.gay

Last updated
.gay
DotGay logo.svg
IntroducedSeptember 16, 2020 (general public)
TLD type Generic top-level domain (gTLD)
StatusActive
Registry Top Level Design
Intended use LGBT community
Documents Policies
Registry website https://www.ohhey.gay/

.gay is a top-level domain name. It was proposed in ICANN's New generic top-level domain (gTLD) Program, and became available to the general public in September 2020. Top Level Design is the domain name registry for the string.

Contents

History

Creation and contention

By 2011, the groups Dot Gay Alliance and dotgay LLC had expressed interest in operating the generic top-level domain (gTLD), [1] which became one of approximately 2,000 new gTLDs formally requested in 2012. [2] [3] The .gay gTLD was one of 84 that received applications in the "community-based category". [4] Some officials of conservative Arab nations opposed creation of the gTLD. [1] In 2012, the Saudi Arabian government objected to use of .gay domains, alongside the .baby, .bar, .casino, .islam, .sex., and .wine gTLDs and others. [5] [6] [7] The Saudi communications authority known as the Communications and Information Technology Commission said .gay domains "would promote homosexuality and would be offensive to 'many societies and cultures'". [6] In August, The Verge 's Kimber Streams said "several organized campaigns and petitions were filed against .sex and .gay domains in attempt to communicate large numbers of opposition." [8]

In April 2012, Top Level Design and three other applicants including dotgay LLC had applied to operate the gTLD. [9] In a guest column published by the LGBT publication PQ Monthly in October 2013, the domain name registry's CEO Ray King said he was inspired to apply for .gay by his late gay brother-in-law Clyde and other family members. King outlined why he wanted the gTLD to remain open in order to benefit the global LGBT community, using three main concepts: "Freedom of Choice", meaning the purpose of gTLDs like .gay and .lgbt should not be defined by gatekeepers; "Freedom of Speech", or not allowing censorship of content appearing on .gay domains; and the "Freedom to Register", suggesting there should not be a barrier to authenticate oneself as LGBTQ to register a .gay domain. In the latter concept, King argued against the need for domain purchasers to become a member of an "Authentication Partner" (LGBT organizations such as the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association or Human Rights Campaign), who would be required to create usernames and passwords for all of their members. According to King, "This means higher costs, disenfranchising many potential registrants such as youth and people in developing countries and also, forced identification, which to some may be anywhere from distasteful to outright dangerous. Further, there are many LGBTQ folks who simply do not wish to participate in formal organizations." [10] The column concluded by asking community members to express their support or opposition of an open .gay gTLD. [10]

In November 2013, Q Center, an LGBT community center in Portland, Oregon, published arguments by King on behalf of Top Level Design and Jamie Baxter on behalf of dotgay LLC; both groups expressed why they should be the registry for .gay, and were seeking community support. [11] [12] Slate magazine also covered the .gay contention. [13] dotgay LLC's community application was denied by ICANN's Community Priority Evaluation committee in October 2014. [14] [15] The decision was appealed and denied multiple times. The main reason for the denial was that the TLD ".gay" did not match defined dotgay LLC's stated community of LGBTQIA, and that the organizations in support were not necessarily representative of the global population; "There is no single such organization recognized by the defined community as representative of the community". [16]

In 2016, in an opinion piece published by The Wall Street Journal , L. Gordon Crovitz wrote: "[ICANN] also refuses to award the .gay domain to community groups representing gay people around the world. [ICANN's] ombudsman recently urged his group to 'put an end to this long and difficult issue' by granting the domain. [ICANN] prefers to earn larger fees by putting the .gay domain up for auction among for-profit domain companies." [17]

Launch

Logan Lynn (pictured performing in 2013) helped launch the gTLD .gay Logan Lynn performing at Beatbox in San Francisco, July 19th 2013.jpg
Logan Lynn (pictured performing in 2013) helped launch the gTLD .gay

Top Level Design was recognized by ICANN as the .gay registry on May 23, 2019, after competing applicants dropped their bids. [18]

The "Sunrise II" phase for registration began on April 6, 2020. Following a delay because of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Top Level Design offered to provide a limited number of domains to groups "working to foster digital Pride", [19] domains became available to the general public on September 16, 2020. [20] Twenty percent of registration revenue will benefit CenterLink and GLAAD; approximately $75,000 was raised, as of late September 2020. [21] [22]

The web series The Library, which explores LGBT slang and other concepts, debuted alongside the gTLD's launch. Logan Lynn, who helped with the launch, [23] said the 2020 release commemorated 50 years since the first pride parade. Domains have been registered by Roxane Gay, Grindr, Instinct , Billie Jean King, PFLAG, and George Takei. [21] [24]

Social media campaigns

Since its creation, .gay has launched a number of pro-LGBT social media and web campaigns. During the monkeypox outbreak in summer 2022, the site highlighted resources available to members of the LGBT community. [25] Similarly, .gay has also launched celebrations for International Transgender Day of Visibility, [26] Pride Month, [27] National Coming Out Day, [28] and more. Notable people – who .gay has profiled since its creation – include Rhea Debussy, [29] [30] Chris Mosier, [26] Angelica Ross, [31] Sophie, [32] and others.

