LGBT Tech News
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How Your Facebook Friends Might Disclose Your Sexual Orientation
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Blogging Positively: A Citizen Media 101 on HIV/AIDS
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Students vs. the Defense of Marriage Act
A Global Internet Identity for Gay People
Published August 24, 2009 @ 06:22AM PT
When it comes to Web sites and domain names, you've no doubt heard of .gov, .net, .edu, .com, and of course, .org. But what about .gay? Maybe someday, if a coalition of international LGBT groups have their say. Efforts are underway to push the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN, for acronym lovers) to create .gay.
Organizers with dotGay, the campaign to create the domain, are seeking statements from organizations on why such a domain would be wunderbar for the world. A few reasons they cite as to why .gay would be an excellent Web site suffix?
First, it would be a way for businesses and organizations to target what they say is more than 15 million gay people in the U.S., and millions upon millions more around the globe. Second, it would be a way for global queers to know if a Web site is an ally or supportive of LGBT causes. Third, it will help LGBT folks find highly targeted information in an easy to navigate manner.
Sounds like it could have great potential, although .lgbt might resonate a bit more with folks. If efforts to create .gay come through, the domain would be created at the end of 2010.
dotGay is working it in the lead up to that date, urging organizations and businesses to come forward with support. Already they've got buy-in from South Africa's Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in the U.S., and the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. And that's in addition to a bunch of Internet registrants and organizations that have signed on to the effort.
Does this mean that next year, you might be looking at gayrights.change.gay? We'll see...
Get Rid of Your Labels About Sexual Minorities
Published August 17, 2009 @ 06:32AM PT
Someone is challenging you to discard your labels and your prejudices about sexual minorities. That someone is Absolut Vodka, and they're putting their marketing campaign where their mouth is, by creating a labelless bottle. The point? To plug equality by saying that no matter what's on the outside of the package, it's what's on the inside that matters. And that kind of relates to people, too.
Absolut has been at the forefront of LGBT advertising for years, winning plenty of awards from organizations like the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) along the way. But this campaign, similar to the "Think Before You Speak" campaign from the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network, takes on the power of language and words to label, and how those labels create trouble when it comes to discrimination, prejudice and fear-mongering.
"For the first time we dare to face the world completely naked. We launch a bottle with no label and no logo, to manifest the idea that no matter what’s on the outside, it’s the inside that really matters. We do it in support of the people who spend their entire lives, stamped with labels by other people," said Absolut PR Manager Kristina Hagbard.
Even sleeker than a bottle with no label? Absolut has launched a blog to talk about the no label campaign, rife with information (and a heaping dose of sarcastic snark) directed toward prejudice within and toward the LGBT community.
Companies market to LGBT folks all of the time. But companies rarely immerse their product in the thick of the LGBT world to make a broader point about equality. This is one advertising campaign whose central message is one everyone can buy into, whether they drink alcohol or not: In an absolute world, there are no labels.
Conversations for a Better World
Published July 27, 2009 @ 02:13PM PT
In the wake of the passage of Proposition 8 last year, the folks over at Stop8.org released a video with a very simple message: we change minds and hearts on the issue of marriage equality first and foremost by having conversations. It was a simple call for marriage equality supporters to "...tell everyone you know why the freedom to marry is so important to you."
That spirit of conversation transcends the issue of marriage equality, of course, and is the driving force behind a new Web campaign launched by the United Nations Population Fund - Conversations for a Better World - to stir conversations about a host of issues, including the impact of the economic meltdown on gender, to the intersection of population dynamics and climate change. You can check out their editorial calendar here, and as you'll see, September should draw some LGBT commentary, since it's focused on the theme of "Young people and the future: Why do we need to talk about sexuality?"
Should be interesting to see what global voices chime in, and how they can inform state, local, national and international politics. For more information on the site, click here.
Killing Gay People Should Not be a Video Game
Published July 17, 2009 @ 03:16PM PT
Well, how's this for some Friday disturbia. A video game Web site in Georgia (the country, not the state) is hosting an online game where a hunter walks around a public park, trying to shoot and kill naked gay men who approach him. If the men get to the hunter before he can bloody their brains? He gets raped. Game over.
