After 18 years of publication, We the People , Sonoma CountyÕs GLBT newspaper, is calling it quits.

The publication's editor, Gary Carnivele, said the nonprofit community-owned corporation that publishes the newspaper will now focus its attention on producing a Web site, gaysonoma.com.

Founded in 1988 by Sandy Lowe and a handful of LGBT activists, We the People was published by the Redwood Empire Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Education Project. It was a free monthly, distributed primarily in Sonoma, Marin and Mendocino counties. In its early years it provided a platform for the rise of LGBT and AIDS activism in Sonoma County.

Hal Campbell, a former We the People staffer, said there were many factors that led to the newspaper's demise, including loss of advertisers and distribution locations; rising costs and shrinking revenues; and the resignation of all the parent company's board members.

"Despite Bush's so-called 'booming economy,' many mom-and-mom and pop-and-pop businesses went belly up and never paid us for what they owed us," he said.  

But the primary reason, according to Campbell, was the ascent of the Internet as an information source.

"From my perspective the evil in this scenario is the Internet," Campbell said. "For years and years the paper was the only game in town when it came to keeping the LGBT community informed about what was going on in the North Bay. But then personal Web sites came into being, and people could find what was going on without leaving their home to go somewhere to pick up the paper. Large advertisers stopped renewing ads and a lot of them created their own Web sites. That made the paper superfluous for advertising."

Longtime We the People contributor and board member, Ellen Silver, agreed.

"All of the media are in the same boat. But alternative publications run closer to the edge in terms of profit. We don't have as big a base to draw on, so it's harder to sell ads," she explained.

She also said gays and lesbians in the North Bay might believe a GLBT newspaper is superfluous.

"With the mainstreaming of the LGBT community, people may feel there is less of a need for news from our own community. I feel some people think it's not as important to them. But I don't agree with them," she said.

Because he also believes there is still a big readership for a dedicated LGBT news source, Carnivele is channeling his efforts into expanding gaysonoma.com.

"We're up to 8,000 hits a month now," Carnivele said.

Readers will be able to find everything that ran in the print version of We the People on the Web site.

"Most of our writers are staying with us. We have a wonderful Web master, Erika Clary, who will be putting up new information every other day," said Carnivele.

We the People purchased gaysonoma.com three years ago from Marcus Borgman, a former staffer at the paper. At that time it was primarily a site for gay community classified ads.

"The good news in this nightmare is that Gary is pouring his heart and soul into the online version of the paper," Campbell said. "Whether Gary can gain support from the LGBT Community and new advertisers for this new endeavor remains to be seen."