We’ve already decided that you’re not leaving Facebook, but maybe that’s just because you haven’t found a better alternative. What if we told you there were social networking sites as versatile as Facebook but catered just to LGBTs? There aren’t—we looked. But we did find 12 other queer networking sites that might pique your interest, especially if you’re into people of color, bearded hipsters, popularity contests, the deaf, power suits, and the British. Won’t you let us take you on this sea cruise?
WHO’S ON THERE?: Going by the thumbnails of its 486 members, middle-aged white people, rainbow flags, a poodle named Fifi LaBouche.
THE BEST FEATURE: A credit system allows you to give other users gifts like red ruby slippers, Louis Vuitton bags, and a Cosmopolitan.
THE WORST: The entire video section has been deluged by hororscopes provided by some blonde quack named Jennifer Angel.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Only if you’d like to befriend a bunch of uncomfortably smiling gay men, several small dogs, and a handful of mediocre undergraduate artists.
WHO’S ON THERE?: Mostly blatino inner city LGBTs who are into the ball scene (think Paris Is Burning, vogue, and local drag pageants). They come from the House of Xceptional, Jourzon, and Labeija (so you betta look realer than real, bitch).
THE BEST FEATURE: The screen names like BanjeeGurl, DynamiqueElektrique, and Iwillsmokeyou. Plus, there’s lots of info about the still burgeoning ball scene—it’s not dead, just horribly strangled.
THE WORST: The site is an un-sexy bulletin board system with few tools for browsing profiles and one-on-one interaction. Of course, the real fun of the ball scene happens offline.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Only if you own a really great sequin sailor outfit and can throw some serious shade.
WHO’S ON THERE?: A bunch of gaymos in a perpetual digital popularity contest. And since it takes one to know one, we’ve written extensively about it.
THE BEST FEATURE: It lists local events and suggests what to wear, what to bring, when to arrive, when to leave, what sort of crowd and activities to expect.
THE WORST: There’s a store where you can buy a five-pack of briefs with “Fabulis” written on the fanny. Now people will know who your ass belongs to.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Only if you feel like letting Fabulis take over your Facebook account and finally quantifying your unpopularity.
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WHO’S ON THERE?: “Black Brothas/Sistas, Our Latino Brothas/Sistas, Our White Cousins and Our Far East Coast Cousins from China and India”
THE BEST FEATURE: With over 550,000 members, it’s like a hotter, sluttier version of MySpace with tons of boner-popping pictures of muscular gents in baseball caps and low-slung gym shorts, a section for user-written erotica, and a section for ranking users based on differing categories of sexiness (ie. sexiest poz, sexiest transgender, sexiest blatino). There’s even an “entertainment section” with such quality films as Thugged, Thug Pluggin’, and Thug Cock Love Orgy 2.
THE WORST: There is no worst feature, unless you’re one of those types who says, “Whites only please—just a preference, thanks.”
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Did you like R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet?
WHO’S ON THERE?: GLEE stands for “Gays, lesbians and everyone else,” but the site is mostly young LGBTQIAMNOPXYZs.
THE BEST FEATURE: It has user groups for drag kings, homosexual penguins, gay Iranians, Dumbledore’s Army, and Starbucks employees.
THE WORST: The site’s surprisingly asexual with only forums and user groups to keep you around.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Yeah, if you’re a teenager or just extremely bored. Or thought you were visiting the homepage of a certain Fox show.
WHO’S ON THERE?: Young hispanics and Asians.
THE BEST FEATURE: There’s only 2 user groups: one for the Emo Rapper Gay Fan Club and one for older4younger/younger4older. Both have 1 member.
THE WORST: It’s a digital ghost town and they make you wait a long time to approve your account. I applied yesterday and am still waiting.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Dear God no.
WHO’S ON THERE?: Mostly clean-cut white guys with facial hair.
THE BEST FEATURE: All the shirtless pics and the “Queer & Questioning” section which features such inquiries as, “A trick stole an article of clothing as a trophy. Should I see him again?”, “Would you watch a dvd of your death?”, and “What do you think of my ‘EAT DA POO POO’ remix?”
THE WORST: Their regularly updated news section excludes a certain witty gay blog which you’ve grown to love.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: All clean-cut shirtless men with “Eat Da Poo Poo” remixes should definitely apply.
WHO’S ON THERE?: Mostly Asians and other LGBTs of color with varying degrees of outness.
THE BEST FEATURE: The site is geared towards a sort of cruisey interaction with sections for flirting, a way to locate members close to your area, and lots of “randomize” buttons for finding new members you might have otherwise missed.
THE WORST: Their chat rooms had more than one person posting questions like, “Pot pot naman kung mag-iiIM kayo ayusin nyo naman makipag-usapok????” which is great as long as you speak, uh… that language.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Maybe. The site’s either poppin’ or on its way down. It’s also owned by LOGO, which might explain why.
WHO’S ON THERE?: Lots of adorable, witty British hipsters (and some Yanks).
