Out magazine founder dies at 36

NEW YORK -- Sarah Pettit, a lesbian journalist who helped found the nation's largest gay magazine, Out, died Wednesday. She was 36.\nPettit died at a New York hospital from complications related to lymphoma, said a spokesman at Newsweek, where she worked after leaving Out. She had been on leave from Newsweek since last March, battling the illness.\nPettit co-founded Out magazine in 1992, four years after she graduated from Yale. The magazine reports on culture, travel and fashion and features opinion, advice and reviews with a gay perspective. The monthly currently has a circulation of 110,000.\nIn 1997, when comedian Ellen DeGeneres' character came out as a lesbian in the TV series "Ellen," Pettit wrote in Out that a TV show exploring "the full and funny complexity of our love would be a first."\nShe left the publication in 1998 after a disagreement with a new publisher, said Judy Wieder, editorial director for LPI Media, which publishes the Advocate, another national gay magazine. LPI bought Out magazine in 2000.\nPart of the disagreement was how to balance content for gay men and women readers so that lesbians wouldn't be shortchanged, she said.\n"She really kicked down doors and made people sit up and take notice," Wieder said. "She was absolutely a pioneer."\nPettit had worked as Newsweek's senior editor of the Arts and Entertainment section since 1999, editing features, reviews and profiles. Her appreciation and knowledge of both high arts and pop culture made her a valuable asset, editor Mark Whitaker said.\n"She always had lots to say -- often it was quite contrarian," Whitaker said. "It always forced us to sharpen our thinking about what we were doing."\nA frequent lecturer, Pettit also appeared on television programs including ABC's "Nightline" and CBS's "This Morning," and was an advisory board member of the New York City Lesbian and Gay Anti-Violence Project.\nPettit's survivors include her parents and two brothers.