Fifty years ago in New York City, the first “Gay Liberation Day” was organized, marking the first anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. LGBTQ people held flags, banners and heads high as they proclaimed that “Gay is Good!”
Their steps — in broad daylight, marching up New York City’s Sixth Avenue to Central Park — were monumental, instigating widespread media coverage of LGBTQ issues and bringing the modern fight for equality into the public consciousness for the first time. This event is now remembered as the first Pride parade, and to this day its legacy inspires LGBTQ people (and their allies) to bravely demand acceptance and visibility.
The launch of the new .gay domain extension is a meaningful moment in time that increases representation for LGBTQ people around the world. Furthermore, the domain breaks the mold with industry-first policies — which GoDaddy is proud to support — that fund LGBTQ causes, promote online safety, and establish anti-hate measures.
A .gay domain in your URL, email address or social bio acts as a digital pride flag. It expands the notion of pride from a one-day or one-month event to a year-round effort, and it’s already being used by LGBTQ individuals, organizations, activists, community groups and entrepreneurs, as well as allied businesses showing their support for LGBTQ clientele and employees.
You can head to GoDaddy.gay to find and register your own .gay domain.
Related: How to buy a domain name in 3 steps
The .gay difference
Your domain name is the introduction to your story. Thirty years ago, your domain might have simply signaled to your customers: “You can find my business online.”
An online presence is now table stakes for any business, and with the advent of newer domain options, you can clearly convey who you are and what you do through your domain name. There are now literally hundreds of ways to use a domain extension to help tell your story, but until now there hasn’t been an option quite as meaningful as .gay.
In order to truly serve the diverse and historically marginalized spectrum of LGBTQ communities, .gay has to disrupt the status quo.
To extend the digital benefits of .gay into the physical world, the .gay registry donates 20% of revenue (not just profit) from every new .gay domain name to LGBTQ organizations. The inaugural beneficiaries of these funds are GLAAD and CenterLink.
GLAAD has become a household name as it works tirelessly to advance and defend the representation of LGBTQ people in the media and beyond.
CenterLink is an umbrella organization that connects over 250 local LGBTQ community centers around the world to provide vital resources.
With an ongoing commitment to support LGTBQ causes, each new digital pride flag raised by a .gay domain represents another donation to those working every day to strengthen LGBTQ communities and address the important issues they’re facing.
LGBTQ people know firsthand that hate and harassment is as much a problem online as it is in the physical world. While trolling and bullying online is a persistent problem that spares no one, like many social issues it disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, including those in LGBTQ communities.
To help create an LGBTQ-friendly internet space, .gay has established a Rights Protections policy. This policy discourages homophobic, anti-LGBTQ usage, and provides specific remedies for domains that intentionally use .gay to malign or harm LGBTQ individuals or groups.
The .gay registry will accept and investigate complaints in accordance with this policy.
Altogether, this means that any online troll or bully that attempts to infiltrate the .gay internet will first pay a donation to LGBTQ charities before they are removed.
GoDaddy cares
The availability of .gay domains has become a community initiative at GoDaddy.
We have partnered not only in launching .gay and telling the stories of early .gay users, but also in leveraging the philanthropic spirit within our company.
At GoDaddy, we match employees’ charitable donations, including those to GLAAD, CenterLink and many other organizations. Learn more about GoDaddy’s commitment to corporate responsibility through employee resource groups, philanthropic partnerships and more.
Allyship and inclusivity are important to who we are as a company and for all the communities where we work.
Through employee resource groups like GoDaddy United, everyone here is able to be themselves and feel included. We are proud to have been honored by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for multiple years with perfect scores on its Equality Index.
Show your pride every day with .gay
In its launch phases, .gay has already begun to display the breadth and depth of the LGBTQ communities it serves. It has been adopted by famous pioneers like George Takei and Billie Jean King, businesses like GoDaddy as well as Atari and misterb&b, plus community centers, nonprofits such as Adam Lambert’s Feel Something Foundation, individuals and small businesses.
There are so many inspiring and diverse stories to be shared about .gay, including those that are already using the GoDaddy Website Builder.
From poems dedicated to LBGTQ icons to gorgeous moments captured by wedding photographers, to a new relationship podcast and personal stories about attending a Pride parade for the first time, we’ve been awed by the creativity and enthusiasm our early adopters bring to the .gay platform.
Join us as we continue to showcase the people using .gay into October, which is both LGBT History Month and includes National Coming Out Day on October 11th, and year-round.
These important human stories belong on .gay, representing and welcoming the full spectrum of identities — because while there is no all-encompassing LGTBQ experience, .gay is a virtual pride flag that means everyone is welcome.
Photo: Sara Rampazzo on Unsplash
