DISQUS

BrooklynRider · 4 months ago

Considering the great stuff that has been posted on AmericaBlog regarding the LGBT issues, I still have to say that this new secton is both is puzzling and disturbing. LGBT rights has repeatedly been framed as Civil Rights issue on this site and this segregation of that news into the "gay section" actually mirrors the separate and unequal issues we have with the current administration.

Is it actually possible that John wants to avoid having AmericaBlog become a site associated with gay activism. As much as I enjoy the posts here, I can't help but wonder if John is reversing his course a bit to reclaim a place of inclusion with the Obama Administration/Democratic Party.

Whether it is the intention or not, I find it kind of offensive. LGBT news, reporting, and opinions is part of the big picture. Relegating it to "Gay article - see this other page" is no better than all the things that were so passionately argued against in this very blog over the past months.

I am really disappointed by the segregated gay section and the disingenuous explanation for the change. In direct contrast to other folks posting comments, I'll be coming here less, if at all in the future. I prefer sites that aren't quite as fairweather on issues it claims to support passionately.

Good luck.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Putting aside the personal attacks for a moment, I'll address your concerns about segregation. On AMERICAblog itself, we usually posted about three to five gay stories a week. Then things went nuts with DOMA and we posted a ton. But normally, we'd post at best one gay story a day. The new section will permit us to post a good five stories a day, if not more. I happen to think that our gay readers interested in gay news will appreciate having 5 times the news and analysis on our issues. And, you'll notice, the gay news is still on our site - we still have a gay news feed, we still have actual gay stories that we're highlighting on our home page, so nothing's changed on here, other than we now have an entirely new additional section in which to post even more gay news and advocacy.

That's a good thing.

Now, as for your concerns that I'm afraid to be seen as gay, or have given up on gay rights, or whatever, did you read the post I just wrote about DADT? Do you think the White House is going to be happy with what I wrote? I sure do have a funny way of sucking up to the administration, since you think that's apparently my grand plan in doing this.

jenjen64 · 4 months ago

Don't forget your straight readers, too! :) For what it's worth, I think it is a wonderful idea and look forward to it when it's up and running, if it's not already. Your site is one of the first sites I read in the morning..(it's on my home page) Thank you for keeping us informed and up-to-date.

Jennifer

jenjen64 · 4 months ago

and I just added "americabloggay" to my home page so now I can be even more informed. I hope more and more people educate themselves.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Thanks Jen :-)

jenjen64 · 4 months ago

You're welcome and thank you for all your hard work!

boytokyo · 4 months ago

agreed. and also concerned that ally- and potential-ally readers won't get exposure.
it'd be too easy for people to say "bah, i don't need to click over cuz i don't care that much."

(sorry. having an inarticulate day here)

this was in reply to nycwill, but my computer's finding the comments a bit squirrely today

superstition · 4 months ago

I hope that the major stories will be covered in enough detail on the main blog page, because one of the things I specifically dislike about "gay blogs" is the way they serve as a filter to marginalize our news.

Granted, I realize that many, if not most, heterosexuals don't want to be inundated with gay news. But, at the same time, the only way they're going to see gay news and get a feel for how important it can be is by seeing it, sometimes even by being inundated by it.

I hope the main points will be laid out on the main page, not just a too-brief mention and a hook to the gay page. For me, quality is more important than quantity. Those stories that didn't make the cut didn't make the cut for a reason. Please don't let the existence of a gay page make fewer critical gay issues appear on the main one. Keep the passion coming through for all to see.

Thanks!

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

I don't really see why people think that anyone who isn't interested in a story is going to read it anyway just because it's on our home page. I visit lots of blogs, and if I'm not interested in the headline, and perhaps the first sentence, I don't read any further, regardless of whether the story is on the home page.

nycwill · 4 months ago

as long as all gay stories appear here on the original page first, then move on over to the a'blog gay in time then it's a great idea. if you're creating a separate but equal site though, then no, i hate the idea. by making a specifically gay site one must click on to get to, no way will there be the wide variety of progressive opinion that i prize at americblog.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

As I explained below we're going to be posting five times as much stuff over there about gay issues than we do here. So no, it's not getting posted here first unless it's a story I consider very important, like the Obama DADT story which I posted on both.

Anonymiss · 4 months ago

I'm a straight female who's been coming to this site daily for at least four years. I come not only because I'm a political junkie, but also because I have tons of gay friends and am passionate about gay issues.

