Troy Masters, the publisher of “queer media” outlet the Los Angeles Blade, has died suddenly, the outlet announced.
A statement from the outlet revealed that Masters died on Wednesday at the age of 63.
The Blade noted Masters “died unexpectedly.”
However, the outlet said that the “cause of death was not immediately released.”
Masters founded the L.A. Blade in 2017 as a sister publication to the Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest LGBTQ newspaper.
The Los Angeles Times describes Masters as “a pillar of queer media.”
In a statement, Blade management said:
“All of us at the Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade are heartbroken by the loss of our colleague.
“Troy Masters is a pioneer who championed LGBTQ rights as well as best-in-class journalism for our community.
“We will miss his passion and his tireless dedication to the Los Angeles queer community.”
Masters’ family also released a statement mourning him.
“We are shocked and devastated by the loss of Troy,” the statement said.
“He was a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ community and leaves a tremendous legacy of fighting for social justice and equality.
“We ask for your prayers and for privacy as we mourn this unthinkable loss.
“We will announce details of a celebration of life in the near future.”
In a statement posted to social media, journalist Brody Levesque said:
“I worked with Troy for nearly 6 years, 4 of which were spent as his Editor-in-Chief.
“I’d like to express my condolences to the Blade staff, Troy’s family & friends on his loss. He will be missed.”
Masters had a long career in media, mostly with “queer media” publications.
He founded New York City’s “Gay City News” in 2002 and became the founding publisher of the Los Angeles Blade in 2017.
In recent years, Masters has become a vocal advocate for vaccines.
In 1998, Masters took part in New York City’s trials for an HIV/AIDS vaccine.
More recently he’s been promoting vaccines for “monkeypox.”
In 2022, Masters received a monkeypox vaccine in front of an audience.
He also live-streamed the event to hundreds of people on Facebook.
Information regarding the circumstances surrounding Masters’ sudden death has been withheld from the public.
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