How Did It End?
Early Growth, Business Model, Lasting Effects
Second Stone’s early growth was rapid with an estimated readership number nearing 6,000 by 1989. This popularity did not always translate into revenue for the magazine, as there was great difficulty in securing advertisers. As Jim told one reporter in 1995: “we’ve got very little money from advertising revenue, cause it’s very politically incorrect. Gay businesses would not advertise in a Christian publication, and Christian businesses, such as book publishers, would not advertise in a gay publication. ” Because of this the magazine was almost solely produced off of the collection of fees from individual and institutional subscriptions.
In January of 1995 continued growth in readership allowed Second Stone to start newsstand distribution allowing an eventual total readership of 12,000 by the height of its popularity during 1995-1996. During its peak in the 1990s, readership reached 12,000 and Second Stone was one of only two national LGBTQ Christian periodicals. The newspaper reached readers in all fifty states and its subscriber renewal rate was 80 percent. By this point, Bailey had given up his job in advertising and was editing Second Stone full time.
The final issue of Second Stone was published in the fall of 1998. After a few years of declining subscriber rates, mostly due to increased access to LGBTQ resources via the early internet, Second Stone ceased publication. Jim Bailey would continue his activism for decades in his work within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) focused on non-discrimination, and the right of ordination for the LGBTQ community within the ELCA.
