September 17. 1999 »
S
T he W eb W e W eave
Just Out dips into the endless world of the Internet by Gip Plaster
oughly 9 million gay men and les­
bians worldwide use the Internet,
and that number is expected to
jump to more than 17 million by
2005, says Computer Economics, a
company that studies Web usage.
No list of sites for gays and lesbians could
ever be complete, but there are some sites that
you may want to know about.
Many online queers know about PlanetOut
(www.planetout.com), and its worth a few min­
utes of exploring because it has a little of every­
thing.
Founded in 1995, PlanetOut turned 4 years
old in August. The site has more than 2 50,OCX)
registered members, a number that company
representatives say is two and a half times the
circulation of any gay print publication and 10
times the number of registered users of its near­
est competitor. It claims to be the largest online
community for gays and lesbians.
“When PlanetOut was founded, we set out to
prove that we could reach more gay and lesbian
people than any other gay and lesbian organiza­
tion to date," explains Megan Smith, the com­
pany’s president.
PlanetOut offers news, entertainment, trav­
el, personal finance advice, shopping, directo­
ries, chat, message boards and personal ads to an
audience that reaches more than 500,000 visi­
tors monthly.
Another site is racing to catch up with Plan­
etOut, however.
Earlier this year, the site with arguably the
best address— www.gay.com— got better after
Gay.com, Gay.net and America Onlines OnQ
melded.
Gay.com brought its huge community and
chat network to the deal; Gay.net brought tons
of content. The creation of this new company,
called Online Partners, is giving some real com­
petition to PlanetOut.
But these two biggies are not the only choic­
es available for gays and lesbians on the Net.
There’s a lot more.
Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays
includes coming out and advocacy resources on
its site (www.pflag.org), as well as a list of local
chapters.
The American Civil Liberties Union
(www.aclu.org) also fights on behalf of sexual
minorities. A link to a large lesbian and gay
rights section is available from the A C LU ’s
main page.
Although not a queer-specific group, People
for the American Way (www.pfaw.org) often
works on behalf of the community and against
the religious right wing.
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E ntertainment v
A
good source for movie information and
gossip is PopcomQ (www.popcomq.com),
a part of PlanetOut.
L
esbians and gay men working for inclusion
in society are not working alone. Parents,
P arents
and
P artners
he Family Pride Coalition hosts a site
(www.familypride.org) providing resources
for gay and lesbian parents.
Meanwhile, RainbowUnions.com comes to
the rescue of those planning gay and lesbian
commitment ceremonies and helps couples
locate reputable vendors for their events.
T
H ealth
hile there are a number of places on the
Net to leam about government research
on HIV and AIDS, there are considerably fewer
places to read articles aimed at improving and
lengthening life for people with the virus.
The Body (www.thebody.com) has some
easy-to-read articles and information, including
content from POZ Magazine, as does Project
Inform (www.projectinform.org).
The Centers for Disease Control National
Prevention Information Network hosts a site
(www.cdcnpin.org) that’s designed for resource
sharing and has an HIV/AIDS section. Within
the section, the Frequently Asked Questions
page is filled with information on a variety of
AIDS-related issues.
Lesbian health issues are different than the
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,
| ust as entertainment can mean a lot of things,
| so can sex. Gay chat rooms? Gay.com’s site is
a great place to go. Men-for-men movies and
photos? Chisel (www.chisel.com) is a paid ser­
vice, but many say it is the best.
It’s pointless to list any other sex sites,
because URLs for many such sites seem to
change moment to moment. The Gay Links site
(www.gaylinks.com) offers connections to a
good number of free and paid sex sites. Of
course, you’ll find many broken links and the
usual so-called free sites that offer two or three
photos before you get to the section that asks for
your credit card number.
S
tock up on those aluminum pride-ring neck­
laces, caps and other pride symbols from
Alternatives (www.gay2000.com) and the
Homo Depot (www.phs-usa.com). If you need
another “I’m not gay but my boyfriend is shirt,”
check out Don’t Panic’s Virtual Retail Store
(www.dont-panic.com). The Gay-MART site
(www.gaymart.com) also has plenty of goodies.
