In the 1980s Gabriel Rotello was a New York City AIDS activist and member of the group ACT UP. In 1989 he founded "OutWeek Magazine" and became its editor-in-chief. The "New York Times" called "OutWeek" “the most progressive of the gay publications,” saying that it “gave voice to a new generation of AIDS activists ...and provided a rallying point for the more militant members of the gay community.” Rotello was controversial for promoting the word ‘queer’ as a catchall phrase for sexual minorities and for the phenomenon of ‘outing,’ which began at OutWeek. As such, he considered himself a member of the gay left. In 1992 he became the first openly gay man to become an op-ed columnist for a major American newspaper, "New York Newsday," and used that platform to argue for gay rights and AIDS activism.