Dem Convention's Gay Blog Selection Raises Eyebrows
 
 

saltines.jpg
They may not know who will be their nominee, but the Democratic National Committee has already started compiling their press for this summer's convention.

As part of their effort to include homo-journos, the DNC accredited two explicitly gay blogs: Pam's House Blend, which is penned by a black lesbian from North Carolina, and a New York-based blog: Towleroad, which is run by a white man.

And the latter has Bil Browning over at fellow applicant Bilerico not only a bit bitter, but downright confused:

Towleroad is not known for racial diversity, trans inclusion, or its lesbian audience. It is a site for wealthy gay white men – the HRC demographic.

When was the last time you saw serious in-depth political coverage on Towleroad or committed coverage of an issue from multiple angles or guest posts from members of Congress and Presidential candidates?

Towleroad has a niche – upperclass white gay men; it's not that diverse. Maybe there are too many letters for the DNC to spell LGBT. When we first launched, Alex would often use the line, "Not everything queer is marriage, martinis and Madonna." Maybe we should have stuck with the big 3 Ms after all.

Ouch!

 
 
Fark Digg StumbleUpon Del.icio.us Reddit
Comments (23)

No. 1 · victor

since when is the act of reading putting people into a demographic? the web is word on an electronic page. the beauty is that ANYONE can read what they like. though i may skim comments on the free republic website doesn't make me a republican.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 10:59 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 2 · vince

I may be a gay, white male, but I'm definitely not rich, or even upper class. I'm more like poor, lower middle class. Andy and Pam are my main blogs. Bilerico is just not a very good site.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:18 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 3 · jbran

Sure, the audience is shallow, but Towleroad is a pretty well-written blog.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:20 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 4 · Jack Scribe

Guilty as charged. I may be 'shallow', but I also donate funds to GLBT-friendly candidates. Andy's Towlerroad is well-written and very inclusive.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:24 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 5 · Matt

Don't forget the other M on Towleroad, Mario Lopez. Everytime he shits he is on there lol. Oh and Michael Phelps too.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:38 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 6 · Matt

Oh and Michael Lucas

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:38 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 7 · Ted B. (Charging Rhino)

Err, who's this "Bilerico"?

I swear the Dhimnicrats have the most suicidal urges when it comes to "diversity", …get over it! "Gay" doesn't always have to slavishly include the lesbians, or for that matter the whole "B-T-I-x-y-z" litany.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:44 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 8 · david

I am not white, and I'm not upperclass (I may have recently spent far too much money on a set of Prada shades, but whatever). I am a Latino guy who has read Towleroad daily for the past couple of years. I have had disagreements with some of the coverage on Andy's site (for instance, his clear pro-Obama stance), but I find his blog to be the best-written, most interesting, most consistently intelligent, and most relevant gay blog on the net (sorry Queerty).

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:46 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 9 · Darth Paul

Does it really matter? Competition for the token attention and graces of one of the most corrupt and past-due organizations (the GOP is, of course, the greater evil, but whatev) isn't much to be proud of. If you cut through the uninspiring hype, you'll find after the hoopla that we remain yet another minority whose vote is taken for granted.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 1:00 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 10 · Charlotte

Well I attended the 2004 convention & the Dems were afraid to use the G-word. :) I don't think this convention is going to be much better. We'll just have to dish them from the sidelines. :)

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 1:10 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 11 · Speed Reader

Andy's a hack. He is not a writer, but more of a content editor. For example, Watch his RSS feed and watch vs. gay gossip message board Datalounge's time stamps, and you'll see the stories trickle in just after they're posted on DL.

And while I am clear that many of you love his editorial choices, there are far, far, far more gay political blogs that are deserving of this plum position. At least we know we'll get some critical thinking from Pam.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 2:10 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 12 · Ryan

That critique may have had teeth, if not for the fact that Pam's Blend is as inclusive as it gets. Towleroad just happens to be one of the most successful and popular GLBT blogs out there – that's why it got access. This isn't a controversy at all, it actually makes sense.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 2:28 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 13 · CAm

Ok, so let me get this straight. They already have a lesbian blogger, so since the other guy is all about niches, lets say that the lesbians are represented. Additionally, the author of that blog is African American so lets say that that blogger is representing both African Americans and Lesbians. Is he saying that since white and latino gay men most likely represent 80-90% of the remaining demographic of that gay community. That the Dem party should ignore that gigantic group, with a history of donating in favor of a blog representing Transgendered or sexually ambigious radical fairies? Is that guy for real?

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 3:55 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 14 · andrew

I personally agree with the last two comments. Glad to know I'm not the only one who sees RSS repetition. But, that said, the DNC's smart in enlisting his toe-the-line approach. When was the last time he took on the organization's gay placating? Or, for that matter, stated any concrete opinion on – well, anything?!

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 3:55 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 15 · andrew

PS: Guess why I chose that image?

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 3:56 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 16 · Matt

Could someone explain this RSS thing to me?

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 4:22 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 17 · Speed Reader

Video: RSS in plain English:

http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 4:38 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 18 · Matt

Thanks Speed. I appreciate it.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 6:52 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 19 · tofer david

towleroad is and has been in the tank for obama all along. unfortunately he acts like the rest of the liberal media and ignores any relevant investigation of obama. that is not journalism it is the beginning of fascism.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 8:56 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 20 · James Greenlee

Towleroad is for rich ggys, really? I'm a big fan of the site, and I've never been rich. It's true that there isn't a TON of original content, but there is definitely an attitude, and what is original is almost always interesting. It's certainly got a lot more heart than something like The Drudge Report. There's something sour-grapey going on here.

And this talk of "in the tank for Obama" is strange too. If that is true, it would seem that DailyKos, AmericaBlog, Democratic Underground–in truth most liberal sites I've seen–are in the tank too. I keep wondering where the "in the tank for Hillary" sites are. But she's dunzo, so what difference does it make now?

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:22 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 21 · hell's kitchen guy

Who cares? The conventions are the most canned, scripted non'news events of the year. nobody pays atention to them anymore except the pundits on the all-news channels and the 15 people who watch them.

Posted: May 30, 2008 at 11:33 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 22 · hisurfer

Not really, HKG. What you see on the tv is canned and scripted, to be sure. There's a fair amount of real work that goes on behind the scenes involving platform writing and positioning. Whether the platform actually means anything is another matter. I do know a lot of groups that try to attend to get their issues on the overall Democratic agenda – and the original reason for having super-delegates was to moderate some of the more narrow interest groups.

Posted: Jun 1, 2008 at 4:07 am · @Reply · [Flag?]
No. 23 · brijcorns

First off, I find it upsetting that goodasyou.org didn't get included, but whatev.
Second, this convention might actually decide who the nominee will officially be, so I figure it might have some importance this go 'round.

Posted: Jun 1, 2008 at 5:52 pm · @Reply · [Flag?]
Leave a Comment

It's easier to leave comments when you register for an account. It's quick.

Already have an account? Then log in!

You can add images to your comment by clicking here.

By posting, you agree to our Comments Policy.

 
 
Scroll Posts
Queerty Home | Advertise | Copyright 2010 Jossip Initiatives