I've never felt that the coverage of gay issues here was overwhelming, nor would I feel that way if you had two or three times the posts on gay issues. As you say, it is the civil rights issue of this generation/century, and I love reading about anything that will help advance this important civil rights cause.

However, I hate having to click, click, click to get to things I want to read. And I think fewer people like me (who most need to be exposed to what you're going to put on "the gay AmericaBlog") will click to read that stuff. And it sorta feels like segregation to me.

I know it's not open to a vote, but if it were, I'd vote to keep everything as is, and you and Joe post what you feel like posting right on the front page, where everyone can see it. If people aren't interested in a particular post, they can scroll right past it, as I sometimes do now.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

The problem wasn't that Joe and I no longer wanted to post gay content. We wanted to post EVEN MORE. And we can't do that an continue having AMERICAblog's home page cover US politics across the board. Now, with the new section, we can continue to cover a story a day or so on the main page, and a slew of stories every day on the new page. That way we continue what we're doing here, at the same level, and go nuts there - win win.

JJinChicago · 4 months ago

I want to commend John and Joe for a great blog and branching out and focusing on GAY issues for a change.

I especially want to tell you how refreshing it is to see a blog use the word "GAY" instead of that politically expedient, meaningless, joined-at-the-hip term "LGBT".

Keep up the good work.

Diane Jean · 4 months ago

I have been reading your blog for quite some time; thank you for making this change. I found myself skipping it when I couldn't get timely info on big stories that were breaking. Frankly, I was worried that you would lose a lot of followers; keep up the great work!

jcgraham77 · 4 months ago

The reason I visit this blog versus pamshouseblend, andrewsullivan, towle road, dem underground, dan savage, etc is because it covers everything. Gay, straight, black, white, etc etc etc... In terms of politics I think the gay issue is one of if not the top political issue right now--why toss it off to the side? I will miss the gay posts on here...to me it feels like the chocolate chips were just removed from my cookie and I have to eat them seperately. Just my two cents...they count for nothing but thought I would throw that out there.

jcgraham77 · 4 months ago

plus it will make it harder to view at work--my IT guys love perusing our temp files and seeing a site with "gay" in the link...not professional or legal but it happens.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Well, we're still covering gay stuff on the main site, we'll be linking to big stories over there, and the gay updates for the new sub-section will be popping up in the Hot Off the Wire section and the Gay Politics section. But in the end, there's too much gay news and we've been avoiding publishing like 2/3 of it because it would have taken over the americablog home page full time.

jcgraham77 · 4 months ago

That makes me feel better--I am addicted to this site and I don't like change lol. I started reading it when I was in my early twenties and have to admit I get most of my political info from you. It makes it easy to argue with the redneck preachers lol.

FNReedie · 4 months ago

I'm not really sure I understand the need to segment the site -- now your visitors have two pages to go to instead of one. One of the biggest strengths of the combined pages is that your political knowledge (i.e. the non-gay issues) provide support to your gay issue knowledge -- the two show that you have a stronger voice than a single issue. Separating them also seems to weaken an integrated "gay agenda" -- LGBT folk are more than single issue and this blog proves it.

For people who want just the gay news, I'd recommend a filter to remove non-gay topics, but I'd keep all the postings on the front page.

Just my 2 cents.

jcgraham77 · 4 months ago

exactly--can't people just use tags?

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Most people don't understand tags. They come to the site, see gay gay gay and then say, what happened to all the other political stuff? Honestly, it's not going to kill you to visit two pages instead of one :-) I know you can do it :-)

PingPong · 4 months ago

I liked having just one site because my interests are pretty in synch with what you guys write about so the stories I didn't want to read are few. So it's no it's not going to kill me to go to more than one site/sub-domain, but to me it's like why not also split John's writing from Joe's writing? And now we go to 3 places. Just another click, right?

Also, I kind of have this feeling that now there's "news" and then "gay news", like we're hiding it from the kids or the folks who find it boring or irrelevant to their lives. Rather than highlighting it, it sticks it off to the side, IMO. I like coming here because it is a well-read site where I'm not ghetto-ized.

But oh well, I WILL live. :)

One teeny request: I would like it if there was a more obvious link on the gay.americablog.com site to get back to the main one somewhere at the top. I found it in the Welcome section near the top but the "main site" isn't an obvious hyperlink in my display (using Firefox).

