The .GAY domain: Two different groups actively pursuing top-level internet addresses for gay sites
CNET published a new interview with Scott Seitz today. Seitz is the chief executive of dotGay, a corporate entity created to pursue a new top-level domain — .gay — on the internet. The organization that is handling applications, ICANN, is reportedly expecting ”at least 115 proposals” for new TLD names (.car, .health, .nyc, etc).
CNET asked a number of good questions about the .gay endeavor, which is likely to be controversial for many reasons.
Besides potential resistance from U.S. and world government agencies, some have wondered about the corporate motives of dotGay, LLC. It was established by Alexander Schubert, a heterosexual German entrepreneur, but the dotGay.com website says that Seitz is now 90% owner of the California corporation.
There is a second competing organization, the Dot Gay Alliance, founded by long-time writer and editor Joe Dolce. A 2009 New York Times article spoke with both about their pursuits. When CNET asked Seitz today about Dolce’s competing interest, he said:
“They haven’t been active in the site for over a year, so I don’t know what they’re doing right now. I’m open to any conversation with anyone who has a genuine understanding of this and the community. If they’re interested, I’ll make a call.”
Metro Weekly contacted Joe Dolce by e-mail today for reaction and received the following reply:
”We (dot gay alliance) are still pursuing the application though we have adopted a new strategy toward winning the application process.”
In the CNET interview, Seitz is asked about the $185,000+ cost to apply, the expected cost to registrars, the overal vision he expects for .gay, and the implementation of “a filtering process” that would protect pro-gay interests. Here’s some of what he had to say:
”As the community has become more integrated, it’s become more difficult to reach the community in media, because you have more choices than you had before. .gay will be a venue for enhancing our ability to interact with each other as a community….
”’Instead of what most people would do, which is go out and sell your top categories, travel.gay, doctor.gay, hiv.gay, bar.gay, we’re keeping them. And they’ll become an index to the community globally….
”We want to limit filtering. But we want to be sure we’re filtering appropriately…. We can work with some of the best organizations — GLAAD, Lambda Legal. They can help us find a way to filter these people. And help us when they’re going to turn around and sue us. I think we have to assume that’s going to happen.
”It’s really going to be a hybrid not for profit and for profit — that’s really the vision. There is a business plan in place…. Our goal is to reach out to the initial community that’s out, including the gay and lesbian business community…. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at $50 to $100 per domain name per year.”
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