40 Activists Walk Into A Room....

Pictured above are the journalists, activists, researchers, allies and bloggers that attended this weekend's Haas Fund-sponsored conference on LGBT youth homelessness, suicide prevention, and immigration equality. All very good people.

UPDATE: Via the Windy City Times, here's everybody's names (from left to right).

Michael Rogers, Eden James, Phil Reese, Andrés Duque, Karen Ocamb, Jeremy Hooper, Jean Albright, Tracy Baim, Ksen Pallegedara, Zack Ford, Joe Mirabella, Carl Siciliano, Chris Geidner, Rod McCullom, Daniel Villarreal, Adam Bink, Chris Johnson, Ed Kennedy, Jerame Davis, Caitlin Ryan, Jason Cianciotto, Bil Browning, Rex Wockner, Elizbeth Plata, Matt Comer, Shannon Minter, Sunni Brydum, Andrew Belonsky, Joe Jervis, Cynthia Laird, Michael Jones, Liza Sabater, Ann Haas, Ed Plata.

HomoQuotable - Bil Browning

"Knockoffs are tiring; how many impromptu-but-choreographed flash mobs can there be before the idea is finally given a rest? Worse though, are the copycats that try to be something they're not. Instead of putting forth something brilliant and groundbreaking, they recycle something, put a new brand on it and try to spin it to the consumer as superior to the product they're aping. (Hello, Microsoft. I'm looking at you!)

As I've been watching some of GetEqual's recent tactics and behind-the-scenes positioning, I can't help but get the same uneasy feelings. I'm starting to feel as if I've been sold a bill of goods; I wanted orange juice but got Tang. Instead of a radically different, transparent and community-focused direct action organization, I got HRC Lite (now with more action!)." - Bilerico Project co-founder Bil Browning, from a lengthy and scathing commentary on GetEQUAL.

Pam Spaulding responds:

My two cents (and with full disclosure of course, Autumn [Sandeen], who participated in the last GE WH protest and was arrested, is a Blend barista) is that GetEqual isn't even close to HRC lite, since there is a level of transparency with the public that HRC has never had, as exhibited by all of the facts about who's paid what and where the money comes from, and who is guiding the organization and their backgrounds. A good amount of Bil's post goes to nailing down the salaries of Kip Williams, Robin McGehee and Heather Cronk, GetEqual's new Managing Director. Basically, their pay ranges from $70K-90K; the organization doesn't have ongoing support to fund their employment or provide stability down the road, so it's natural to examine the story behind GetEqual, but I don't see a valid comparison to HRC in any form of fashion. GetEqual doesn't proclaim to speak for the entire LGBT community, nor does it lobby or have official access. By its very nature -- impromptu protests that rankle the establishment, GE is not likely to gain it either.

How Sexy Is Too Sexy For Gay Blogs?

Over at Mediaite, Michael Triplett has posted an interesting look into the editorial decisions of (mostly male) gay bloggers, who must carefully tread the line between hard news LGBT activism and the desire of some of their readers to see the occasional bit of beefcake. The column arises out off a feud between (now former) Bilerico blogger David Badash and the site's editor, Bil Browning, after Browning wrote a post about a porn site featuring Mormon men masturbating.

Open up almost any LGBT newspaper or click on almost any gay blog and you are going to see a little sex. Whether it’s shirtless models posing in underwear (or less), ads for sex chat lines, escort classifieds, or just regular advertising that features guys busting out of their tight shirts or jeans, sex is everywhere. And it helps keeps gay publications and blogs afloat. In addition, there is the added layer that sexuality is what unites its readership. Sexuality isn’t a dirty word for many LGBT media consumers and glorifying–even objectifying–sexuality isn’t problematic. In responding to Badash’s concerns, Browning conceded “[s]exy pictures always bring in viewers. I’m not ashamed of using that mentality to continue to bring new readers to one of the smartest, sharpest and controversial LGBT websites where you can talk openly about anything remotely queer.” Browning called the correlation between sexy posts, increased page views, and advertising impressions that lead to more income a “win-win” and that the content of the site was not lessened by a few posts that have a sexual content that appeal to gay men. Browning’s site is not all “boys in underwear” and porn links; far from it. With a large number of lesbian and transgender columnists, it reads more like a queer studies lecture than a porn-script. In fact, there are actually very few photographs visible on the site’s homepage.

Triplett points to Towleroad as an example of a site that frequently features shirtless hotties as post subjects, yet has the reputation (and resultant traffic) as the top LGBT news site in the nation. As longtime readers know, I've only very rarely gone the beefcake route, although I think it's totally fine within limits. (I should probably start a Bear Of The Day feature or something.) Sometimes I do worry that the banner ads, which I don't see until you do, might cross the line into NSFW and cause a reader some problems at the office, but the service is very responsive whenever I ask for a change.

Triplett makes the excellent point that comparable straight sites often feature at least as much skin or frank sexual language as the average gay news site, but appear to suffer little criticism for it. Is JMG too porn-ish? Do you tend to dismiss an LGBT activism site as non-serious if they occasionally veer into sexual imagery? Obviously, this is a decades-old dilemma for gay print, but a relatively recent issue for gay blogs which are mostly read at work. Like you are doing right now.