The nation’s premiere lesbian-oriented magazine Curve is cutting back, having recently laid off several full-time staff members.

Despite the “belt tightening,” the magazine will continue to churn out its monthly magazine and delivering a big farewell issue to The L Word in time for the show’s season six premiere in January, according to Curve's Editor in Chief Diane Anderson-Minshall.

“We’ve been affected by the economy,” Minshall said adding that in its nearly 20 years of publication “financially we’ve experienced worse economic times.”

Curve let go of three full-time staff members including its subscription services head, operations director and its associate publisher.  Minshall said that those who were let go were hired within the last year and holding down support positions except for Associate Publisher Sara Jane Keskula, who'd been with the magazine longer.

“The staff was the largest it has ever been,” Minshall said adding that they company was trimming its staff to become more efficient and to “weather the economic times.”

Letting employees go was difficult Minshall said. “We’re a little like a family."

Curve is the brainchild of publisher Frances Stevens, who launched the magazine in 1990, originally under the name Deneuve.

Minshall said that the lay-offs were not indicative of any deeper cuts and that Curve would continue to deliver its in-depth content.

“We hope to be here another 20 years,” she said.