The Bilerico Project

GayCities iPhone App Review Redux

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0500

In February, I reviewed the GayCities iPhone app. It wasn't the most positive review, but at the time, I said it was "worth a download" even with several major flaws and lackluster listings. I recently got an email request from the folks at GayCities to give the app another look since updating to the latest version (2.01 as of this writing.)

A couple weeks ago, while we were in New York City, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try out the app again in a "real world" type setting. We were looking for some places to check out near our hotel, so I fired up GayCities to see what could be found.

I am admittedly happy with most of the improvements. The app feels more polished and seems to function more smoothly than I remember. I still can't help but knock the user interface choices - those haven't changed much since the last version.

Details on the improvements and more of my impressions after the jump.

Continue reading "GayCities iPhone App Review Redux"...

Our Families Count Launches Website

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:30:00 -0500

In July, I wrote about a project I've been involved with that aims "to educate and motivate all LGBT Americans and households to be visible in 2010, and to take part in the 2010 U.S. Census."

At that time, Our Families Count was in its infancy with little more than a list of participating organizations and a website I had hastily put together to fill the void while a more professional and sophisticated site could be built.

Today, Our Families Count is proud to launch our new website at www.ourfamiliescount.org. It's chock full of information for LGBT families about the Census, such as how to fill out the form, how same-sex households will be counted for this Census, and a great photo gallery of LGBT families.

So, go check it out. Let us know what you think. Official press release, including a full list of current partners and a Spanish language translation is after the jump.

Continue reading "Our Families Count Launches Website"...

Barack Obama:

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:30:00 -0500

"Because no one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love."

-- President Barack Obama in his remarks at the special reception commemorating the enactment of the Matthew Shepard and James Bird, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Game Changers in New Media

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:00:00 -0500

The Huffington Post announced on Thursday they are accepting nominations for their list of the top 100 people changing the world through new media.

We want your suggestions about the innovators, visionaries, and leaders who are harnessing the power of new media to change the game -- to change the way we look at the world and live in it.

We are going to salute 10 Game Changes in 10 categories: Politics, Entertainment, Technology, Media, Sports, Business, Style, Health, Green, Philanthropy & Service.

So who do you think should be on our list?

Go check it out and make your nominations. We should definitely work toward ensuring some LGBT representation in the list.

Our Families Count

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Late last year, I put out a notice on some email lists that we had a domain name that was just calling out to be used in some creative way. It was originally envisioned for an Indiana education campaign that never got off the ground. I got several replies with some very good suggestions, but one of them really stuck out to me.

I started a conversation with some folks from a few of the national organizations who were coming together to build this education campaign around the 2010 US Census. I've always been a geek about the Census - all the ways you can crunch those numbers and learn interesting things about the fabric of America, the political ramifications of getting the count right - there's just so much that makes the Census interesting to me.

Today, I am honored to announce that a new collaborative partnership has been born - and the domain name we had lying around is being put to good use. The Our Families Count partnership seeks "to educate and motivate all LGBT Americans and households to be visible in 2010, and to take part in the 2010 U.S. Census." The partnership is proud to be inclusive of both people of color and transgender individuals.

A new website (www.ourfamiliescount.org) will be launching in August of this year. The official announcement and invitation to endorse the partnership are after the jump.

Continue reading "Our Families Count"...

Al Franken's first confirmation hearing

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:00:00 -0500

How fitting that Al Franken's debut as a US Senator came during the Supreme Court nomination hearing of Sonia Sotomayor. During his stint on Saturday Night Live, Franken played a Senator in a skit parodying the Clarence Thomas hearings.

I love this clip more because it brought back memories than because it's a good skit. Dana Carvey, Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, Kevin Nealon, Chris Rock, and Tim Meadows all make appearances. This was the SNL cast during my junior year in high school and it was the height of Wayne's World mania.

Party time...Excellent...

Super happy fun time bonus: Trailer for Wayne's World after the jump.

Continue reading "Al Franken's first confirmation hearing"...

Carrie Prejean got fired...Who cares?

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:30:00 -0500

So, Miss California, Carrie Prejean got canned finally. Another washed up beauty queen on the heap is not news, but everyone wants to talk about it. Schadenfreude, I suppose.

I know there are folks out there fired up about her, but I just don't get it. She wouldn't have been more than a blip on the radar if it hadn't been Perez Hilton who asked her the question about same-sex marriage.

She's fired. There are nasty emails. They make her look as nutty as we all figured. Nothing to see here - her 15 minutes ended weeks ago. Next story...

FOX News worries their viewers may be too crazy...

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:00:00 -0500

Yesterday, FOX News anchor Shepard Smith said he is beginning to worry that maybe some FOX viewers are too crazy. Maybe now they'll also realize their culpability in spreading many of those lies their viewers believe...

OK, maybe not. This is FOX we're talking about.

Got a Kindle? Get The Bilerico Project

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:30:00 -0500

Just a quick announcement for the Kindle owners out there. You can now subscribe to The Bilerico Project on your Kindle. You'll be able to read the full site right in your Kindle for the insanely low price of $1.99 per month.

