Additionally, one of our founders is among the honorees. Publisher Jason Parsley, who began OutSFL along with CEO Justin Wyse, also edited our progenitor, South Florida Gay News (SFGN). Parsley has spent the vast majority of his career in queer-centric journalism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually started with a subsidiary of the Sun Sentinel covering local communities around Palm Beach County. But even back in college, when my newspaper adviser asked me what I wanted to do professionally, I told him I wanted to be a gay journalist,\u201d he said. \u201cThree years into my professional career, he sent me a job posting for managing editor of South Florida Gay News. The rest is history. Not many people get their dream job at 34, so I consider myself especially blessed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ride has had its ups and downs. SFGN founder Norm Kent, who died at 73 in 2023, left the paper to Parsley and Wyse, but the business was a post-pandemic financial mess.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we pivoted and decided to create our own newspaper,\u201d Parsley recalls. \u201cWhat\u2019s wild is how quickly it all happened. Norm died on April 13. We launched the new publication on June 1 of that same year. That\u2019s less than 50 days to conceive of and launch an entirely new publication. And realistically, it was even less time than that since we didn\u2019t make the decision on day one. It was exhausting, chaotic, emotional. And, somehow, it worked.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parsley, a one-time hairstylist still known for his perfectly coiffed bouffant, says being the gay publisher of an LGBTQ-community paper is his most difficult challenge.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing part of the same community that we serve and cover can sometimes create ethical and emotional challenges. Covering uncomfortable stories can strain personal and professional relationships that I\u2019ve spent years building. Journalism sometimes means sitting with painful truths and telling them honestly anyway.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDread.\u201d That\u2019s what Parsley says he felt upon learning he\u2019s a Take PRIDE! 2026 honoree. \u201cI\u2019m very conditioned as a journalist to make sure that I\u2019m not part of the story. Obviously, it\u2019s an honor to be recognized, but I\u2019m much more comfortable being the one telling stories rather than being the story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But this year\u2019s theme, Coming Out of the Shadows, seems like a perfect time to recognize Parsley. \u201cVisibility is ultimately the key to our success as a community. The more we hide and the more we run, the more we lose.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
OutSFL is not inherently a political paper. It is unabashedly pro-equal rights, especially LGBTQ rights. Whomever is \u201cthem\u201d in us-vs.-them, Parsley says OutSFL will never back down.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur opponents want us to feel shame. It\u2019s incredibly important that we don\u2019t give them that satisfaction. We have to remain out and proud.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parsley, 48, believes we owe it to the LGBTQ people who came before us, both the defiant and the closeted, to continue their legacy. \u201cSometimes that may feel difficult or uncomfortable, but I think about the LGBTQ people in the \u201970s and \u201980s who risked everything just to live openly.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His path to openness and visibility was long and hard.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLike many LGBTQ people, I understand the weight of living in silence and isolation. When I was 18, I intentionally hurt myself and ended up in a psychiatric ward. In the months that followed, that experience ultimately led me toward finding myself. One of the first places I turned to was Compass LGBTQ+ Community Center<\/a> where, for the first time, I met other people like me. I found my community.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That experience from many years ago still drives him today.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s why I believe visibility matters so deeply. Queer journalism isn\u2019t just about headlines or politics \u2014 sometimes it\u2019s about helping someone realize there\u2019s a place for them in the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Parsley is in good company. This year\u2019s other honorees are Chris Caputo<\/a>, commissioner and vice mayor of the City of Wilton Manors; Dennis Dean<\/a>, executive director of ArtsUnited; Robert Griffin and Durell Watkins<\/a>, the bishops of Sunshine Cathedral; Ronnie Larsen<\/a>, actor, director, playwright, and producer; Rafael\u00e9 Narv\u00e1ez<\/a>, co-founder and director of health programs for Latinos Salud; Fort Lauderdale Police Chief William C. Schultz<\/a>; Nicole Stodard<\/a>, artistic director of Thinking Cap Theatre; and Tatiana Williams<\/a>, founder and executive director of TransInclusive Group, Inc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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