Just over a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges legalized gay marriage across the country, the Arkansas Times is still working to raise money for its niche LGBT publication.
Editor Lindsey Millar said he felt the new publication — dubbed Out in Arkansas — was just as important and timely as it was before the question of same-sex marriage was settled. He listed several other issues — including rental and employment discrimination — that he hoped to draw more attention to in the state.
“The Supreme Court ruling allows for marriage, but that’s only the first of what need to be several civil rights victories to come,” Millar said.
The Times turned to crowdsourcing for the new publication as it had for other projects, including coverage of the Mayflower oil spill. Those other projects have been fully funded, while Out in Arkansas has raised a little more than $19,000 toward its goal of $128,785.
Millar had previously hoped to have the project funded and moving toward production by July after launching the campaign in April. He said in an interview last week that the previous fundraising efforts were tied to a specific story and that people responded immediately.
Millar said they haven’t received the same kind of strong response on the most recent project. “We have to be a little more targeted,” Millar said.
Part of that targeted effort means being more “proactive” and putting on more events, he said. A recent screening of “Sacred Hearts, Holy Souls” by Little Rock director Mark Thiedeman raised about $2,000 for the publication.
Millar said he wasn’t ready to announce the next event, but said he would likely move forward with the publication once they have raised at least half of the goal amount.
“We will just kind of take it day by day,” Millar said.
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