Obama’s Fiercest Critics: The Online Gay Media

by Kevin Gotkin | 2:10 pm, July 14th, 2009

gaybama1 What with all the scandals, specials, and Sarah stories, Obama has been cooling off in the shadows of the media spotlight lately. This is not to say, of course, that the things on his plate aren’t being covered. But maybe because he threw a big, gay White House party recently, or maybe because Joe Jackson’s Ranch Records plug was more important to the American public, Obama has been let off the hook recently about his commitment (or lack thereof) to changing the nation’s policies that make gay Americans second-class citizens. There is, however, a strong online gay tidal wave brewing – one dedicated solely to shining a light on every gay thing Obama does. These are the people who do ask, do tell (do pursue and yes, do harass) and all from the comfort of their own online home.

1) Queerty - Queerty tries extremely hard to be the most opinionated gay blog out there. They might succeed if their snark didn’t translate into insults indiscriminately being hurled at everyone and anyone. But since its inception, Queerty has undoubtedly been writing impassioned, biting commentary on everything gay. When Queerty gets it right, its posts are inspiring, angering, and beautiful because its writers have little interest in reporting – they scream, they shout, but they rarely let someone slip by if it affects the LGBT community. They understand that hot, half-naked guys might draw a little more attention than a great post about Obama’s unfulfilled promises, but that certainly doesn’t mean they bite their tongues.

The Gayest Obama Criticism: Obama Promised to Uphold His Promises. He’s Not Getting Off That Easy, Marks His Words: Gays Will ‘Have Some Pretty Good Feelings’ About Obama Administration, Obama Must Issue Exec Order to Begin DADT Repeal. And Yet He Won’t, and the real zinger, THAT’S IT: Obama Has Spat and Shit In the Faces of Gay America

2) The New Civil Rights Movement - For being a one-man show, The New Civil Rights Movement does its part to be a go-to blog for both reports and analysis of the most recent gay politics. The Twitter-holic David Badash behind the site says he hopes it will help quash people’s ignorance, not unlike the way news about Prop 8 sparked his own interest in following gay news. TNCRM makes this list for its thoughtful, probing posts and strong activist mentality.

The Gayest Obama Criticism: Obama’s Regifting of Gay Rights, What You’ve Been Waiting For: Obama’s Gay Rights Revolution, Is President Obama doing enough and keeping his promises to the gay community?

3) Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish – Although Andrew Sullivan doesn’t devote his online musings solely to the gay rights movement, he brings a history to the issues that few other online writers do. Not only was he one of the first mainstream journalists to experiment with blogging, he also carries a background of an openly gay, high-profile journalist and academic in the early 1990s. His writing about gay issues has lined the pages of the New York Times, Best American Essays (of 1999), and The New Republic. It is no wonder, then, that from his perch on The Atlantic, he is one of Obama’s most influential online critics.

The Gayest Obama Criticism: Obama’s Gratuitous Insult to Gay Couples, Obama’s Moment of Truth on Gay Equality, UGH

4) AmericaBlog – AmericaBlog just launched its gay-only off-shoot of the motherblog, but the site would have made this list with or without its own homo URL. Gay AmericaBlog could be considered the more outspoken counterpart to its friend-blog, Towleroad (a site that would have made this list if it wasn’t trying to be the gay CNN by reporting instead of commenting). Yes, the advertising on the site takes up exactly half of the screen, but the posts never stray from their intent to deliver the truth that “a great nation deserves,” which, unfortunately, often includes deep criticism of Obama and his administration.

The Gayest Obama Criticism: Obama Defends DOMA in Federal Court, Obama DOJ Lies to Politico in Defending Hate Brief Against Gays, Obama and the Gays, Again, President Obama Re vealed Today Another Reason He Can’t Act on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

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7 comments

Is Queerty Obama's Most Critical Gay Blog? / Queerty says:

July 14, 2009 at 3:38 pm

[...] Important only if you pay attention to what the blogs have to say. [...]

Mediaite’s Version of ‘Analysis’ says:

July 15, 2009 at 2:41 pm

[...] recently to “cover the media.” Well, in the first chance I had to review one of their posts, I was astounded by the lack of depth or analysis involved in its coverage. This, despite the [...]

GrrrlRomeo says:

July 15, 2009 at 3:48 pm

I don’t consider Queerty to be an LGBT blog. Like OUT magazine it targets gay men and that’s it (like I think maybe this post is doing). As a gay woman, I can only take so many pictures of half naked boys.

I used to like Americablog, but their credibility is sorely diminished for me. A

Blog’s I read for LGBT political commentary…which is not based on how much they attack Obama or how much vitriol they have (I have enough of my own):
Pam’s House Blend
The New Civil Rights Movement
Bilerico Project
365Gay

Kevin Gotkin says:

July 15, 2009 at 4:40 pm

It’s great to hear all your comments. I love hearing about the other sites you think should have been included here.

But let me clarify what this post is about. I wanted to put together a collection of Obama’s biggest critics online. That’s it. I’m not trying to figure out who has the best “political analysis” and I’m not trying to crown a king or queen of the gay blogs out there. In fact, I ignored most of what each blog writes about – I was only looking for criticism about Obama and what he is or is not doing for the community. There have been lots of words exchanged since Obama took office about what he’s doing for LGBT issues and I wanted to write a post about the most outspoken online voices. Here they are. You may love or hate what each has to say, but that doesn’t change the fact these guys & gals are Obama’s biggest critics.

The issues people have been raising are legitimate and have been brought up time and again in the gay blogosphere, but they don’t actually relate to the focus of this post. Commentary and criticism? Two different things.

GrrrlRomeo says:

July 15, 2009 at 5:21 pm

What you’re looking for, and highlighting here, is a specific type of voice…the angry white gay male voice. Characterizing the LGBT community that way puts us in the precarious position of looking like a bunch of angry white guys criticizing the black President. And that visual makes us look like douchebags.

And this is not to knock all white gay men, as they are part of the LGBT chorus. I think it even reflects negatively on them when they’re all lumped together as seeming the same and reinforces a stereotype.

Guys and gals? What gals? The biggest critics do not have to be the most shouty.

Kevin Gotkin says:

July 15, 2009 at 5:58 pm

Submit your ideas for Gaybama 2! Email me at Kevin@mediaite.com!

Summer’s hottest lesbian vacation spots: Asheville? Atlanta? Austin?! « says:

July 21, 2009 at 8:44 am

[...] Obama’s fiercest critics: Gay web sites (Mediaite) [...]

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