THE BEST FEATURE: The user photos are artistic and sexy and there are lots of fun forums with intelligent thoughts on Israeli politics, Sex and the City’s homophobia, life lessons learned from porno, and robot unicorns. Plus, the group section includes a section for “adult groups” with headings like “Stupendously Large Cocks”, “born-again virgins”, and “the emporium of filth.” Fun!
THE WORST: There’s only one large chat room and no IM features to connect with the myriad of very sexy blokes. You’ll have to message them and simply hope they’ll reply.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Yes, but only if you’re comfortable making acquaintances 4,330 miles away.
WHO’S ON THERE?: 13 deaf LGBTs. No really. Just 13. I was number 13 and I’m not even deaf.
THE BEST FEATURE: First off, it’s a site for deaf LGBTs—how cool is that? Second, the site layout is very clean. So clean in fact, you’ll wish there were more buttons dirtying up the place to help you find content and browse profiles.
THE WORST: The site has chosen a very hard to read font which will eventually make you blind too.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: No. Even if you are deaf, the site seemingly has very little worth listening up for.
WHO’S ON THERE?: Gay professionals with a fun streak mostly from London.
THE BEST FEATURE: The site is slick as hell, from the black floral wall paper to all the pics of men in power suits making important calls. Plus, it’s actually set up for professional networking with an eye towards collaboration, mentoring, and trading services (no, not those kind of services, ya perv).
THE WORST: Becoming a full member costs $240 a year. But considering the small size of Britain and all the perks that come with membership, if you’re serious about gay professional networking, joining might not be such a bad idea.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: Do you have a charcoal grey suit, an actual job, and a London flat? Then tally-ho.
WHO’S ON THERE?: Lots of frisky young gay men.
THE BEST FEATURE: The site has an eye towards sexiness with lots of fun groups, private pictures, and flirting features to connect locally with men of similar, err… interests.
THE WORST: Random hookers will try to befriend you just to up their exposure. Plus, the site actually expects you to pay $25 every three months for the ability to block users, e-mail more people, and change your screen name. Dumb.
SHOULD YOU SWITCH?: What? You didn’t already join this site back in 2006 and then leave it a few months later?
Matt Baume
Aw, no love for dot429?
Dee Eugene
Haha, I’m not surprised that BGCLive is on here. I have an account and it’s a good site for the most part…if you use it correctly. Avoid the forums if you can’t throw or handle shade and please remember that what you see isn’t always what you get. BGCLive got some negative press, but I enjoy it. Especially if you’re black/Latino and are looking for others to connect in your area. Oh, and ignore the “Distance” thing to let people know how far you are away from each other, BGCLive is NOT a sex site. *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*
keith
Does the Fabilus logo look like a sphincter on purpose or is it supposed to be subliminal?
ossurworld
This piece was about as helpful as a toothache.
Reece Manley
Queerbook is happy to have all the very gay folk we can win over to the rainbow side!
Zach
@ossurworld:
I thought it was a rare bit of amusing snark from Queerty.
Ladd Bosworth
Daniel- I’ve added Qweerty to the Connexion News section! Thanks for the mention!
chris scott
Hey, that photo of mingecrackaway on Thingbox is mine. Fame at last!
Andrew
That photo of mingecrackaway was OF me. I’M MORE FAMOUS
Yet Another
Yeah, uh ok.
BGClive’s experience will depend on what you’re there for and maybe who you are. It’s really not that diverse and sometimes that limits the interaction. The forums really are a playground for young attitudinal gays to run around talking about each other, music videos, sex acts and so on. Less frequently there’s truly good discussion, but thats the exception, not the rule. They’ve worked pretty consistently on upgrading the site but its still not that polished.
I don’t go on often because it sits too squarely in the gray area of hook up site and myspace. When I’m in the mood for one, I’m not remotely interested in the other.
POHLEE
CAN YOU HELP ME, WHAT FREE DATING SITES OR FREE SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES FOR BI MEN OR GAYS AND ETC… THAT CAN SURELY HELP ME TO FIND MY PERFECT GUY? PLEASE GIVE ME MORE SITES SO THAT I CAN CHOOSE. THANK YOU
RAY
Re: Black sites:
BLKM4M.com was pretty good, but only lasted a year. BGM.xitti.com was also good but just got pulled after only about 3 months. BigBlkMuscles.com became my recent favorite, but after I made more than 200 friends there and was a full participant, the tyrant there yesterday just deleted me. Another member warned me that the owner, called “BBM”, was a creep and could expect my days would be numbered. The tyrant does not seem to like even well-behaved, respectful white boys on the site, if you ask me. You can join it, but at your own risk. No frontal nudity there, and be sure to couch all talk in subtle double-entendres.
ED R
This article was worthless.
Mari @ I'm Awesome, Thanks!
Taking the liberty to add http://www.ImAwesomeThanks.com to the list. A platonic, free social network for the queer community where you can create a profile, blog / journal (in members only area) and meet your next BFF 🙂
hoyaa
a new social network is online http://www.sloupit.com you should check it out it’s very good!
geogeo
One of the best looking gay social networks is http://www.manjam.com
This is my favorite as it works really well on my phone and tablet and has lots of very sexy guys