Hello Mr: A Magazine about Men Who Date Men
Author | Nick Santa-Donato
Photography by Seth Caplan
Featured Image: Francisco Tirado, Associate Editor (left) and Ryan Fitzgibbon, Editor-in-Chief, (right)
International Magazine, ‘Hello Mr’ aims to build and support a community of emotionally intuitive ‘men who date men’ through sharing meaningful stories and experiences. It’s voice is punchy, romantic, witty, and most refreshingly, down to earth – a tone of voice founder and Editor in Chief, Ryan Fitzgibbon, felt was missing from previously existing gay publications.
The now bi-annual publication provides a curated collection of stories, interviews, and features that are diverse in their subject, yet united in a theme unique to each issue. The latest issue, Issue no. 6, focuses on life development: the exploration, challenges, and experimentation we go through in order to expand our understanding of ourselves and the surrounding world. The cover, as well as the intimate photo-series within the issue, both by Photographer and Filmmaker, Matt Lambert, discusses a personal exploration of sex, love, and intimacy in Berlin. How fitting, too, as we relay a brief version of Ryan’s own story of individual growth as well as the development of Hello Mr.
Ryan, the official Mister ‘Hello Mr.’ remembers searching the magazine section as a closeted teenager for gay-focused titles he could relate to. “The LGBT section was always on the bottom shelf, tucked in the back, and often censored by a black plastic shield. I wasn’t comfortable enough back then to pick them up, let alone buy one. The truth is that they weren’t accessible to the people like myself, the exact profile that they should have been the most accessible to.” Recognizing this disenfranchised feeling of misrepresentation, Ryan wanted to develop a publication that was universally accessible to a globally diverse community of men who date men. As a research and communication design strategist for IDEO (based in San Francisco) at the beginning of his career, Ryan experienced life in many cities around the world. “I’ve been lucky to have been welcomed by amazing people in every city I’ve called home; Grand Rapids, San Francisco, Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney, Brooklyn, and who knows where next?” Following his return to San Francisco after recognizing his aspirations were not in line with his current career, Ryan, embracing the unknown at the age of 24, sold nearly all of his possessions and moved to Australia, where he launched Hello Mr.
Finding more similarities than differences among the global gay communities he experienced throughout his travels, Ryan was motivated to make Hello Mr. as globally accessible as possible keeping in mind the diversity of each story the magazine features. “There’s a careful difference between having a gay voice and hosting a gay narrative that includes a range of perspectives and has appeal to more than just one demographic,” Ryan said. If exploration and development are themes unique to the current issue, then identity, individuality, and diversity are themes inherent throughout the entire publication. Whether through a photograph, a story, a fashion spread, or a thoughtful interview, Ryan and the ‘Hello Mr.’ team have succeeded in providing a tangible, proudly beautiful ‘thing’ in which a reader can find genuine connection to a culture, a feeling, a story they otherwise would not have access to.
Please visit hellomrmag.com for additional information.
