Blogswarm of Love for Pam Spaulding!

A number of bloggers are creating a "blog swarm" of get well and best wishes to Pam Spaulding, the blog mistress of Pam's House Blend who had surgery today. Among the story lines being promoted are "how I met Pam" stories to which I would like to add my own. Here goes. I have been a fan of Pam's House Blend for several years but never had the privilege of meeting Pam until the LGBT Blogger Summit in Washington, D.C., orchestrated by Mike Rogers in early December, 2008. Pam is just as amazing and insightful in person as when she is analyzing and venting on the Blend. I often find myself wishing that I had her cutting flare with words and her ability to put out the facts and take down foes of equality for all citizens. Since our meeting nearly two years ago, I have been proud to count Pam as a friend and the boyfriend and I wish here a most speedy recover and a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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Pam, please except hugs and kisses from Tidewater Virginia! You are truly an inspiration to many of us in the LGBT blogosphere.

Conservative Bloggers Paid to Support Partisan Candidates

I am obviously doing something seriously wrong. Why you ask? Because I haven't been getting paid - and often paid very well - to write what politcal candidates and parties want me to write. However, while I - and I suspect most of by LGBT Blogger Summit compatriots - do not hold back in our criticism of the Obama administration, Congressional Democrats, and many others, our counterparts on the right are in many instances raking in the cash to say nice things about GOP primary candidates, etc. For example, it seems that the blog Red County received $20,000 from the Meg Whitman campaign in December, 2009, which has sent the site $15,000 a month since then. I guess if one is willing to sell their soul, then conservative blogging can be quite lucrative. The Daily Caller has details on this faux independent citizen journalists. Here are highlights:
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Katie Couric once described bloggers as journalists who gnaw at new information “like piranhas in a pool.” But increasingly, many bloggers are also secretly feeding on cash from political campaigns, in a form of partisan payola that erases the line between journalism and paid endorsement.
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“It’s standard operating procedure” to pay bloggers for favorable coverage, says one Republican campaign operative. A GOP blogger-for-hire estimates that “at least half the bloggers that are out there” on the Republican side “are getting remuneration in some way beyond ad sales.”
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In California, where former eBay executive Meg Whitman beat businessman Steve Poizner in a bitterly fought primary battle in the campaign for governor, it sometimes seemed as if there was a bidding war for bloggers. One pro-Poizner blogger, Aaron Park, was discovered to be a paid consultant to the Poizner campaign while writing for Red County, a conservative blog about California politics. Red County founder Chip Hanlon threw Park off the site upon discovering his affiliation, which had not been disclosed.
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But while Red County’s Hanlon expressed outrage at Park’s pay-for-blogging scheme, questions arose about his own editorial independence when it emerged that Red County itself had been taking money from the Whitman campaign. In December of 2009, Red County received $20,000 from the Meg Whitman campaign, which has sent the site $15,000 a month since then.
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The money is ostensibly for advertising, yet by conventional measures the numbers don’t add up. According to Quantcast, Red County reaches around 125,000 unique viewers per month. Two new media industry experts confirmed that, given such a readership, Whitman’s ad purchase is “ridiculously” expensive, surpassing the going market rate for such ads by 1,000 percent or more.
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Ad purchases at above market rates are a common means by which some campaigns seek to influence bloggers, according to numerous campaign operatives and bloggers. Bloggers, aware of this, have begun to request improbably high rates on their own.
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Lowell Feld, who writes for the liberal political blog Blue Virginia, has received a considerable amount of money from Democratic campaigns, including $21,000 from Lt. Gov. candidate Jon Bowerback in 2009. Feld discloses his consulting work on his blog.
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Dan Riehl, who writes the Riehl World View blog, is one of Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele’s most vocal defenders in the conservative blogosphere. . . . . “Riehl World View” readers might be interested to know that Riehl is not simply a blogger, but also a paid consultant to the RNC.
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If it appears that conservative bloggers are more likely to take campaign money than their liberal counterparts, there may be a reason. According to Dan Riehl, conservatives can’t rely on the infrastructure of foundations and think tanks that supports so many liberal bloggers.
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many of the groups now employing liberal bloggers meet with White House aides for a weekly strategy session on Tuesday afternoons organized by the group Common Purpose. It was here that Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel famously told independent-minded liberals that they were being “fucking retarded” for straying from the party line.

