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| Yours truly at the LGBT Blogger Summit in 2008. |
I first began blogging at the suggestion of my therapist who suggested I write a book for those coming out in "mid-life" since so many of the existing materials at the time were aimed at teens and young adults. There was little available for those in their 40's or 50's. Once I started the endeavor of gathering materials through blog posts something happened. This blog became a needed form of therapy and slowly took on a life of its own. A major transformation took place in December, 2008, when I was privileged to be selected to participate n the LGBTQ Bloggers & Citizen Journalists National Summit in December 2008. I won a spot among those invited to the all expense paid gathering in no small part due to my role in helping Mike Rogers "out" then Virginia 2nd District Congressman, Ed Schrock, a closeted Republican with the second most anti-gay voting record in Congress. I had also assisted activist Wayne Besen expose "ex-gay" fraud Michel Johnston, a former poster boy for so-called conversion therapy. Despite these efforts, this blog still had a small readership back in 2008 yet was a labor of love. At the blogger Summit, I was in the big league and eventually when on to also be a contributor to The Bilerico Project which the Washington Post once referred to as a "must read" blog (it later became a part of LGBTQ Nation).
Ten years later I am still in contact with many of the summit attendees via Facebook, following each other's blogs and writings, and a listserv through which we can quickly spread stories and information to hundreds of activists and journalists across the country. Fellow attendee Sue Kerr has a post on her blog that pulls together great memories of the experience. Like Sue, I'd love to see another summit! My husband also has found memories of the experience. Here are highlights from Sue's post (go to Sue's post for the links to participating blogs - many of which are still ongoing - and a video where I can be seen standing near Sue):
[T]he first LGBTQ Bloggers and Citizens Journalists National Summit. It was December 5-7, 2008. I met a lot of folx there and my mind was awhirl with new possibilities for blogging.
More than 60 organizations and blogs were represented. I’m trying to remember how I was invited – I think I had been interacting with Mike Rogers (formerly of BlogActive, now know with Raw Story) online after he wrote about Rick Santorum. This gathering was a prelude to the Netroots Connection preconferences that began in 2009 (in Pittsburgh)
Rather than wax eloquently about my memories, let me share a few links.
Here are my original blog posts summaries My Preview Day One Summary Post
Pam Spaulding’s write up of the weekend (Pam’s House Blend)
More from PamThere was great coverage of the framing used by the right wing to demonize and restrict expanding LGBT rights and how the LGBT movement can counter that framing going forward with different political strategies.
Tony from Perge Modo has a post
Today, in the revolution that has now begun for ownership of individual rights, bloggers are the new Paul Revere, but there are hundreds of thousands of them and they are not all shouting the same thing about the British coming. They are shouting huge heaps of overlapping static. Sometimes they pull together suddenly like a school of fish responding to the force of the current. There is no skill to this. There is only speed. You almost need to be out of the water to see, let alone control this. Nevertheless, the political bloggers feel that coalescence is within their grasp.
Read the takeaway of a filmmaker at Working Films
Let’s get meta – a post about a media article about the gathering with links to other bloggers reactions (whew!) What LGBT bloggers do when they write about blogging conventions
From Blabbeando, a list of blogs in attendance in alphabetical order (probably not a complete list):
- Michael-in-Norfolk Coming Out in Mid-Life
Back to the present – are you reading any of the above blogs or their spin-offs? When you have some time, I urge you to dive back into this glorious archive of LGBTQ activism and politics during the latter half of the 2000’s and reacquaint yourself. I hope someone, somewhere, takes the time to create an actual archive.
- Get Busy, Get Equal (ACLU LGBT Project Blog)
I interact with some of these folks via email and all sorts of social media. I’ve been to two follow up events associated with Netroots Nation since then. And I’ve continued to blog. During that first year, Laura and I met with media expert Cathy Renna for advice on my blog. She told us we were doing a good job and basically to keep on with what we had accomplished. Thanks to the wonders of a former webhost, you can see the original blog format from that very day.
A lot has happened in ten years. Netroots Nation will be in Philadelphia in July 2019 so I hope we’ll attend. One thing that has not changed is the lack of revenue in blogging – to get this lesbian voice and others to these events, there has to be scholarships and fellowships and other supports. It might interesting if someone crunched the numbers about the state of the blogosphere in 2008 versus now, including revenue data.
I miss having a chance for blogger connection. I’d like to see events that bring people together, old and new. I’d like to harness the power of experience to the energy and new ideas of today’s leaders.
Here’s a snip of video via Tony Adams survering the crowd. You can see me in the right hand margin wearing a black sweater and having very short hair.
I will always treasure the experience and the brilliant and interesting friends I made (the now husband was there for the weekend too and enjoyed the experience). I'd love to do a reunion summit where we could work on strategies for the coming 10 years. Kudos to Sue for putting together her excellent post. Thanks also to Progressive Insurance and Microsoft for their underwriting of the 2008 event.
4 comments:
Activism is still needed. Whomever thinks the job is 'done' is up for a rude awakening. JoeMyGod and Towleroad are still my go-to blogs.
Joe Jervis was at the summit. I still check his blog daily.
Many thanks, Michael -- yours and Joe's are my two essential blog-stops, every day.
Thank you so much for the compliment!!
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