Introduction: Matthew S. Bajko

Ukrainian Flag

Slovakian Flag

It’s pronounced Buh-JAY-koh.

My last name that it is. Just remember it’s three syllables and it will just roll off the tongue. It’s a Slovak name with a Ukrainian twist, or so I was told when I was touring in Slovakia where my dad’s parents are from.

And yes I go by Matthew – not Matt – long story short I just joke I am not a monosyllable you wipe your feet on. 🙂

Beyond my first and last names, who am I professionally? I work as an assistant editor at the Bay Area Reporter and pen its political column both in the weekly paper and online Monday’s at ebar.com. It was started back in 1974 by then wanna be politician Harvey Milk, who filed his last column for the paper shortly after winning election to a San Francisco Supervisor seat in November of 1977.

Started as a bar rag to cover the city’s LGBT nightlife scene in 1971 by Bob Ross, the paper is one of the oldest in the country focused on the gay community and the largest in northern California.

I also freelance for LGBT magazines, Out Q News on Sirius satellite radio, and report on occasion for Us Weekly.

I have had a passion for journalism since high school. And as sad as it is to watch what is happening within today’s news media – with the layoffs, papers closing and news budgets decimated due to a precipitous drop in ads – I am confident journalists will find a way to survive. Sort of like that joke about the only two things that will survive a nuclear blast are cockroaches and reporters asking them to describe what they just experienced.

I agreed to be a blogger for NLGJA to focus attention on what is happening within the country’s LGBT press, hold the mainstream media to account when they don’t credit LGBT papers for breaking stories, and hopefully present a thought-provoking take on our industry.