Gay rights movement meet blogosphere

Posted by Guest Blogger at 10:27 AM on April 25, 2007.

This is guest post from Lane Hudson.

Unfortunately, the world of blogs and their worth to society seems to be a recurring question. It seems that the gay rights movement may be the least adept at knowing their value. At a recent event, a leader in the local DC gay rights movement told me that he "hates" blogs. Other gay rights leaders have been tone deaf when it comes to working with the blogosphere. I want to offer them, and the larger community, information about blogs that will hopefully increase understanding and appreciation for the large amount of work produced by bloggers.

There are millions of visitors to blogs every single day who are hungry for a new forum for discussion of issues. The overwhelming preponderance of bloggers are not compensated for their blogging. They work full-time jobs and contribute to public discourse in their free time because they view it as a valuable form of activism. As someone who blogs, I can tell you that it's not easy. It takes time to prepare a blog post and sometimes, ideas for a post can be hard to come by.

Many of the criticisms that I have heard relative to blogs is "those people can write anything they want, even if it's not true." I know this can be frustrating because it happened to me.

The regular media often get facts wrong as well. When they do, we respond to correct the record. You can do the same with blogs through commenting or by emailing the blogger with information. One thing is for sure: shrugging your shoulders won't make it go away. The blogosphere is a living breathing medium, responding to the input it receives from the public and its readers. Jump into the blogosphere and make your voice heard.

I can further tell you that blogs are largely self policing. I have written posts that my readers disagree with. They didn't waste any time in telling me so in the comments. If you have never done so, you should go to do some of the widely read blogs and read the threads of comments. It is really amazing the level of discourse that takes place. The quality of the debates that occur is far greater and much farther ranging than that which occurs in the main stream media.

Many people in the gay community are aware of what I accomplished with my anonymous blog, Stop Sex Predators. It resulted in the resignation of Congressman Mark Foley and exposed a cover up among the Republican Leadership. While that is certainly a big example, there are many other examples where the efforts of bloggers pushed important issues into the mainstream media or reframed discussion of major news items.

John Aravosis, at AmericaBlog has become one of the most highly read blogs in the nation. Through diligent work and research, he exposed the conservative blogger Jeff Gannon, who was 'mysteriously' issued White House Press credentials, as a gay male escort. Gannon's tenure of tossing softball questions at White House Press briefings quickly ended.

When Snickers ran a homophobic commercial during the Super Bowl, John immediately pounced. In addition to blogging about it, he was invited to discuss the issue with Paula Zahn in CNN. He was a knowledgeable and effective spokesman. His efforts resulted in the pulling of all of the commercials.

In July 2006, African American bloggers, Jasmyne Cannick, Keith Boykin, and Rod McCullom challenged LIFEBeat, an organization of the music industry that fights HIV/AIDS. They were planning a benefit concert in NYC, but two of the invited musicians raised the ire of bloggers. Rapper Beenie Man's music included lyrics that advocated hanging lesbians and TOK's lyrics encouraged the burning and killing of gay men. While it was an event to benefit a gay cause, they saw it as unacceptable to give a platform that would condone the homophobic music of these musicians. These bloggers mobilized the community in opposition and caused the cancellation of the benefit concert.

A few years ago, Mike Rogers at BlogActive effectively ended the career of a conservative Republican Congressman Ed Schrock of Virginia, who was the leading opponent to repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell." Through the help of his readers and through his own effort, Mike uncovered evidence that Schrock was gay. In light of the evidence that Mike was able to publicize, Schrock dropped out of his race for re-election.

Some blogs, such as TowleRoad and Queerty also inject plenty of entertaining stories and photos while informing their many gay and lesbian readers about important topics. Pam's House Blend is one of the most informative blogs on major issues confronting the LGBT community.

I encourage everyone to visit the blogs and participate as often as possible. They are part of a larger social movement to empower regular citizens and there's nothing scary about that.

Tagged as: blogosphere, gay rights, blogs