FNReedie · 4 months ago

Fine ... I'll bookmark you twice ... But for that, you can at least give us a "gay" Americablog iPhone icon. :-) Having to look at a small page rendering IS too much to ask!

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

I did create a gay iphone icon. Hmmm, apparently it's not working. I tweaked the code, try again.

Gestalt · 4 months ago

Seems unnecessary, to be honest. Kind of like adding a children's section to the Nickelodeon site or a men's health section to the Men's Health magazine site.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Other than this past month, we typically cover about 5% gay stories, max. So, yes, it is necessary unless you'd prefer we go back to posting only a few gay stories a week. As I wrote below, Joe and I have been deep-sixing about 2/3 of the gay stories we're receiving that are news, and that we wanted to post, because if we posted them, there'd be no room for the other political news that we also want to post. So I appreciate that you don't see a need for this, but you're not seeing all the good gay stories that aren't being published because we can't squeeze them in. Now we can.

BrooklynRider · 4 months ago

Now, of course, all the people who were "turned off" by the gay news can skip Gay stories altogether. If you find something "newsworthy", it should be Newsworthy. You've just taken a great step backward. Now we have AmericaBlog and AmericaBlogGay. Kind of like Marriage and Civil Union. Good stuff for everyone, but one not worthy of being considered equally.

Yoohoo! Gay people... you don't THIS page. You want THAT page. THAT is the page for stuff YOU are interested in.

Right. Good argument.

Dave · 4 months ago

Yeah, as a straight ally, I'm often torn between the "Why all the gay news - I was hoping for something on X", and "Wow - with all that's going on at the moment, I'm surprised they aren't covering more gay stories."

Now, you can do both! And make everyone happy! :-)

Caoimhe Ora Snow · 4 months ago

Where will lesbian, bisexual, and transgender news be posted?

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

I'm not a big alphabet soup boy. We're a gay site - that covers the entire community. Otherwise, we'd have to post Q and all the other letters in order to prove that they're not being ostracized either. I've just never agreed with the fragmentization of the community, insisting that every member get their own letter, and if all the letters aren't quoted, then someone is being excluded. Rather than being more inclusive, the use of the letters, to me at least, signals disunity.

Caoimhe Ora Snow · 4 months ago

I think it's great that you've reversed your opinion, then, on the inclusion of trans people within the "gay" community, and now maintain that we should oppose attempts to promote disunity among the "alphabet soup."

You have, right?

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

It's funny, but I can smell a troll from a mile away, yet I still give them a chance to have an honest discussion, rather than coming here just to stir discontent. And I'm always disappointed. Bye now.

JJinChicago · 4 months ago

Well said, John. Thank you for saying what so many of us have always believed.

Jim Olson · 4 months ago

John, need a Gay-Blog link right on the masthead at A-Blog.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Yeah, we do need some kind of link at the top, I'm trying to figure out where and what

gloughlin42 · 4 months ago

GREAT idea, John & Joe!! Bookmarked it and love it already!

Soundboy_jeff_meanie · 4 months ago

umm... John, quick edit.

Prop 8 wasn't overturned last November... it was passed into law last November.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

doh! Thanks

Litterbox · 4 months ago

As a big fan of Americablog, thank you for doing this! Im not gay, but I want to follow the politics as you have done a very good job over the time Ive been here. That said, lately, its been gay gay gay gay gay etc. not that theres anything wrong with that of course, but it seemed as if the general political stuff was getting lost in the other, equally important, posting that was going on. Thanks for separating it.

Steve

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Yeah, we often go often on tangents on topics that are important to us, but rather than have that tug of war on gay stuff, we thought it best to have its own section, that way we dont' have to decide which news is more important on any given day.

Gridlock · 4 months ago

Well this is just segregation. Are we in the back of the bus?

*lol* totally just kidding. We just got a fabulous new bus all to ourselves!


PARTY OVER HERE!

*disco lights*

tlsintx · 4 months ago

woo hoooooo!
now all the grouch pots complaining about gay gay gay will finally be happy...and they'll be over at the party too...with their hands all up in tha air!

pwright600 · 4 months ago

Thrilled. I've emailed TalkingPointsMemo, another blog I read daily, and asked if they'd cover DODT and DOMA issues. They have not and its becomming more and more apparent that MSM and more main stream blogs are not going to cover the "big" gay rights issues let alone the all the ancillaries.

Shum Preston · 4 months ago

Brilliant!

