NEW YORK – June, for many, is a time of celebrations: Pride events, graduations and especially weddings. It seems fitting that the group behind a new magazine geared towards weddings would select this month to announce their new publication.

With This Ring will put all weddings and their communities on equal footing. With the tagline "For Every Kind of Wedding," the new magazine will provide coverage on gay and lesbian weddings, interfaith and interracial weddings and destination weddings, with the ultimate goal of putting these types of ceremonies into the mainstream. The magazine is expected to hit newsstands in 2007.

"We want to equalize these types of weddings," said publisher Jonathon Feit. "These are romantic celebrations that deserve to be recognized." Feit said he shies away from using the term "marriages" because it has too many political and religious connotations.

"All types of romantic celebrations deserve to be recognized," said Feit. "Our goal is to equalize all types of wedding. There are several communities that this magazine will serve."

Feit acknowledges the magazine will target a liberal audience by default, one that he believes is comfortable with other cultures and "untraditional" weddings. Despite the current national debate on legalizing gay marriage, and an already crowded marketplace of wedding publications, Feit sees a strong need for his new venture.

"In magazines like Out, The Advocate and Instinct, we’ve seen the role they play in the community," Feit said. "We think there’s a lot of potential for a magazine like ours as well.

"We’re not going to take the place of Brides magazine, or other major wedding magazines. We’re not going to drive those magazines away. We want to make a statement that perhaps they should follow, that there are other types of weddings they have ignored."

For financial support, the magazine’s staff will be targeting advertisers that have reached out to GLBT community through other national magazines, such as Subaru and Travelocity as well as wedding-specific companies, including wedding services, gowns, tuxes and jewelers.

Feit is no stranger to entrepreneurial publishing, having helped launch Citizen Culture, a publication targeted to young professionals. He also teaches courses on magazine development in New York.

"Whether you love the editorial content or not, or if you’re married or not, you can see this publication’s importance and value to the community," Feit said. "This magazine is about more than just a magazine. It’s about a movement. Not only a social movement but one within people’s minds for equality." W Kirk Hartlage