LGBT Bloggers Learn the Ropes at Summit

The Bay Area Reporter has a story on the Blogger Summit that I attended last weekend (the photo at left shows a group of us walking to the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute luncheon where Barney Frank was the main speaker - I'm behind the guy in the blue jacket at right). As previous posts indicated, it was a wonderful experience and I hope it will allow all of the attendees to work more in concert and also take our respective blogs to a higher level so that we can be an stronger voice for progressive issues. As Eric Leven is quoted as saying, it was an empowering experience. Here are some highlights:

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In a sterile conference room on the 10th floor of a non-descript office building in Washington, D.C., more than two dozen LGBT bloggers listened intently last weekend as their more veteran peers instructed them in the art of "blog swarms," "astro-turfing," and "cross-posting."

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Bloggers, said one, can enable a minor event to "take on a whole new life" in the mainstream media by spreading news about it across 10 or 15 different blogs (a.k.a. the blog swarm). Lone bloggers can acquire the clout of large groups by assuming a moniker that makes them appear to be a "national" entity when, in fact, they are "a fake grassroots organization" (a.k.a. astro-turfing). And bloggers can increase readership for their views by posting them not just on their own sites but on other, more widely read, sites (a.k.a. cross-posting).

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This first National LGBT Citizen Journalist Bloggers Summit attracted about 60 LGBT bloggers. The conference was separate from, but simultaneous to, the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Institute, and bloggers and the more conventional leaders met in a few joint sessions.

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The conference included such topics as how bloggers can contribute to political campaigns, how to enhance their work with investigative reporting skills and practices, and what federal laws might have an impact on their blogging. Conference sponsors included political activist Jonathan Lewis and the Microsoft Corporation. Rogers said Lewis contributed $50,000 toward the meeting and Microsoft contributed a free copy of Microsoft Office Professional to eager attendees.

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There were well-known political bloggers, such as Pam Spaulding of http://www.PamsHouseBlend.com, Bil Browning of http://www.Bilerico.com, Nan Hunter of http://www.HunterforJustice.com, and Ramon Johnson of About.com's "Gay Life."

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One attendee, Eric Leven of New York (at http://www.Knucklecrack.blogspot.com), described the conference as empowering. "For me there was something in those rooms, something in those workshops," he blogged after the meeting, "maybe it was the sense of community or the downright simple feeling of being empowered by teachers, writers, techies and activists but something in that room made me feel as though we were all on our digital surfboards, in this new world of ours, riding the crest of the wave of this new movement."

Why Being Out and Proud Matters

As I posted yesterday evening, those of us who attended the LGBT Blogger Summit had the unique opportunity of seeing the movie Milk and then engaging in a discussion session with Clive Jones, Dustin Lance Black and Bruce Cohen. One message that I took away from the whole experience - not to mention specific portions of the movie itself - was that LGBT citizens need to come out of the closet and live openly. The fastest way to dispel the lies put out by our enemies is to allow friends and neighbors to come to realize that we - their doctors, lawyers, fellow business owners, etc. - are just like everyone else save and except who we fall in love with.

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Being out and open can be a terrifying prospect and I will confess my own failure and shortcomings in that regard for many years. For far too many years I tried to be something that I was not and in the process made myself and often those around me miserable. Unfortunately, I listened to the propaganda and lies put out by churches and a larger society that value control and uniformity over allowing people living their own lives as God made them. In short, I allowed myself to buy into the anti-gay stereotypes and felt myself a freak, reject and victim. But not anymore. Another side benefit of attending the blogger summit was being surrounded by smart, vibrant LGBT individuals who demonstrated that we are as good as anyone else - hence for example the name of Jeremy Hooper's blog, Good As You.

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Another reality that I have learned is that "coming out" is a process that one does not do just once. Rather it is a daily occurrence as one meets new people and encounters different business and social settings. While I do not broadcast my sexuality, nevertheless, new encounters sometime require that you take a deep breath and summon the courage to not hide who you are. Living in an area such as Tidewater Virginia obviously creates more situations where being out has the potential for adverse reactions and even potential rejection. I have some who tell me that I should be more closeted and I certainly know a number of gays who live double lives of sorts out of fear of rejection in business or otherwise. On the other hand, if one gives into fear and goes back into hiding, the result is that you lose a little bit of your soul each time you allow fear to win out. Personally, I forfeited my soul for too many years to go back into that trap.

LGBT Blogger Summit Weekend

Today is going to be a crazy day as I run from meetings and then travel to Washington, D.C., to attend the LGBT Blogger Initiative Summit in Washington, D.C. The event kicks off this evening at the Human Rights Campaign headquaters (I wonder if anyone has read my complaints about HRC on this blog?) for a happy hour reception with HRC senior staff, directors and coordinators of the event, as well as others attending the summit and staff from one of the sponsor organizations. The schedule is pretty exhaustive so I doubt I will have much time to blog until my return to the Tidewater area on Sunday night. From some of the people I now know are attending (e.g., Pam Spaulding, Mike Rogers and a number of Bilerico Progect contributors), it should be a pretty amazing experience and allow for incredible networking opportunities.

