Sometimes I look around at the world and I am amazed at how far the LGBTQ movement has made it so far. I came out in high school - around 1989 - and for a senior English assignment, I wrote a paper about "gay culture." Honestly, it was just an excuse for me to "research" anything that was remotely queer.
Growing up there weren't any books in the county library about gays - nothing in the school library either. I actually had to look up "homosexual" in the encyclopedia to find out if I was one. For source material, I had to drive one county south to Earlham College to find maybe five books - though none were truly relevant. I struggled as a teenager to find scraps about our community, but in today's world, the LGBTQ world is just a click away.
I never conquered that need for knowledge about our community. I want to know about drag queens, bears, dykes, faggots, gender queers, twinks, and transgender men and women. I want to understand the reasoning behind radical queers and establishment yuppies. I want to know if politicians, celebrities, authors or activists are from my tribe and I want to know what they think about our issues.
I am so proud to look at The Bilerico Project and the potential that we hold for someone as thirsty as I was then and remain today. I am still humbled that so many intelligent and thoughtful individuals would choose to join me as I stumble around all that our community touches on.
While I may have had to fight years ago to find the contributions of LGBTQ people, now we have over 30 prominent contributors at The Bilerico Project who are willing to document their thoughts, their ideas, their passions, dramas, politics and complaints. We will leave a record. We will be heard, read and discussed. We will make a mark on those who are here now and those still to come - these are our stories for you to read and watch and interact with.
Today bilerico.com goes Web 2.0. We offer a comic strip, an entertainment and gossip video blog, an advice column and a video web short from the director of The L Word on the same site as the musings of some of the brightest minds in the LGBTQ community. Plus, we have a new look, a new daily blog round up e-mail, and even a MySpace page. Every day will truly be a new experiment in LGBTQ as we continue to expand and serve the community.
So, welcome to The Bilerico Project. When you want something queer, you can click here without having to travel to another county. Come in and make yourself at home; tell us about yourself and your perspectives. Read what we have to say and agree or argue with us. But settle in for a while... We'll be here till everyone's satisfied - and that could be a while.
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2 Comments
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YIPPEE!! Hey Bill! Congrats! Love Buck
Buck | July 9, 2007 11:01 AM
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Congratulations, Bil!! You should be proud.
brynn | July 19, 2007 4:57 PM
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