I had been wondering if I had the skills/time/resources to start such a blog which is so obviously needed. Nope, don't, but will look forward to contributing to and reading yours. best of luck

postdamnit · 4 months ago

Thanks for this. This will help all of us keep track of what is happening with news that affects us all.

gaynumbers · 4 months ago

ACTBLUE OF GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISM

Hello- I have been asking for a while, but why is there not an Act Blue type fund raising effort in place? Why don't you include this? Just curious. Also, it seems there is also not a moveon type approach toward organizing gays in a concerted way on line. We seem really far behind the general progressive movement. I said so with prop 8 where it seemed that they were not maximazing the use of tech to go where they could drive up get out the vote efforts or push for early voting among key persuadables while reducing losses in more difficult areas of the state.

Guster · 4 months ago

Sounds great, long as you keep the Big Gay Stories here, and try to, erm, convert some traffic to the other site! One thing I value most about this blog is that it keeps me in touch with gay news that my straight self wouldn't otherwise know. (For which, btw, many thanks.)

hit_escape · 4 months ago

I hope it works well as a way to fine-tune the site. I suppose one could argue that the nuance issues are okay on teh gay site, but really, even the nuance issues affect all of us. Just don't hold back the really good stuff, ya' hear? :)

douglasgibsonjr · 4 months ago

Great idea. Keep up the good work.
https://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledg...

stldem · 4 months ago

This is such a good idea!
I believe it will be an important positive force in the struggle for Gay Civil Rights.

Karl-Thomas Musselman · 4 months ago

What a fantastic move. Glad to see the separate channel to improve coverage of both sides.

Robin Tyler · 4 months ago

Great idea John. Since we are the civil rights movement
of this century, I think that you should be giving space to
us, especially since you have such great and gutsy analysis. Let's hope we fill it with stories of flooding the courts with lawsuits, demanding the Democrats sign a comprehensive inclusive civil rights bill for all of us, and all of the other
wonderful stories, now that we have finally become awake,
and are starting to respond like a movement. Robin Tyler

edfou5 · 4 months ago

The Civil Rights Movement of the Century? Self-Obsessed? Moi?

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Be nice :-) Though I think we're clearly the most talked about civil rights group of the new century so far, so robin has a point there I think.

ndtovent · 4 months ago

Great idea, John. Thanks! I've been wondering about the lack of some prominent gay news stories on your blog, but now I know why. I'm all for it. Keep up the good work '-)

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

Well, I've skipped them for two reasons. Over the past two weeks, we've been working on the new site. But more generally, gay news has gone into overdrive. We've skipped the stories because on a site that covers US politics across the board, with the economy, Iran, the Supreme Court, health care reform and so many other issues hitting us on a daily basis, we simply couldn't go on posting 50% of the site as gay stories every day in and out. AMERICAblog was never intended to be mostly gay news, it was intended to be US politics with homosexual tendencies, as Andy calls his site. Lately we've been wanting to post more and more gay news, so we decided to launch a new section where we can go crazy, while still posting a good story or two a day here.

KISSman · 4 months ago

Awesome! Now AmericaBlog can go back to being somewhat normal again. I care about all issues including gay civil rights issues, but it had become overkill during the past couple months causing me to visit less and find new political/liberal resources. So hopefully this new blog will bring some stability back to this one.

easternburbguy · 4 months ago

I think you made the right decision, unless you want this site to be only known for it's gay rights advocacy.

offspring · 4 months ago

THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS

DMichaelS · 4 months ago

I would have to agree with Tony. Moving this information to its own section does mirror the separate but unequal issues that we face everywhere else. Taking gay news out of the regular blog removes that news from straight people who should read it, but who would not otherwise bother to seek it out. One of the main reasons we have no civil rights is because most straight people have absolutely NO idea what is happening to us. Well...... its been fun AmericaBlog, but I think I will have to be done with you. Thanks for bowing to the bigots.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

LOL oh dear God, relax will you. Is Gay.com separate but equal? Manhunt? All the gay blogs out there? The Washington Blade? LOGO TV? Seriously, we aren't allowed to launch a gay section of the blog, so we can write 10 times as much gay stuff as we do now, because somehow that will make us sell outs to the straight man? Think about the implications of what you're saying - we can't post 9/10ths of the good stuff we want to post because there isn't room on the blog as it's currently formated. This isn't a gay blog, it's a US politics blog. Setting up a gay blog let's us post far more info. And we're still cross posting here, in case you hadn't noticed :-)

jenjen64 · 4 months ago

No disrespect to you DM, but from what I gathered they are not going to actually be separate, just another link. I often go to the other links along the right side-bar so I can be as fully informed as I can. I then link on to numerous other sites on the 'net to learn even more. (just a naturally inquisitive sort, I am)
As for you leaving because of a new page with even MORE information, I find that odd. Wouldn't you want to know more?

debbietee · 4 months ago

I have every confidence you great guys can make this work. Yes, we straight liberals want to feel gay pain, but we also want to feel poor-health-black-brown-education-all inequalities pain, too. This new system should help with that.

