Battle Brewing Over '.Gay' Domain

As the web gears up to introduce new domains, those proposing a ".gay" domain are getting ready to face opposition.

In an interview with CNET, Scott Seitz, CEO of dotGAY, discussed the challenges and opportunities he envisions facing his attempts to get approval for a .gay domain. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, recently announced plans to introduce a slew of new domain extensions (a new generation of .org, .edu and .jobs), and various groups have begin to organize to get a piece of the web pie.

"We're getting ready to see the Internet reborn again in a very different way," Seitz said. "And [...] such a limited number of people were even aware of it. I got involved because I saw what the opportunity was for the gay community. .gay will be a venue for enhancing our ability to interact with each other as a community."

But Seitz recognizes that not everyone will see .gay as a good idea. One challenge he foresees are anti-gay groups that may try to fill the domain with vitriol, though he believes filtering practices can help limit such activity.

"We can work with some of the best organizations--GLAAD, Lambda Legal. They can help us find a way to filter these people," he said. "And help us when they're going to turn around and sue us. I think we have to assume that's going to happen."

Though Seitz believes the .gay domain will best serve as a space run for the community rather than as a for-profit company, he also recognizes that in addition to the $185,000 fee ICANN requires for registration, certain organizational aspects will require capital.

But the biggest challenge the domain may face is the U.S. government, who recently proposed that they have the power to veto domains that they believe to be objectionable. Many have condemned the move as a bid to restrict the freedom of the web, likening the situation to the earlier debacle when the government famously fought to prevent the .xxx domain from entering the Internet public for six years.

"What's been pervasive is that unless you're attending ICANN meetings or you're really a hard-core fan of technology, you don't know what this is about," Seitz said. "It's problematic, and it's discrimination on a terrible level. It's not even appropriate for countries (to have the ability to veto) because of freedom of expression. Anything beyond (restricting speech that) incites violence is discrimination."

Comments

[Michael Johnson 1]

12:30 PM on 02/17/2011

This is probably one of the worst ideas I have ever heard of.

[seg153]

03:25 AM on 02/17/2011

why separate ourselves from the pack, that's just weird and plus now in most cities, the gay bars are widening the clientele and have been showing an effective dwindling of gay bars staying open. It's all because being gay has become more acceptable in mainstream society. There is really no reason to separate ourselves from the pack... If anything, integrate! If the website is more about sex, have it be a part of .sex, entertainment? .ent? politics? .pol? general info? keep as .com?
The whole .gay thing just reminds me of the queeny men who love to wear rainbow garb... umm... that was the 80's, evolve please gay men and women... Thank you...

[LMPE]

06:48 PM on 02/16/2011

I have a feeling that anti-gay groups won't even look at these websites let alone comment on them.

[Flip75]

09:32 PM on 02/16/2011

No, but they'll certainly work to block their access from every public school, public library, and many corporations, because they'll think anything "gay" is inherently objectionable.

[beeceee]

01:50 PM on 02/17/2011

That is a very good point!

[mytwocents02]

05:03 PM on 02/16/2011

I find it interesting that groups that fight for equality also want to be exclusive. Do you want to fit in or do you want to stand out? Do you want to be accepted by everyone or do you want to be held in a different light? Are you our equal or are you something special? You insist that you are no different from us, but also insist that you are different. Help!

[Steamboater]

05:22 PM on 02/16/2011

First off, it's heteros who have all those speciial rights.  Secondly, We don't need heteros to love us or admire us or even respect us,  but we demand the same rights that they have and last, you're perception of Gays as special only derives from a total misunderstanding of what this is all about. To make such a brouha about all this is only an attempt to pick out a minor aspect and then enlarge beyond all reason. So many grouops in this contry have theoir areas where they bod which each other , whether on the net or outside it such as with the NAACP, the Haddasah even and we know these right wingers have theirs but when it comes to Gays, all of a sudden there's something dark and dangerous going on. No one's asking you to take part in this. You have a choice just as any Gay person does. This is not a government mandate either. Now, isn' that special.

[Flip75]

06:13 PM on 02/16/2011

Believe me, some of us gays agree with you! If the whole idea is that we're no different, I don't see the benefit in segregating ourselves in cyberspace. And if it's a good idea, why just stop with gay? Why not different domain extensions based on race, religion, hair color, dominant hand......?

[Danek Greori]

08:46 PM on 02/16/2011

You and the poster above are missing the purpose of a TLD. It's not your fault, it's just the mindset that the public/lay-persons usually have when they think of the structure of certain parts of the Web or the Internet.

