Dot Gay

One of the most important aspects to Dot Gay Alliance – and the primary reason I am working so hard to ensure ICANN approves the .GAY top level domain – is that 51% of all profits would earn will go to fund LGBT civil rights fights in the US and around the world. This includes a range of issues from marriage equality in the US, to preventing workplace discrimination, to providing emergency funds for people in danger. (Seven countries still administer the death penalty for homosexual acts).

Locating the organizations that do the most effective work is a big job. In the last few months I’ve been working to devise an intelligent scheme of giving that doesn’t create more bureaucracy and that hones in on the organizations and causes doing the best work. It is important to know that the monies are being distributed efficiently and being used to maximum effectiveness.

Today, I am pleased to announce that Paula Ettelbrick, one of the leading advocates of LGBT rights, is joining the Dot Gay Alliance as Philanthropic Advisor. Paula is a lawyer, teacher and relentless advocate of LGBT causes who has spent most of her working life leading LGBT organizations. She is as impressive as she is compassionate, and she is a great addition to the Dot Gay Alliance team.

In the next few weeks we will work to highlight the areas we are looking to fund and develop a framework for our philanthropic distribution. Here’s a brief bio on Paula — we are lucky to have her onboard!

Paula L. Ettelbrick is a lawyer, law professor, writer, speaker, and long-time LGBT rights advocate from New York. Until March 2009, she was the Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), a US-based non-profit headquartered in New York with regional offices in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Cape Town, South Africa. IGLHRC partners with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender groups around the world to challenge human rights abuse and discrimination and advocate for global policies and laws that respect the rights of LGBT people everywhere.

A lawyer by profession, Paula has a 25-year history in leadership positions within LGBT advocacy non-profits in the United States. She has served as the legal director at Lambda Legal Defense, policy director at National Center for Lesbian Rights, legislative counsel for the Empire State Pride Agenda, and family policy director at the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Paula has written and spoken extensively about civil, constitutional and human rights issues related to sexuality, gender and sexual orientation. She is an adjunct professor of law at New York University Law School where she teaches Sexuality and the Law, and a lecturer in the Women’s Studies Department at Barnard College. She has also taught in the law schools of the University of Michigan, Columbia University, Wayne State University, Whittier Law School’s Amsterdam Summer Program, as well as New York Law School.