LOS ANGELES - When she was coming out, Tracy Gilchrist says she would buy every issue of The Advocate.

“It was my lifeline to this community and to my roots,” Gilchrist said.

Now the magazine’s first feminism editor, she sees the shelves as sacred. “This is the chronicle of LGBTQ history. It’s the paper of record,” said Gilchrist.  

That record dates back 52 years. Following the raid at the Black Cat, two men who were there decided to turn a newsletter called Pride into The Los Angeles Advocate. Executive Editor Neil Broverman says it initially covered gay and lesbian issues around L.A. but very quickly expanded nationally.

 “Because there was such a hunger for information on gay rights and what your rights were, how you could fight back against police raids," Broverman explained. "They needed something.”  

This was before Stonewall, before Pride parades, and long before the internet. LGBTQ individuals needed a way to find safe spaces and The Advocate helped make those connections. 

“They found places to hang out. They found restaurants and bars and churches that welcomed them," Broverman said. "That was so important. It helped build a community.” 

Over the years, they’ve covered unthinkable tragedies and pivotal moments, like the murder of Matthew Shepard.

“It was so important, the Matthew Shepard coverage,” Gilchrist remembered.

“People realized the sort of danger that we live with on a daily basis," Broverman added.

But Broverman said they also cover the victories.

“We’ve seen marriage equality. We’ve seen 'don’t ask, don’t tell' come down,” he said.

What started as a weekly magazine now only publishes six times per year. But Broverman says The Advocate is doubling down on its digital presence, posting 15 to 20 stories a day. The paper edition may only land in about 100K hands, but the website gets a million visitors a month from all over the globe.

“People who especially need the resource of The Advocate," said Broverman. "I’m talking about people in the Caribbean, people in Africa, people in Russia.”

The issues may have changed. How they deliver the news may have changed, but Broverman says The Advocate’s mission remains the same as it was in 1967 only now with the 21st century on its side.