Does anyone remember a time before Google? Well, I can tell you there was, and the net was a mess. Just as Google changed and improved how we find information, the internet, in general, has helped us find each other. The closet door of the IT department is wide open, with no lack of GLBT among all the other techie abbreviations. Do a search for “gay” on Google, and your first hit is a social networking site — a place to find others. Frankly, I was shocked. I had money ridding on it being a huge lists of porn sites.
Social networking sites, like MySpace and Facebook, have their fair share of the queer. We use them even more than our straight friends, or so studies have shown. But, they seem to lack a comfortable homey feeling. Gay content on MySpace is what you make it: mostly snarky contents on your friend’s profiles accompanied by pictures of glittery ponies or barely dressed eye candy. Facebook fairs only a little better. The snark is still there, but it is usually followed by invites to take a drink from the virtual bar app, “Send a Round.” It’s little wonder that, even online, we still seek territory to call our own. A digital 40 acres and a pink mule.
The first hit in the Google results, and probably the most well known, is Gay.com. In terms of how gays attack the net, this is a perfect example. A mix of things, it is part chat and profiles that could be considered a social network — or just a facilitator for naughty acts we don’t talk about in polite society — and part news source and blog hub.
On the network side of things, we have well established sites like GayWired.com, OutInAmerica.com, and Connexion.org. These players, similar to the web portals of the mid-90s, try to be a starting place for all things gay. Like the local bar that gets new lighting systems and switches out the DJ, they continually update to keep the audience coming, even if it’s still the same non-descript dance music and over-priced imported beer. We are a loyal bunch though; every time you try to log into a chat room on one of these, the first four rooms are full. T
he underbelly of the less-than-straight internet is inhabited by the hook-up site. The newer gays on the block, among them: Dlist.com, ManJam.com, and Downelink.com try to push a community feel. Still, in many ways, they are meat-markets — but fancy ones that let you rate the merchandise and take notes. Others freely admit, even scream, that they are all about naked extracurricular activites. With names like Adam4Adam.com, ManHunt.net, Recon.com, and Squirt.org, there is no pretence of “ltr” anywhere. Well, excluding travel time.
More serious content-minded denizens of the web, or those not on the hunt, can find a home on PageOneQ.com or QueensSpeech. com. These pages act like gay newswires, collecting the top national and international headlines affecting the multilettered community. Think of them as the queer CNN. Well, if CNN’s homepage was run out of NYC or SF, and not Atlanta. (Having Anderson Cooper on staff isn’t enough.)
If you like your news on the slightly pulpy side of things, I give you Queerty.com. They run under the banner of being “Free of an agenda. Except that Gay one,” and it fits. Taking cues from tabloid layouts, like The Sun in the UK and their infamous Page 3 photo spreads, Queerty averages at least one gallery of nearly naked model meat for every three or so posts. They balance serious news and commentary with just enough flesh to take the edge off one’s daily grind, all while keeping it safe for work. Though, you may want to check if men covered in less fabric than a tea towel complies with your company’s technology use policy.
Consuming nothing but the headlines can leave you feeling empty; beyond the facts, sometimes we need perspective, and that is the domain of the blog. Let me state here that I don’t mean Perez Hilton, although in that vein you may want to try PinkIsTheNewBlog.com. It trawls from similar waters, but it scores points for using Photoshop to deface its imagery — who uses MS Paint anymore?
Real commentary lives at Bilerico. com. The Project, a collaborative blog with over 30 contributors, has the feel of water cooler conversations. Their content is always timely and as deep as it can be catty and cutting. The writing is engaging, like any good break room chatter should be, without the smell of stale popcorn and burnt coffee filling the room.
For singular voices, see what JoeMyGod.blogspot.com or PamsHouseBlend.com have to say. Joe Jervis and his namesake site take the tone of your burly and stubbled neighbor who would be just as at home kicking back a few at the bar as he would discussing the issues at the library. His “PhoboQuotable” section has a knack of making the social rightwing seem even more out of touch just by quoting them. Pam Spaulding runs her site, as the name implies, like a coffee shop; conversation always welcome. Covering politics like a bloodhound, she calls all sides on their crap while tossing in some pop culture for good measure. Both would be on the frontline of any needed protest, leading the way with signs hauled there in the back of a bumper-stickered Prius.