Jay Blotcher is a longtime freelance writer who currently writes for several magazines and newspapers in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York State, where he is based. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Salon, Spy, POZ, Dutch, The Utne Reader, Popular Photography, Backstage, Adweek and Out, as well as in many regional gay newspapers.
A longtime community activist, he belonged to the founding chapters of ACT UP and Queer Nation in New York City in the 90s, and was media coordinator for both groups. Later, he co-founded Public Impact Media Consultants with Alan Klein and provided publicity for grass-roots groups serving the homeless, people with AIDS, gay senior citizens, women for reproductive rights, animal rights and several authors, including Michelangelo Signorile, as well as musicians and filmmakers.
Blotcher has worked in TV and film. In 1983, he was Associate Producer of a weekly Manhattan TV talk show called Our Time, hosted by Vito Russo. Blotcher also wrote and co-produced two unfinished documentaries: Sword, Sandal and Subtext which examined the Hercules films of the 60s; and Sylvester: Mighty Real about the famed disco diva. Working with Charley Beal, Blotcher co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced a TV pilot called "Heroes," starring former gay Boy Scout leader james Dale. "Heroes" premiered at the NYC New Festival in June, 2003 and at film festivals across the globe.
His nonfiction work appears in six anthologies. Among them are "Looking Queer" (Haworth Press, 1998) and "Policing Public Sex" (South End Press, 1996), as well as the Lambda Book Award winner for Best Nonfiction Anthology “I Do/I Don’t” (Suspect Thoughts Publishing, 2005). Blotcher's latest writing appears in two anthologies just released: "Identity Envy: Wanting to Be Who We're Not" (Haworth Press, 2007) and "Resistance: A Radical Social and Political History of the Lower East Side" (Seven Stories Press, 2007), edited by Clayton Patterson. Blotcher's memoir nonfiction about Manhattan life appears on award-winning writer Thomas Beller's website www.mrbellersneighborhood.com.