While I have you, I do have a question. I thought HRC and Huma were a couple. Is Politico correct that she, Huma, is marrying Weiner. I did hear on Oprah that more women have "fluid" sexuality. It was a surprise to me. What can the Americablog group tell me about it, please.

eamurdock · 4 months ago

At first I was worried about this; I'm straight and have no particular horse in the race other than my interest in civil rights - so I know I'm not going to go out of my way to find this content. On the other hand I understand the need to have a place to publish more of it...

So all I'd ask is that you not neglect LGBT issues on the front page, as many of us who are not seeking gay-specific content are nonetheless still interested in keeping abreast of the politics thereof.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

We plan to go back to the reporting we did on gay issues before the DOMA brief exploded - hitting on it several times a week, and even sometimes several times a day. I'm actually quite surprised that folks fear we're somehow not going to be reporting on gay issues. The point is we want to report even more, but are constrained by the other non-gay news we also must report. And hell, do people honestly think I'm not going to be pushing the gay blog on the ABlog home page? Trust me, you're going to get sick of how often I'm pushing you over there to read stuff via our home page here :-)

nycwill · 4 months ago

amount of content is not the issue - you guys hit on a huge range. the issue, to me, is that when glbt topics are part of a general discourse then there's a better chance of not just glbt-specific readers clicking on them. pasturing out glbt-issues to a separate site seems to me to be inviting a one-note chorus, and not the variety that a'blog usually enjoys.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

You're not reading what I'm reading. Where did we say we're not reporting on gay issues on the home page?

nycwill · 4 months ago

you didn't, and i didn't accuse you of it. my concern is that some people who support our issues may not take that extra effort/moment to check out the other site. that's all.
when a poster like me writes a thoughtful post, it's out of a desire to help keep your blog amazing, not out of a desire to criticize.
thanks for a great site.

jenjen64 · 4 months ago

So John have you seen the article in CNN where a sociological study was done on gays in the military in other countries? I read it yesterday and was not surprised with the results. Saddened and disgusted at the American opinions..we are so arrogant. Anyway, I would like to see that on your new page.

underbear1 · 4 months ago

Good Luck with the new blog. I hope when you say gay news, it's inclusive of all LGBT news.

John Aravosis · 4 months ago

No, we thought we'd stick to bisexual news, which is understandably more Afghanistan focused than Iraq focused (what with Iraq being so lesbian and all :-) /snark

Dear God, everyone is such a worry wart.

cowboyneok · 4 months ago

bwahahahaa! That's funny!

Jophus · 4 months ago

I love the logo on the other page. The gay page.

I have a question then, because like other people I have concerns. If there is a big story and you post it on both sites at the same time, will they be the same addy? The reason I ask is because I fear some frequent commenters may not switch to the gay page and our comments will all be separated into gay analysis/questions and straight ones. Does that make sense?

I will likely be on the gay page more, because that is just a hot button issue for me. I don't want to miss out on what Busboy might say on a gay issue though. I'm kind of high and this may have only take 5 words to explain my question. I hope it makes sense.

BTW I support gay.americablog. People who are worried need to keep in mind that if there are problems that john has always been quick to fix them. Let it play out and just relax.

Mateo1970 · 4 months ago

The idea of the gay section is GREAT!! There are really no other gay news sites. Towle road has a horrible interface and a lot of superficial gossip. JMG is nice, but not enough content.

hizonor · 4 months ago

Whenever there is a change in the news media, even blog media, I think it reasonable for readers to presume the change is due to the bottom line. Making things better for readers is all well and good, and circulation is important. So are advertisers. In this case, one wonders if we will see the same advertisers in the new gay ghetto that we will see in the old Americablog. Just the other day, I saw an ad on this site and thought "I can't believe THEY advertise amid all this gay-positive content." Americablog may be a better fit for them today. It's still my favorite read on the internet.