Tristan Taormino, the "Pucker Up" sex columnist who has been with the Village Voice for nine years, was laid off on Friday, she confirmed to Gawker today. Voice editor Tony Ortega told her she was a victim of budget cuts. We also hear that the ailing alt-weekly's photo editor, Staci Schwartz, was recently laid off [UPDATE: more on Schwartz here]. Older, more expensive employees appear to be getting the axe (thought Taormino, at least, has a pornography career to fall back on). Anyone with further info on Voice layoffs, email us.

Send an email to Hamilton Nolan, the author of this post, at Hamilton@gawker.com.