Obituary: Ella Matthes, Publisher of Lesbian Magazine

Ella Matthes, longtime publisher of Lesbian News Magazine, recently passed away from a heart attack at the age of 81 on March 16, 2024. She will be missed by the queer community.

Matthes ran America’s longest-running lesbian publication. Founded by Jinx Beer in 1975 in Southern California, Lesbian News, or LN, was a magazine centered around lesbian issues and culture, which was groundbreaking for its time. The magazine became the nation’s lone voice for lesbians under Matthes’s leadership. The company now prides itself on being a voice for lesbians of all ages.

Due to Matthe’s contributions to the LGBTQ+ community, she was awarded in 2002 Women’s Night Gay & Lesbian Center’s “Lesbian & Bisexual Women Active in Community Empowerment Award” and the 2002 “Business Alliance of Los Angeles Community Involvement Award,” alongside many other honors.

Besides this, Matthes had a vision, a mission she made for herself and her community. She said: of her work: “The editorial vision of the LN has always been to inform, entertain, and be of service to women who love women of all ages, economic class, and color. We hope women from all walks of life will not only find something of themselves in the LN but also be accepting of those with differing opinions. Lesbian News is our small contribution to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender liberation movement.”

As a pioneer in the field, Matthes served as a shining light for the LGBTQ+ community during the gay liberation movement, that took place between the 1960s and 1980s.

She also shared her life with her devoted wife, Gladi Adams, for 26 years. The pair married on July 13, 2013.

Donations in Matthes’s name can be made to the June Mazer Archives in West Hollywood, CA in her memory.

Rest Well, Ella Matthes.

The featured image was taken of Ella Matthes during OUTFEST by Angela Brinskele in 2005, and was provided by social media.