This column ventured into many different territories of the World Wide Web in 2008, so in honor of the recently completed Year of the Rat, I’d like to take a look back at some of the topics and sites that kept our minds occupied and entertained.
Perhaps a prelude to our current economic state, the very first topic we covered last year was job hunting. At the time, both Monster and Yahoo had job sites that underperformed for the LGBT community, with only a handful of LGBT-listed jobs on each. Our main focus was Pro Gay Jobs (www.progayjobs.com), which, with an extensive and free searchable database of LGBT business and nonprofit employers, remains king.
Since then, however, Monster.com has revamped its gay and lesbian page (found in the diversity and inclusion section), which has articles on building coworker support, how to handle homophobia and the year’s best LGBT workplaces. While it is true that many workplaces grew more inclusive in 2008, with Obama in the White House and the Employment Non Discrimination Act on the table, this year is sure to create even more waves.
Speaking of Mr. Obama, we were pleased with his LGBT Web page (www.pride.barackobama.com), mostly about the fact that he actually had one, but also about things like printable “Obama Pride” logos and easily found LGBT Obama events. Now that he has been elected, the site’s purpose seems to have been lost, with hardly any new content since November. But, it is still a place to find the president-elect’s LGBT voting record, Human Rights Campaign questionnaire and a YouTube video of his election-night victory speech in Chicago.
YouTube certainly helped to spread the message of hope and change for our next president. Fortunately for us, it also helped spread Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern’s message of hatred and intolerance. We broached the subject of using YouTube to fight homophobia, just like the person who uploaded the antigay tirade Kern made last March.
Once the audio of Kern’s speech hit the Web, containing quotes like “[Homosexuality] is the death knell of this country,” people flooded her office with calls and she became yet another infamous figure in the LGBT community. Unfortunately, but perhaps not surprisingly, Kern easily won reelection in November with a 15-percent lead. We can’t win all our battles, but we can keep working hard to fight homophobia.
But how is one supposed to keep track of all the homophobes out there? Beyond Homophobia (www.beyondhomophobia.com) was another site we took a close look at. There, Dr. Gregory Harek gives both information and insight into homophobia found around our country, including in the Department of State, religious organizations and even our own community. Updated frequently, the site now sports a fascinating read on the psychological harm that antigay ballots have on our community, as well as whether or not Proposition 8 in California was aided by a gay Bradley effect — that is, whether voters told pollsters they opposed the ban on same-sex marriage but then went on to vote for it.
While it may be hard to tell whether the Bradley effect influenced the outcome of Prop. 8, we were all certainly saddened by its passage. But sadness turned to anger as thousands marched in protest in our cities, drawing national attention and changing quite a few minds in the process. The most recent polls showed that 8 percent of people who previously voted for Prop. 8 would no longer support it. Join The Impact (www.jointheimpact.com) was responsible for much of the organizing of the Nov. 15 protests as well as Day Without A Gay in December. Let’s hope this organization continues to deliver inspiring and creative ways for us to make a difference in the community.
All in all, we’ve had a fulfilling year. While we may have taken one step back with Prop. 8, we took a huge leap forward in electing Obama, and had other reasons to be proud, such as the 11 openly LGBT Olympic athletes in Beijing and the death of Jesse Helms. Here’s to many more leaps as we begin our new year. Happy 2009!
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