I think a straight contributor or two is a great idea.

I've been advocating this for a while, although I've never found a straight person so....

But seriously, the last thing I want is for TBP to turn into a safe space. It isn't supposed to be safe - too many people disagree here. From everything I've seen, "safe space" means "Cloistered," which is the opposite of the point of this site.

Yeah, we shouldn't take on anyone who isn't willing/able to be a part of a productive discussion of LGBT issues, but they don't have to be LGBT. But they just usually are.

There are many straight trans people out there. Would they qualify? Polar is straight. Out of the 8 trans people you have as contributors (about 12%) you don't have any self identified straight crossdressers. And, you haven't added a trans person in a very long time. People are starting to talk. (grin)

I know of a straight ally here in Atlanta who has been at several NCTE lobby days and goes to many LGBT events here in Atlanta, including TDOR. Her name is Julianna Illari.

I'll put aside any ruminations on the meaning of "straight" in a world that's queerer than it wants to acknowledge ;-)

But here's my question: is this person, who seems to already be set up as a "straight ally" by most people here (excluding Alex, who rightly points out that this isn't supposed to be a "safe" space) really going to be that interesting to read? Will they ever write anything than the standard "I'm straight but I love my gay friends and support them" blogs? And will their posts ever be anything more than a giant yawn?

I guess my issue is less with this person's sexual orientation/gender identity/gender/sexual configuration but with the quality of their writing, and by that I don't, obviously, mean grammar. Will this be just a token straight person who pops up every now and then to "affirm" us or will they actually be interesting?

For instance: A straight person who will actually dare to be critical of the standard holy trinity of gay marriage, hate crimes legislation, and DADT, and who actually comes from the left and not with the usual wishy-washy liberal/progressive perspective - *that* would be interesting.

Hopefully, if you do pick such a person, he/she will be more than an "ally." I find our straight allies insufferably boring and even pompous as they strut around with their standard gay-affirming lines. In a blogosphere that already teems with blah writing, a boring person is the last thing we need around here.

I think you shouldn't pretend, Bil, that this question hasn't already been dealt with, implicitly if not explicitly. (There is nothing wrong with re-visiting a question, but let's not pretend it's a new issue.)

Sheila Kennedy was a TPB contributor for quite some time (maybe back when TBP was just "Bilerico"), and I always enjoyed her posts. They were well-written, and often took an interesting perspective. (Yes, Yasmin, some straight do come up with interesting POV's. But you're right, it can't be just anybody.)

It wouldn't bother me. I would sill like to see a regular bi contributor who present s a bi perspective on things.

I think it would be somewhat hypocritical of us to ask the "straight" world to be inclusive of LGBTs and our opinions but exclude them from our discussions here. In the true spirit of acceptance I think we should absolutely welcome non-LGBT contributors.

Seems like a fine idea to me, with the caveats that Yasmin and Alex posed.

"I would hope that a wise heterosexual with the richness of his or her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion on an LGBT blogsite than a queer one who hasn’t lived that life, at least not openly." I think I heard that quoted by somebody at today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. No?

I've seen spirited comments on Bilerico where gays and lesbians can't get along with transgender persons. In fact, gays can't get along with lesbians in many parts of the country, and heck. Transpersons can't agree with other transpersons concerning everything we say.

If we are afraid of getting boring with a straight ally, why not have someone with opposing views as a guest blogger? Our friend, Sally Kern, comes to mind.

Bil and Alex: Get out the moderating pen! There would be some very choice comments. I don't think Sally would ever learn much about us, but there are good, sincere people out there with lots of questions. If you invited someone like that to write a column, I'm sure you would get some interesting replies.

With a valid exchange of ideas, perhaps we could do some educating. I think that would be a good thing.

I seem to be out of sink with people here but why have a token straight person? I mean I know that there are wonderful straight people who write wonderfully, but don't we read them anyway? I mean if I want to know what the straight world thinks all I have to do is open a newspaper or turn on the TV/Radio. Everywhere I look I see what straight people think, I come here because I want to know what GLBT people think. We as a community have so few places where we have a voice and its so hard for us to be heard I would far rather hear from more of the GLBT community. Why give a voice to someone who is already on the top of a mountain with a loud-haler deafening us all.

Frankly, I was surprised to hear that there aren't any straight folks already contributing to Bilerico. (OK, so I'm slow sometimes.)

For me, it's essential to remember that many integral members of queer communities happen to be straight. Think about folks who have grown up with gay parents, and other family members. And, clergy who have risked their livelihoods to support the gay folks in their midst. Don't forget supportive straight spouses of bisexuals, as well as straight spouses of those who came out as gay or trans in mid-marriage. And, teachers who have helped to make GSAs possible.

I think of these folks more as members of the community than as allies or supporters. To think of them as different or separate would feel artificial.

I think Yasmin is one of the most annoying people I have never met. Queer she rants about being boring and predicatble...

It was reccomended to me that as a crossdresser/bigender that I raise my hand as a contributer.

Where do i sign?

:D

I have no objections to straight contributions to Bilerico, though I wonder if that would be better served by running any particularly good guest posts that are sent in than having a regular straight contributor, particularly given that there's a cap on the number of people the site gives a voice to as regular contributors. I'm willing to be proven wrong on that by a brilliant, fascinating straight contributor, though.

As far as I've been able to tell, what Bilerico is really lacking is bisexual bloggers. I don't think I've ever seen a blogger here identify as bisexual or talk about the way being bi colors their experience in the world, and a quick glance through the contributor bios fails to turn up that particular word (oops, except in Mercedes Allen's but a) in the months I've been reading I don't recall seeing her blog about bisexuality, and b) out of fifty, one is hardly enough). I think it's wonderful that you have pansexual- and nonmonosexual queer-identified bloggers, and to a great extent those are similar perspectives, but it still seems like not having any active bi-identified bloggers is a huge oversight for an LGBT blog. I'd love to see that addressed before serious efforts to recruit straight bloggers are underway.

Now that I've said that, though, I should really stop procrastinating and get around to applying.