TLDs (.com, .net, .org, etc...) are meant not to segregate, but to provide context about the resource of website being looked-up. Originally, .Com meant that a website was commercial, .Org meant it was a website for a generic or non-profit organization, .Net was meant to be for sites or resources that were a part of the backbone of an infrastructure.

Now, as with all tech, common people took these TLDs and used them to register whatever names they felt like with no knowledge of what ".com", ".net", ".org" was really meant to be; and that is a pattern that has repeated itself with every new TLD introduced by ICANN.

TLDs provide contextual information, not segregation.

[Jamie Baxter]

04:12 PM on 02/16/2011

I think it should be clarified that the introduction of new gTLDs is the initiative of ICANN and the internet community, not that of dotgay LLC. With 85 million ".com" domain names currently in use, there are no good ".com" domain names left. Given the new opportunities created by ICANN, there are many individuals, businesses and investors applying to own new gTLDs. That means that you may be seeing gTLDs like .sport, .shop, .eco, .london, .paris, .nyc, .ibm, .canon, .disney and more. ICANN is anticipating 300 plus new gTLD names to be applied for in 2011. New gTLDs will be approved by ICANN whether we agree or disagree, so the question for ".gay" remains; who will be running it? someone from the LGBT community or an external internet investment group?

[Steamboater]

03:59 PM on 02/16/2011

Bottom line is so may gays have gotten over caring what others think. You don't like this new gay extention., That's your problem and not ours

[Flip75]

06:13 PM on 02/16/2011

But you're speaking as though all gays are in favor of this extension, and that those opposed are not gay. Kind of a broad brush to be painting us all with. I'm as queer as a football bat and don't see one reason for this new extension.

[beeceee]

02:07 PM on 02/16/2011

Is it really worthy of such a discussion? Who really cares that there may be a .gay domain extension. I think it's silly to want it but....not worthy of 2 seconds of argument.

[Steamboater]

03:53 PM on 02/16/2011

Any Gays commiting suicide and who have recently have done so because of jerks like you.

[barts]

01:08 PM on 02/16/2011

For all of those conservatives who are uncomfortable with the word 'gay' in the web address, I think you're a little too late to complain about that now.
BTW studies show children are more influenced by hate and violence then they are by seeing a samesex couple in love. Face the reality: kids don't have a problem with two women or two men holding hands, YOU do.

[Flip75]

09:34 PM on 02/16/2011

Well said. I've never understood why two people expressing love for one another in such an innocent way as holding hands would send some people into such a tailspin.

[Hedagui]

12:50 PM on 02/16/2011

Why create something to separate yourself from the very people you are trying to convince to treat you as an equal. Totally a defeatist mentality. Go run and hide if you want, but don't drag down the ones who have been standing strong for all these years.

[barts]

01:14 PM on 02/16/2011

I see your point, but I think it's more about identity and recognition not separation.

[Flip75]

01:57 PM on 02/16/2011

Exactly - there's plenty of gay presence on the Internet now without having to have a separate extension for gay sites, which only furthers the idea that we need a "separate" space. We're also making it easy for the haters to simply block us out of cyber existence in many places, which should be the opposite of anything we're working toward.

[Camus A]

12:08 PM on 02/16/2011

Why not a .hetero .polygam or a .zoo or a .sca.to ?
As an heteros.exual i demand equality of rights.

[Steamboater]

01:51 PM on 02/16/2011

Then do it. No one's stopping you.

[iman927]

12:03 PM on 02/16/2011

What I see happening:

Gays want .gay to be a domain name.

Gays get pissed when hate.gay is taken by an anti-gay group.

[happyfella73]

11:56 AM on 02/16/2011

The internet is about free speech. If people want a .gay domain, so be it. That also goes for .blk, .wht., .str8... Creating unity and non-segregated domains will happen as a direct result. The discourse of identity versus community will continue unabated, and that has always been a good thing, as it always leads to change.

[Steamboater]

11:54 AM on 02/16/2011

It's just the exxtention that bothers anyone, There's already Gay sites where we can bond together but put Gay in the extention and somehow it becomes something awful. It's like DADT and the same unreasoning homophobes wanted it kept in place.

[Francisco Coelho]

11:53 AM on 02/16/2011

Who wants a personal website with a domain dotGAY? So it will look like www.iamnot.gay.

In an interview with CNET, Scott Seitz, CEO of dotGAY, discussed the challenges and opportunities he envisions facing his attempts to get approval for a .gay domain.

[Steamboater]

12:06 PM on 02/16/2011

iamnot gay is just fine. It shows me exactly where NOT to go.