Y outh
■ m.
F
or queer youths, the Internet can be a much-
needed connection with the outside world,
often accessible from the safety of their bedroom
or dorm room.
The premier site for gay and lesbian youth
information is OutProud (www.outproud.org),
the site of the National Association of Gay, Les­
bian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. It offers a
searchable library of book recommendations, a
database of local resources and links to other
youth-oriented sites.
Another site of interest is the online maga­
zine Oasis (www.oasismag.com).
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A llies
(www.gaywire.net) provides unedited press
releases from the organizations that issue them.
S hopping
A ctivism /
he major gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans
organizations all have Web sites with
activist information.
Gays and lesbians may want to start at the
Human Rights Campaign’s site (www.hrc.org).
HRC lobbies Congress, contributes to cam­
paigns and helps educate the public on gay and
lesbian issues.
Other major organizations with sites that
include activist resources are the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force (www.ngltf.org); Gay
and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(www.glaad.org); Lambda Legal Defense and
Education Fund (www.lambdalegal.org); Na­
tional Black Lesbian and Gay Leadership Forum
(www.nblglf.org); Gay and Lesbian Victory
Fund (www.victoryfimd.org); and National Lati-
na/o Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Organization (www.llego.org).
Information about bisexuality and how to
become involved in bisexual activism is avail­
able from BiNet U SA (www.binetusa.org).
Transgender and transsexual information is
available from the American Educational Gen­
der Information Service (www.gender.org).
“My way of helping my gay and lesbian sib­
lings is to help guide the way to their financial
empowerment,” says GFN founder Walter
Schubert, who was also the first openly gay
member of the New York Stock Exchange.
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N eed M ore ?
o steer Yahoo toward gay and lesbian sites,
select the search engine’s “Society and Cul­
ture” link, then select “Cultures and Groups.”
Choose “Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals," and
you will enter a world that is all your own. From
the mundane to more than the average eye can
handle, it’s all there.
An often overlooked resource is About.com,
formerly MiningQi.com, which includes in its
site a Gay Life section (www.gaylife.abtiut.com),
as well as a section dedicated to Lesbian Life
(www.lesbianlife.about.com) and a Gay Erotica
page (www.gayerotica.abtiut.com).
If you prefer to surf with gay-specific search
engines, there is no shortage of those either.
Homorama (www.homorama.com) is a gotid
place to start.
Queery.com is another useful tool for people
to search the gay Web, get free e-mail, chat, read
and post classifieds, and more.
PlanetOut aids Web surfers with NetQueery
(www.netqueery.com), while the gayZtxi site
(www.gayzoti.com) is another searching option.
GayScape (www.gayscape.com) claims to
index 56,000 gay and lesbian sites in its catalog.
T
You’ll find an extensive list of films that con­
tain main or supporting characters who are gay,
lesbian, bisexual or trans— including a number
of reviews— at David Hua’s Queer Cinema site
(www.qc inema .com).
F inance
\ I hile a number of gay and lesbian busi-
? V nesses are online, there is only one place
on the Web devoted entirely to gay and lesbian
business and financial issues.
Launched in 1998, New York City-based
Gay Financial Network (www.gfh.com) is an
online resource devoted to the financial needs
of the gay and lesbian community. The site pro­
vides daily and weekly business and financial
news and information, as well as a variety of
financial and investment services and a daily
radio show about the stock market and financial
issues.
issues gay men face, and HRC has created a site
dealing exclusively with lesbian health. The
Internet site for HRC’s Lesbian Health Project
(www.hrcusa.org/issues/lesbianh) has informa­
tion about a government report on lesbian
health, as well as breast cancer resources, a bib­
liography and more.
N ews
M
ost major cities have gay and lesbian
newspapers, many of which— including
Just Out (www.justout.com)—are on the Inter­
net.
A listing of hundreds of gay and lesbian pub­
lications from around the country and the world
is available at GayScribe.com’s site (maintained
by the author of this article).
If you prefer to get your news before it has
been filtered through the hands of an editor, the
developing Gaywire News Network site