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The boyfriend is going to D.C., for the weekend with me and we hope to have a chance to indulge in a little of the D.C. nightlife. While not one of the most obscure areas in the LGBT world, the greater Norfolk area is not a bright center of the gay universe, so it should be fun spending the weekend in a far more progressive area among with many kindred spirits.

National LGBT Blogger Initiative Summit - Update

I have received the preliminary schedule of events for the National LGBT Blogger Initiative Summit that I will be attending in Washington, D.C., this coming weekend. I am really excited to be going and hope to meet some folks like Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, one of my daily reads, and catch up with Mike Rogers. The summit is made possible through the generous support of Jonathan Lewis and various LGBT community and corporate sponsors, including but not limited to the Victory Fund, HRC, NGLTF, Microsoft, Bolthouse Farms, and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

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I still do not know who all of the attendees will be, but I have received e-mails from a few folks who will be attending from various parts of the country. One thing I hope to gain from the experience is how/what I can do to take this blog to a higher level and hopefully make a bigger impact in the cause of gay rights. God knows, so much needs to still be done particularly in states like Virginia where LGBT citizens have no legal protections.

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The boyfriend will be going to D.C. with me and despite the busy schedule I hope the two of us will get to enjoy a little bit of time as a couple at a few of the local venues. He's such a sweetheart that I would not think of going without him.

National LGBT Blogger Initiative Summit

Almost a month ago I did a post on the National LGBT Blogger Initiative Summit to be held in Washington, D.C., on the weekend of December 5-7, 2008. The goal of the initiative which was the brainchild of by Mike Rogers of PageOne Q and BlogActive.com is to support training and grants for "the country's leading and emerging online voices." The program, was established with a leadership gift of $50,000 from Jonathan Lewis of the Progressive Insurance family. While I figured that it was a long shot, I applied for the summit through the website. I just found out that I have been selected to attend! Wow!
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I have registered for the summit and am still waiting on more details about the agenda for the summit, not to mention who else will be attending. I am very, very excited to have made the selection cut and to have what I beleive will be a wonderful experience. One of my goals is to take this blog to a higher level and I hope this program will help me to achieve that goal. I believe blogs and the information the Internet offers can make a huge difference over time for the benefit of the LGBT community and democracy in general. I will share more information as I receive it.

National LGBT Blogger Initiative Summit

Blogging can be addicting as I suspect most fellow bloggers will concede. For me blogging allows me to express my thoughts and opinions, has allowed me to build a remarkable network of friends around the globe, and hopefully allows me to bet information out to others that may help the rights and visibility of LGBT Americans. Others have seen the role that LGBT blogs can play in political and social discourse. Now, there will be a summit that will allow some LGBT bloggers to meet each other and hopefully build networks and ties that will allow them to further their blogs and LGBT citizens in general. I think the summit is a wonderful idea and have applied to attend the summit - I will be keeping my fingers crossed that I am lucky enough to be selected. You can apply to attend here. Here are details on the summit which will run from December 5-7, 2008, in Washington, D.C.:

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Washington, DC – Blogger Michael Rogers today announced the formation of the National LGBT Blogger and Citizen Journalist Initiative to support training and grants for the country's leading and emerging online voices. The program, established with a leadership gift of $50,000 from Jonathan Lewis, will bring together the online world with traditional organizations throughout the country. To date, over $70,000 has been committed to the Initiative.

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“The importance of bloggers in both the LGBT community and larger blogosphere cannot be overstated,” said Rogers, publisher of PageOneQ and a leading blogger. “This initiative will bring bloggers together to acquire new skills, build relationships, and improve the effectiveness of their work. This is the first opportunity to collaborate between online media and traditional organizations and I am excited at the coalitions that will form as a result. Groups sponsoring this Initiative are at the forefront of new media in the LGBT community and we are grateful for their support.”

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The Initiative will begin with a summit of 50 bloggers, citizen journalists, and representatives of LGBT and progressive groups. The event will take place in Washington on Dec. 5-7. . . . “Citizen journalism is strengthening the LGBT community in ways none of us could have imagined just a few years ago,” Victory Fund President Chuck Wolfe said. “We’re sharing information at lightning speed and reaching audiences that have been underserved by traditional media.

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For Initiative and Summit application info, please visit www.bloggerinitiative.com.