It was in a dynamic coalition session on freedom of expression and freedom of the media on the internet that Schubert announced that the domain name, “dot gay” was in the pipeline. The domain name hopes to incorporate all lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer sites under one domain.


Before the serious implication of content regulation hit me, my “problematic-term-mentioned” monitor blipped. I must admit though, it is a finely tuned machine, and jumps at any potential word/term that may be used in a way that seems remotely problematic.


What about the rest of us? Do we get our own domain name sans the “G”? I’m not sure everyone in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, intersex and queer community necessarily identify with the term “gay”. Perhaps we should consider adopting “dot LGBTIQ”, or just risk it and make it “dot queer”? I do understand that dot queer may not be accepted by all, such as the individual from Australia who ambushed me after the session. He stated that “as a gay man, I hate the word queer” – given, some are not comfortable with this term, or do not wish to reclaim it as their own


…but then he went on to comment that: “I don’t really care about the rest” i.e. that he did not consider himself a member, or even in solidarity, with the lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex community. I think the issue here may have been a bit more serious, and spoke to his (un/conscious) disconnection from the overall community. As a lesbian, he is the sort of (anti)queer I avoid. He then sauntered off without giving me an opportunity to respond.


The term queer has been reclaimed by the LGBTIQ community and now it is used as an inclusive and affirmative means to identifying all people who are affected by heterosexism and homophobia. This includes “straight” people who do not subscribe to the heteronormativity of society.


But what are the implications of dot gay?


I understand that Schubert’s intention was that dot gay be a “community application” but what if it is also an application that is employed for discrimination? The risks to the LGBTIQ community may be a lot higher than the benefit of creating a community of LGBTIQ sites. I am concerned that this simply makes the work of regulators a whole lot easier, we’re probably doing their work for them. Really, we’re literally collecting ourselves into one area, and filtering these sites becomes a lot easier. And it makes it easier to trace LGBTIQ activists, and who knows the implications of that. Are we not contributing to our own potential persecution?

Responses to this post

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along.I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Thanks

This is one of the best blogs I have ever read. I m absolutely excited to get to read such a well blog. I would love to read more of your blogs. Thanks dude movie2k

I don't like this idea of using dot gay. Then everything would start using dot coffee lovers and so on. It’s taking away the integrity of internet world by breaking down everything into smaller clans. In short, it’s building borders and on the internet, it’s a really bad idea.

I need this article to complete my assignment in the college, and it has same topic with your article. Thanks, great share. read more

I think the issue here may have been a bit more serious, and spoke to his (un/conscious) disconnection from the overall community. Regadrs App Creator

i don’t see any reason to categorize and to add the idea that gay is any different from straight. we are all sexual and socially constructed beings. why do many homosexuals worry about “coming out?” heterosexuals do not make an issue about openly declaring their sexual preferences..movies

Once the concept for .gay could be touched and experienced I looked for partners with the right background and deep rooting within the LGBT community to take it over,” says Schubert. “That person was Scott Seitz, founder of SPI Marketing, a leading LGBT agency with over 15 years of service on behalf of corporate and non-profit clients web design perth

in the near future ALL kind of domians will be liberated, so you could buy a .gai .straight .lesbin .mydogispretty...there's no matter what extension you take, so for commercial purposses .gai could be very interesting for companies and bussiness that works with this kind od market

i find this domain namei proposal more scary than anything else, and afraid dot gay will immediately start to score on all 'black' lists. i really struggle to find any positive effect of this domain name proposal for LGBTIiQ community.

I don't see any reason to categorize and to add the idea that gay is any different from straight. We're all sexual and socially constructed beings. Why do many homosexuals worry about "coming out?" Heterosexuals do not make an issue about openly declaring their sexual preferences.

In reply to by Bajar de Peso (not verified)

Why are they worrying? Maybe cause they are afraid to lost their job, families, friends, or even life?...havent you noticed that quite a bit of society is quite homophobic, and there are still number of countries where same-sex relationships are illegal.

Done well. We re impressed with the caliber of the content offered. I have high hopes that you keep up with the great work conducted.

as xxx it will allow all those who have specific needs to go "straight" there. more seriously, it will ghettoise gay people and ae the more queeri they necessarily are. can't help finding double sense word when replying to this post.hahahaha

Brand new "GAY" Domain Names and TLDs have already been released. For the
first time, Internet users can create their own set of Domains and TLDs
totally free, and without any reference to ICANN. ISPs such as Dashworlds.com
offer a parallel Internet using new Dashcom (not Dotcom) Domain Names.
Dashcoms are brand new web addresses in the format http://gay-com or
http://radio-gay or http://human-rights (Examples Only). With users and
members in over 90 countries worldwide, resolution is via an APP (although
ISP links are now available to negate that need). Things change and grow.
Not-so-long ago, people would have thought a web based magazine such as this
to be a waste of time, effort and money. After all why would anyone want to
fork out for hugely expensive computers, sign up for extra phone lines, buy
modems and routers, buy an OS, learn how to use it all....Just so they could
read a magazine?....Why?....When all they had to do was walk down to the
local store. Having just one Internet in infinite cyberspace is like saying
you can go visit anywhere in America just as long as you stick to route 66.
So today, just as in the USA (and everywhere else in the world) the Internet
has more than one road to travel.

I dont know who qualifies, and how one would go about qualifying. This is the
thing about the interneti, and society - we all belong to different
communities, and are constantly negotiating those spaces. What impact does
subscribing/qualifying for one domain namei have on your identity - how do
you determine which one is more important, etc?

Then after this what is next? dot women, dot black? I don't see any dot straight, so why dot gay?

In reply to by Bajar de Peso (not verified)

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along.I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Thanks
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as xxx it will allow all those who have specific needs to go "straight" there. more seriously, it will ghettoise gay people and ae the more queer they necessarily are. can't help finding double sense word when replying to this post.hahahaha

I agree. Maybe in a more progressive era it would be a positive contribution. But we're not in that space, I think it will just make it easier to block content.

i find this domain name proposal more scary than anything else, and afraid dot gay will immediately start to score on all 'black' lists. i really struggle to find any positive effect of this domain name proposal for LGBTIQ community.

I dont know who qualifies, and how one would go about qualifying. This is the thing about the internet, and society - we all belong to different communities, and are constantly negotiating those spaces. What impact does subscribing/qualifying for one domain name have on your identity - how do you determine which one is more important, etc?

personally i have a concern about dot gay as gay, queer LGBTI call it as you want are also asian, also part of the commercial community, are using different languages and use the porn industry. i mean who or what will qualify to go on dot gay when there is also dot asia, dot cat , dot xxx and every sort of things running or in pipeline as you said, when it comes to country and top level domain name?

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