Activist, LGBT pioneer, and author of AND THEN I DANCED."The Nations most awarded LGBT journalistWalter Cronkite called him a friend, Hillary Clinton told him he was more tenacious than she, and ...Show More
Activist, LGBT pioneer, and author of AND THEN I DANCED."The Nations most awarded LGBT journalistWalter Cronkite called him a friend, Hillary Clinton told him he was more tenacious than she, and Barack Obama just felt that they needed to sit down and talk, and they did. But most in the LGBT refer to Mark Segal as the dean of American gay journalism. Respected by his peers for pioneering the idea of local LGBT newspapers, he is one of the founders and former president of both The National Gay Press Association and the National Gay Newspaper Guild.In the radical days of New York City in June 1969 and the beginnings of the militant gay movement, Mark was one of the four members of the Action Group that organized demonstrations for three nights after the infamous Stonewall Riots. His personal accounts of that night appear in numerous history books. He immediately joined forces with others to create the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which signified the new radicalization of the gay community in New York. At the age of 18 he was the youngest of the pioneers and, within a year, founded Gay Youth, the nation's first organization to deal with the issues of gay teens and endangered LGBT youth. By age 19, he was president of Gay Youth, and a force in GLF NY.Wanting to take the community out of isolation, Segal then created the Gay Raiders and took the fight national. The Raiders' campaign against the television networks changed America and the gay Rights struggle. Before ACT UP, GLAAD, "Will & Grace," "Roseanne" or "Ellen," Segal was America's first gay television star. Segal understood the power of media, and realized the LGBT community being created was one of isolation and invisibility. He believes to this day that educating the masses brings equality. The pivotal point of that campaign to end media silence came when Segal disrupted the CBS "Evening News with Walter Cronkite," an event covered in newspapers across the country and viewed by 60 percent of American households, many seeing or hearing about homosexual rights for the first time. Including several other "zaps," the trade newspaper Variety claimed Segal had cost the industry $750,000 in production, tape delays and lost advertising revenue. It labeled him a danger to television. And the networks caved. Segal became the poster boy of gay rights. Overnight, he was feature fodder for newspapers and magazines and did the talk show circuit, including three times on "The Phil Donahue Show," the "Oprah" of its time.Mark then decided to bring change to the political establishment. Again, his tactics made him a force to be reckoned with. Few candidates running for election in Pennsylvania go through the state without a courtesy call with Mark or - in the case of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - an interview in the Philadelphia Gay News, which Mark founded in 1975. Segal's favorite achievement in this area was tricking U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornberg to sign and issue a Gay Pride proclamation. Segal reached political prominence when he launched the nation's first campaign to unseat a city councilman. With the entire political machine behind the candidate, Segal launched the first gay political TV campaign. In an incredible upset, the councilman lost. Segal is now held in such high esteem that Sen. Bob Casey and Philadelphia Democratic Chairman, Congressman Bob Brady, had to bring Congressman Barney Frank to Philadelphia to gain Segal's support. He has served on dozens of boards and commissions, but his favorite is a board member of the Philadelphia International Airport.In 1974, he demanded and got a meeting with Pennsylvania Gov. Milton Shapp, and created the historic Governor's Council for Sexual Minorities. This was the first governmental body in the world to specifically look at the problems faced by the LGBT community. That was followed by the first executive order banning discrimination in state government. When the state police wouldn't concur, Segal called a press conference and signed up to become America's first openly gay state trooper.Aside from publishing PGN, Segal has also reported on gay life from far-reaching places as Lebanon, Cuba and East Berlin during the fall of the Berlin Wall. He represented the gay press and lectured in Moscow and St. Petersburg at Russia's first openly gay conference, referred to as Russia's Stonewall.Segal currently coordinates a network of local gay publications nationally to celebrate October as gay history month, with a combined print run reaching over a half-million readers. His determination to gain acceptance and respect for the gay press can be summed up by his 15-year battle to gain membership in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, one of the nation's oldest and most respected organizations for daily and weekly newspapers. The battle ended after the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Pittsburgh Post Gazette joined forces and demanded PGN's membership. Eventually, Segal sat on the board of directors of PNA.In 2012, PGN won an unprecedented 10 awards from the Local Media Association - the largest number of awards given to any LGBT publication by a mainstream journalism organization. Segal is himself the most-awarded columnist in LGBT media.In 2005, he produced Philadelphia's official July 4th concert for a crowd estimated at 500,000 people and made a profit of $1.1 million for charity. The star-studded show televised live from in front of Philadelphia's famed Art Museum featured Sir Elton John, Patti Labelle, Brian Adams and Rufus Wainwright. On a recent anniversary of PGN an editorial in the Philadelphia Inquirer stated "Segal and PGN continue to step up admirably to the challenge set for newspapers" by Finley Peter Dunne: "To afflict the comfortable and to comfort the afflicted."Update: Mark was recently inducted into the National Lesbian & Gay Journalist Association's Hall of Fame, appointed a member of the Comcast/NBCUniversal Joint Diversity Board where he advises the entertainment giant on LGBT issues, and as president of the dmhFund is building what is the nations largest capital building project, the 19.5 million dollar John C. Anderson Senior affordable LGBT Friendly apartments, a HUD and White House Champion of Change project. Hide
