened their community. It's a small act of kindness that will likely go unnoticed by most, but one that would be missed by the whole neighborhood if it stopped.

I often compare working at the SGN to working in a garden, and I often think about the newspaper's effect on the Queer ecosystem around it.

Over the last few years, our team has worked hard to revive this paper because we feel it is our duty to carry on a 49-year legacy of archiving and enriching a unique, vibrant, flourishing community. It's a labor of love and an act of kindness, and every issue we produce is an act of protest.

In a world where our identities, rights, orientations, and personhood are up for debate and under attack by legislators and fanatics, it is my sincerest hope that this garden continues to be a place our neighbors can keep coming back to — roses, thorns, weeds, and all.

We are forever grateful for the support our readers give us, and we hope to continue to learn and grow right alongside you for as long as possible.

Pride is power. Gay news rocks. Keep doing small acts of kindness. There's a lot of bad news out there, but the good news is that we're here and we're in this together.

A.V. Eichenbaum
SGN Editor-in-Chief