Harassment protections

The gTLD offers harassment protections. According to Willamette Week 's Andrew Jankowski, "The .gay rights protections policy gives users a clear guide on making sites queer-friendly, while outlining behavior that gets would-be trolls banned from misusing the extension." [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ICANN</span> American nonprofit organization that coordinates several Internet address databases

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a global multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization head-quartered in the United States responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces and numerical spaces of the Internet, ensuring the Internet's stable and secure operation. ICANN performs the actual technical maintenance work of the Central Internet Address pools and DNS root zone registries pursuant to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) function contract. The contract regarding the IANA stewardship functions between ICANN and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the United States Department of Commerce ended on October 1, 2016, formally transitioning the functions to the global multistakeholder community.

A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.

.sa is the Latin alphabet Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Saudi Arabia. Domains of this type can be registered through SaudiNIC, a department of the Communications and Information Technology Commission. The Arabic alphabet ccTLD of Saudi Arabia is السعودية.

Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. A top-level domain is the last level of every fully qualified domain name. They are called generic for historical reasons; initially, they were contrasted with country-specific TLDs in RFC 920.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is the organization that manages the .ca country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Canada. Its offices are located at 979 Bank Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CIRA sets the policies and agendas that support Canada's internet community and Canada's involvement in international internet governance. It is a member-driven organization with membership open to all that hold a .ca domain. As of March 2023, there were more than 3.3 million active .ca domains.

A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet, alongside country-code top-level domains (ccTLD) and generic top-level domains (gTLD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afilias</span> Web domain registration company

Afilias, Inc. was a US corporation that was the registry operator of the .info, .mobi and .pro top-level domain, service provider for registry operators of .org, .ngo, .lgbt, .asia, .aero, and a provider of domain name registry services for countries around the world, including .MN (Mongolia), .AG, .BM (Bermuda), .BZ (Belize), .AC, .GI (Gibraltar), .IO .ME (Montenegro), .PR, .SC, .SH, .VC, and .AU (Australia). Afilias also provided ancillary support to other domains, including .SG (Singapore), .LA (Laos), and .HN (Honduras). It was merged into Identity Digital in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.web</span>

.web is a proposed top-level domain (TLD) that was created and assigned by an auction process to several bidding companies. It was awarded to Nu Dot Co LLC, which is primarily funded by Verisign.

An internationalized country code top-level domain is a top-level domain in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. IDN ccTLDs are specially encoded domain names that are displayed in an end user application, such as a web browser, in their language-native script or alphabet, such as the Arabic alphabet, or a non-alphabetic writing system, such as Chinese characters. IDN ccTLDs are an application of the internationalized domain name system to top-level Internet domains assigned to countries, or independent geographic regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.wiki</span> Generic top-level Internet domain

.wiki is a top-level domain name. Its purpose is to denote websites that are wikis. It was proposed in ICANN's New generic top-level domain (gTLD) Program, and became available to the general public on May 26, 2014. Top Level Design is the domain name registry for the string.

The domain name Dot Chinese Website (.中文网) is a new generic top-level domain (gTLD) in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. Dot Chinese Website is among many listed top level domains. Created along with the partner domain name Dot Chinese Online (.在线) by TLD Registry through Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (ICANN)’s new gTLD program launched in April 28, 2014. TLD Registry was founded in June 2008 in Finland with the mission to create essential new Chinese TLDs - intended mainly towards a Chinese-speaking audience. Because it is displayed in a simplified Chinese character language specific script, Dot Chinese Website is known as an Internationalized Domain Name (IDNs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Top Level Design</span>

Top Level Design is a company in the United States, and the domain name registry for the generic top-level domains .wiki, .ink, .design, and .gay. Ray King serves as its chief executive officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.club</span>

.club, often stylized as .CLUB and sometimes dot-club, is a top-level domain (TLD). It was proposed in ICANN's new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program, and became available to the general public on May 7, 2014. .Club Domains, LLC is the domain name registry for the string.

.design is a generic top-level domain name in the Domain Name System of the Internet. It was proposed in ICANN's new generic top-level domain (gTLD) program, and became available to the general public on May 12, 2015. Top Level Design was the domain name registry for the string until April 2021, when it was transferred to GoDaddy Registry.

Donuts Inc. was a domain name registrar and registry providing paid domain names under 270 new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), as made possible by ICANN's gTLD expansion program, as well as 173 other TLDs including .au (ccTLD) and .org, through its own registry status and contracts between its subsidiaries and other registries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.wtf</span> Generic top level domain

.wtf is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) run by Donuts, a gTLD registry. It is derived from "WTF", an online acronym for "what the fuck?".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">.lgbt</span> Sponsored top-level domain for the LGBT community

.lgbt is a sponsored top-level domain for the LGBT community, sponsored by Identity Digital. The domain name was delegated to the Root Zone on 18 July 2014. The creation of .lgbt is meant to promote diversity and LGBT businesses, and is open to LGBT businesses, organizations, and anyone wishing to reach the LGBT community.