Nothing like a video game culture that reinforces disgusting stereotypes and plays on people's fears. And what's worse? According to Gay Armenia, one of the blogs that first broke the disturbing video game, the site is marketed to children and teenagers.
Wow. So children in Georgia (and really, anyone who can access the damn Internet) are seeing a hunter shoot gay people, or get anally raped if he fails to kill them. Actually, let me rephrase that...since this is a video game, anyone who wants can access the site, be the hunter, and shoot gay people.
Find this disgusting? Contact the site here and let them know this game, known in French as "Prend garde à tes fesses chasseur" should be taken down. The contact page is in French, but it's still worth registering a massive complaint. This type of "entertainment" should not be tolerated.
And speaking of, it's all the more important to address homophobia in the video game world. That's why it was so refreshing to see the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) host a panel last week with some of the leading virtual world creators in the world, addressing the role of homophobia in video games and online. As Justin Cole, one of the staff members at GLAAD who helped organize the panel, told Edge Publications:
After you bash someone online, when you walk out of the house it becomes a little bit easier to do that in real life.
That's exactly what this French game on a Georgian Web site does. It enables people to virtually act out violence toward LGBT people, and by default, enables them to commit just as serious acts of violence in the real world. The game should be removed from the Web site.
Fighting Homophobia in Virtual Communities
Published July 02, 2009 @ 05:59PM PT
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has launched a cool new project that's ripe for the digital age: it's a campaign to combat homophobia in virtual communities. From Facebook to XBox message boards, homophobia won't have any hiding grounds. Here's a quote from Rashad Robinson, GLAAD's Senior Director of Media Programs:
As more and more people turn to virtual communities to connect with each other and for entertainment, we need to ensure these spaces are LGBT-inclusive and safe for our community – right now that’s not always the case. Our new project and work with leading tech companies aims to both educate users on the impact of homophobic remarks and put sustainable policies in place that make the experience fun and inclusive for everyone.
It's a hefty task, as it involves monitoring everything from comments on blogs to company message boards. It will also involve making sure that online forums allow their users to be open about who they are. For instance, earlier this year XBox Live was found to suspend users for using the word "gay," even if it meant that the users were describing their identity. XBox Live has since changed the policy, but the hiccup was certainly a reminder that adding filters with certain words or phrases screened into them isn't a catch all for addressing homophobia.
For more information on GLAAD's program, go here. Also worth noting is that in two weeks, GLAAD will be hosting a panel event in Silicon Valley with some of the country's leading game and software companies on virtual homophobia. Way to stay ahead of the 21st century, GLAAD.
Social Media is Crawling with LGBT People
Published June 10, 2009 @ 07:23AM PT
Well, as a gay blogger, I can't say that I'm surprised. It turns out that a new study from Harris Interactive shows that LGBT people are way more active on social media and blogs than their straight counterparts. Does that mean its a good time to be an LGBT blogger?
Here's the stats:
- Fifty-five percent of LGBT respondents reported that they read some type of blog regularly, compared to 38% of heterosexuals;
- 55% of LGBT adults are on Facebook and 43% are members of MySpace;
- Among heterosexuals, only 46% are on Facebook and 30% are on MySpace;
- 20% of LGBT consumers reported using Twitter compared to 12% of heterosexuals;
- 23% of LGBT respondents said they were a part of professional networking site LinkedIn, compared to 13% of heterosexual adults.
Wow, so not only do we own Hollywood, but us LGBT folk also have bragging rights to the Internet, too!
Kidding, of course. But I do think it's telling that LGBT activists, consumers, respondents, or whatever you want to call your average every day Internet user, potentially use social media more than straight people. It's certainly not because LGBT people are inherently more tech savvy (you should see me try to set up a wireless network! I'd find commanding a rocket ship less daunting...). But it could be that, given the stigma that LGBT people face in the "real" world, many have been able to carve out safe, accepting, healthy communities online that foster growth.
And if that's true, that would certainly be one reasonable explanation for the higher prevalence of LGBT people in the world of social media.