That's right. Full articles, not just previews. No ads. Quietly downloaded to your Kindle throughout the day for just $1.99 per month. We'll be adding the Florida, Indiana and DC sites to the Kindle store shortly as well.

While you're there, don't forget you can also get the fantastic Pam's House Blend on your Kindle too. Make sure you subscribe to both.

Equality California's new ads

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:00:00 -0500

New Prop 8 ads from Equality California hit the air today. Watch the other ad and be sure to give a donation to keep them on the air while you are there.

NOM ads on LGBT sites: A pheNOMenal waste of money

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:00:00 -0500

There has been some discussion lately of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) and their latest online advertising campaign. Their anti-marriage equality ads are popping up on LGBT websites across the web. Many of these sites are banning these ads as a knee-jerk reaction because they disagree with the message.

I think this is a mistake.

NOM is spending tons of money putting these ads all over the Internet. Every 1,000 times these ads are seen, it costs them a little money. Every time one of the ads gets clicked, it costs them considerably more money. Either way, the website that presents the ad gets paid and NOM's coffers shrink.

So doesn't it make deliciously ironic sense to take the money they're using against us to fund the very sites that debunk NOM and their bullshit?

It's time we started thinking strategically.

Continue reading "NOM ads on LGBT sites: A pheNOMenal waste of money"...

The Task Force New York Leadership Awards

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:30:00 -0500

Monday evening I attended the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's New York Leadership Awards. This year's honoree's were San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and fashion designer John Bartlett. Presenting the award to Newsom was New York City Council speaker and out lesbian Christine Quinn while the fabulous movie star Lucy Liu was on hand to present the award to Bartlett.

The awards took place at the Kimmel Center on the campus of New York University, which is located in the heart of Greenwich Village. Even with copious construction, the campus is beautiful with an amazing view of the Manhattan skyline.

Guests paid up to $250 per ticket for the standing-room-only reception, which included lavish hors d'oeuvres and an open bar.

Photos, video, a rundown of the evening, and an interview with Gavin Newsom are all after the jump.

Continue reading "The Task Force New York Leadership Awards"...

The New York Times hates Twitter and Facebook so you should too

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:00:00 -0500

I am perpetually amused by the folks in traditional (mainstream, old guard, whatever you want to call it) media who bash on new media. First it was the blogs and how they're destroying society - until they embraced them and corporatized them, of course. Now, the current target of the mainstream media's ire seems to be Twitter and to a smaller extent MySpace and Facebook.

This New York Times article is a treatise on the vanity and bad journalism creeping into TV news and how Twitter and other social media have no utility but are just other means of feeding the cult of personality.

Left alone in a cage with a mountain of cocaine, a lab rat will gorge itself to death. Caught up in a housing bubble, bankers will keep selling mortgage-backed securities -- and amassing bonuses -- until credit markets seize, companies collapse, and millions of investors lose their jobs and homes.

And news anchors and television personalities who have their own shows, Web sites, blogs and pages on Facebook.com and MySpace.com will send Twitter messages until the last follower falls into a coma.

Seriously? We're now comparing new media to lab rats with mountains of cocaine? I find the hyperbole utterly ironic. I mean, the author is lamenting the fall of proper, traditional journalism by, well, employing the same techniques she is lambasting in the article.

Continue reading "The New York Times hates Twitter and Facebook so you should too"...

GayCities iPhone App Review

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:30:00 -0500

GayCities.com, which bills itself as "Your Gay Travel Guide" has recently released an iPhone app for their service - aptly named GayCities. The app can use the location awareness of your iPhone to locate "gay-friendly" bars, hotels, and restaurants in your current location. You can also manually choose a city from the list of metro areas GayCities covers.

The app is similar to many of the other, more general business recommendation/travel apps, like Yelp! or UrbanSpoon. GayCities focuses on restaurants, bars, and hotels only and just has data for specific cities. I have used their website in the past and it seems the list of cities has grown since then, which is definitely a good thing.

My impressions, including some annoying bugs, and some screenshots after the jump.

Continue reading "GayCities iPhone App Review"...

Twitter, Facebook, blogs and the future of the LGBT movement

jerame@bilerico.com (Jerame Davis) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:30:00 -0500

In a recent interview, Bil Browning and Justin Cole have a discussion about blogs and social media that I think is really important for the future of the LGBT movement. One of the points they touch on is how too few LGBT organizations have figured out how to properly leverage the power of blogs. (Part 2 of the interview is the blog conversation)

And now, with the boom in popularity of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, many organizations are far behind the curve in understanding the power at their fingertips. What's worse is how few organizations have a coherent online strategy that incorporates these wildly popular sites.

Need more proof these tools work? How about the recent election of Nick Shalosky to the Charleston, SC school board as a write-in candidate? He organized his campaign almost exclusively through Facebook.

There has never been a more level playing field to get your message in front of others. Let's look at some of the raw data.

Continue reading "Twitter, Facebook, blogs and the future of the LGBT movement"...