Columbus is a small (ish) military town on the border of Alabama and Georgia. \u201cThere\u2019s a church on every corner and I was voted Most Christian<\/em> in seventh and eighth grade,\u201d Dean says, \u201cMy first foray into publishing was a highly successful Buffy the Vampire Slayer<\/em> email newsletter that I ran from my AOL\u00a0account. It included spoilers, fan fiction, music videos<\/a>, and reviews. I don\u2019t mean to brag, but I won awards.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After majoring in photography at the Savannah School of Art and Design (SCAD), Dean moved to Atlanta and started exploring the queer scene. \u201cMe and my partner at the time started attending The Other Show <\/em>\u2014 this fabulous cabaret style drag show hosted by Edie Cheezburger. I began photographing former cast members like Violet Chachki and Evah Destruction, and created a drag\/artist\/photography collective called Legendary Children Atlanta<\/a>. We threw art shows, drag shows, dance parties, and just generally tried to make as much noise as possible. I found my tribe going to bars and drag shows \u2014 photographing people that inspired me.\u201d<\/p>\n Dean felt compelled to create Wussy<\/em> because at the time, most coverage of the LGBTQ community (especially locally), was heavily catered to affluent, older white gay<\/a> men<\/a>. \u201cMy friends and I wanted to create a space to discuss things that we were seeing in pop culture and the local queer community.\u201d<\/p>\n Wussy<\/em> began as a Southern\u00a0+ Queer Publication and in the past year has expanded to cover all aspects of queer pop culture. Dean says, \u201cwe got our feet wet by being a regionally focused blog<\/a>, which has now allowed us to expand our lens internationally and become a fully realized, biannual print publication.\u201d<\/p>\n But Dean is not wont to accept all the credit, giving that to his collaborators, \u201cI work with an amazing team: Sunni Johnson, Nicholas Goodly, Iv Fischer, and our designer Liz Yo. We\u2019ll be launching a new web design soon and our latest issue just came out with TR\/ST, Jayne County, Allie X, Aja, Mister Wallace, and more. It\u2019s available on our website<\/a> now.\u201d<\/p>\n All photos by Kelly Blackmon<\/em><\/p>\n The post Atlanta\u2019s Queer Impresario Jon Dean is No Wussy<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad Gay News<\/a>.<\/p>\n