Hi Dana
Sorry about losing your job at Merrill Lynch. You probably knew my friend Todd Sears. He is now with UBS as the LGBT liason. Best to you. The global meltdown spells depression.

Many, many congratulations to both Dana and Bilerico! Mombian has been daily reading for me since not too many months into my parenthood (after the proverbial Google search for lesbaian + parent/mother + HAAAALP! + AM-I-REALLY-ALONE?).

Dana is an utterly invaluable resource to LGBT parents online, truly. Invaluable. Her mix of breaking political news, astute analysis, and other matters of interest to parents is unbeatable. Smart move, Bilerico! Particularly concerning how abundantly clear it is that queer families are rapidly coming into focus (and under fire) on the front lines of the movement.

Well, if you are going to "expand" the project, how about "expanding" the scope of inviting diverse people from the GLBT community to contribute, either as a staff member or contributor ??? There are lots of voices and ideas out there that haven't been heard........

The only "expansion" I am seeing is the recruitment of more and more "GL" corporate figures to be involved with this blog. Sorry Ms. Rudolph, but being a former "community" global marketing big shot from Merrill Lynch doesn't necessarily qualify you to be an instant journalist...............

Sorry I forgot, if a person is in the corporate "GL" boys and girls ONLY club, then he or she is instantly in, regardless of qualifications...... After all, isn't that how the system works these days ????

Ms. Rudolph,

OK fine..... Let's say hypothetically if I were to write a long comment here with an entire list of people, including myself whom I thought could provide diverse and credible contributions to this blog and to other blogs like it. Would I or the people I recommend ever be "invited" to write articles here or at other media outlets expressing our views and /or experiences ?? And would we ever get credit or recognition for perhaps introducing a good point or surfacing a harsh reality ??

I've been following this blog, as well as others in the community for some time now and I have learned one hard, undeniable fact. Historically, the answer to the above questions is a solid NO....... The only way someone is going to write for the GLBT media these days is if they are a political "activist", corporate GLBT "consultant", internal corporate "GL" executive, a member on some Board of Directors or Business Council for a GLBT non-profit, an esteemed academia professor, or if they just happen to be in the corporate/political/media/non-profit crony circle !! Ask anyone from the everyday GLBT community in any city in America who was approached by a blog host or by a local media rag about voicing their opinions and see how many "yes" answers you get............The people who are already in these circles, well they continue to shrug their shoulders and say "well, that's just the way it is".....

So, I can help find names of folks to contribute, however don't expect my list to be laden with GLBT corporate and political A-list "luminaries", because quite frankly, I feel that they have been given excessive media attention and idolatry to the point that it has become sickening and way too overrated.........

Sure, it is no lie that I am halfway finished writing a book about my experiences or that I knew and had meetings with corporate VPs of my former employer, or even that I was instrumental in implementing a revision to one of the company diversity policies while I was there, things some in the corporate protectionist circles subtly fail to mention, yet the closest thing I can come to making a contribution to a media blog or paper, is being allowed ONLY as a commentor, whose comments get filed away in the archives to be said and quickly forgotten.

I'm afraid I must disagree concerning the feeling that editors are aware of the need for more diverse ideas and perspectives. The only ideas that seem to be important, much less heard these days are those which match the "status quo" shared by the circles mentioned above. The rest of us ?? Well............perhaps someday when all of the community peacock strutting is over and people truly want to be inclusive and expansive. I just don't see that happening right now under the current GLBT "leadership" or media structure. I mean, the current system works for the political and corporate GLBT people, so why screw up a good thing if it works for THEM, right ???

Thank you for your time.