The gay blogging revolution - On the Web

Looking for a safe outlet for your inner writer? Or perhaps your sexuality?

Consider the burgeoning world of gay blogging. Short for "Web log," a blog is a personal online diary written by anyone who cares enough to sit down and write one. And not to be left out of any emerging underground culture, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people are churning them out faster than new reality TV shows are hitting the airwaves.

Amid the misspelled musings and bad poetry of tortured souls, gay blogs range from witty accounts of New York City life by gay art dealer Choire Sicha (www.choiresicha.com) to the mysterious online diary of Salam Pax (dear_raed.blogspot.com), a gay Iraqi translator whose blogs have provided an eerie look at life under Saddam Hussein and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

And in addition to the serious political deliberations by well-known gay journalists like Andrew Sullivan and Michelangelo Signorile are teenage lesbian Wiccan circles, bisexual mountain-climber diaries, gay punk-rock fan sites, and gossipy bear journals. All coexist peacefully on sites like LiveJournal.com and Blogger.com. These spaces can provide an opportunity for younger gay writers to come out at their own pace, on their own terms. In fact, first-season American Idol contestant Jim Verraros outed himself on his blog months before coming out in The Advocate, perhaps inspiring other gay bloggers.

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