.sexy is a generic top-level domain owned by Uniregistry. Delegated on 14 November 2013, .sexy was the subject of controversy due to opposition from the government of Saudi Arabia and privacy concerns regarding registering domains.

Identity Digital Inc. is a company with affiliated entities that operate in the domain name industry, including a domain name registrar and registry services provider. The company acquired the registry operator and back-end registry services divisions of Afilias, Inc. in 2020. Both Donuts Inc. and Afilias Inc. were rebranded and brought under the single company brand name Identity Digital in 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 Brito, Jerry (March 5, 2011). "ICANN vs. the World". Time . Archived from the original on October 23, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  2. ↑ Darlington, Shasta (April 18, 2019). "Battle for .amazon Domain Pits Retailer Against South American Nations". The New York Times . Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  3. ↑ Osborne, Charlie (November 21, 2012). "Government advisory agency files domain name protests". ZDNet . Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  4. ↑ Ramachandran, T. (July 2, 2012). "India shows little interest in new top level domains". The Hindu . Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  5. ↑ Sutton, Mark (August 17, 2012). "Saudi Arabia objects to new internet domain names". Arabian Business . Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  6. 1 2 Kelly, Heather (August 15, 2020). "Saudi Arabia objects to .gay and .islam domain names". CNN Business . Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Saudi Arabia opposes .gay internet domain name". BBC News. August 14, 2012. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  8. ↑ Streams, Kimber (August 22, 2012). "The public speaks out on ICANN's potential top-level domains". The Verge . Vox Media. Archived from the original on November 6, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  9. ↑ Rogoway, Mike (April 23, 2013). "Ray King steps down as AboutUs CEO, starts new Portland venture". The Oregonian . Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  10. 1 2 King, Ray (October 18, 2013). "Guest Opinion: .Gay and the LGBTQ Community". PQ Monthly . Portland, Oregon: Brilliant Media. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved October 3, 2014.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Note: Posted by Nick Mattos.
  11. ↑ King, Ray (November 21, 2013). "Queer Voices – Top Level Domains: The Future Of ".gay" (Perspective A)". Q Center. Archived from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
  12. ↑ Baxter, Jamie (November 21, 2014). "Queer Voices – Top Level Domains: The Future Of ".gay" (Perspective B)". Q Center. Archived from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  13. ↑ Naimark, Marc (November 20, 2013). "How the ICANN Top-Level Domain Scheme Puts LGBTQ Organizations at Risk". Slate . Graham Holdings Company. Archived from the original on October 1, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  14. ↑ "New gTLD Program Community Priority Evaluation Report Report Date: 6 October 2014" (PDF). ICANN. October 6, 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved October 7, 2014.
  15. ↑ .gay Community Priority Evaluation:
  16. ↑ "New gTLD Program: Community Priority Evaluation Report Report Date: 6 October 2014" (PDF). ICANN. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  17. ↑ Crovitz, L. Gordon (August 28, 2016). "An Internet Giveaway to the U.N.: If the U.S. abdicates internet stewardship, the United Nations might take control". The Wall Street Journal . Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  18. ↑ ".gay Registry Agreement". ICANN. May 23, 2019. Archived from the original on October 27, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  19. ↑ Allemann, Andrew (April 6, 2020). "Covid-19 delays .Gay domain availability". Domain Name Wire. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  20. ↑ Allemann, Andrew (September 16, 2020). ".Gay domain now available for all". Domain Name Wire. Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  21. 1 2 Street, Mikelle (September 9, 2020). "You Can Now Own a .Gay Website Domain — Get Them Fast". Out . Archived from the original on October 19, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  22. 1 2 Jankowski, Andrew (September 28, 2020). "A Portland Company Is Trying to Make the Internet Most Hospitable for the Queer Community". Willamette Week . Archived from the original on October 10, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  23. ↑ Street, Mikelle (September 17, 2020). "Meet the Man Helping to Build a Queer Section of the Internet". Out. Archived from the original on October 5, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  24. ↑ Randall, Devin (September 12, 2020). "Say 'Hey' to the New .Gay Domains!". Instinct . Archived from the original on October 12, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  25. ↑ ".gay Cares - Monkeypox: Protect Yourself, Your Friends, and Your Community". www.ohhey.gay. .gay. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  26. 1 2 ".gay and Dynadot Partner with Willow Pill, Chris Mosier, CenterLink and Others to Celebrate Trans Day of Visibility". www.ohhey.gay. .gay. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  27. ↑ "A Big DotGay Pride 2022". www.ohhey.gay. .gay. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  28. ↑ "Out & Proud". www.ohhey.gay. .gay. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  29. ↑ @dotgay (October 12, 2022). ""It's important to be visible for those who cannot. As someone who came from a biological family that didn't celebrate my identity, I've chosen to be as visible as possible, so younger queer and trans folks know that they aren't alone." - Dr. Rhea Debussy, Equitas Health" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. ↑ "Out & Proud:Dr. Rhea Debussy". www.ohhey.gay. .gay. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  31. ↑ ".gay Community Spotlight on: Trans Tech Social". www.ohhey.gay. .gay. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  32. ↑ "gay Music Monday Feature: Sophie". www.ohhey.gay. .gay. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.