Dot Gay

A top-level domain (TLD), also known as a web address, is the suffix that appears after a name on the Internet. TLDs come in two types: generic TLDs (gTLDs) and country-code TLDs (ccTLDs). Common examples of gTLDs are .COM, .NET, and .EDU, and familiar country codes are .UK (United Kingdom), .FR (France), and .US (United States).

Since its inception in 1998, ICANN, the organization that oversees Internet policy and technical functioning, has been looking at ways to introduce new top-level domains. Now, eleven years later, ICANN has announced a major expansion in the number of different top-level domains, and we will apply for .GAY — a TLD run by and dedicated to expanding the civil rights of lesbian and gay people in the U.S. and around the world.

The Dot Gay Alliance is a gay-led organization dedicated to promoting the acceptance and implementation of the .GAY Top-level Domain (TLD). It is backed by leading gay rights and philanthropic groups, high-profile individuals, and leading business voices.

The Dot Gay Alliance is led by Founder & Executive Director Joe Dolce. The technical infrastructure is provided by Minds + Machines, the same international group that is working with the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Sierra Club, and Surfrider to lead the .ECO top-level domain initiative.

Great question.

We’ve been discussing that since the idea was born, as we know our community has always strived to be inclusive.

We settled on .GAY for several reasons:

1. It is a short, three-letter word, which means it’s well suited to the Internet naming conventions.
2. It is internationally recognized across all languages, which is crucial to the success a worldwide effort such as this.
3. It is far more widely searched than LGBT, meaning that it has the greatest possibility of being found on the Internet.

I first learned about Minds + Machines when they enlisted Vice-President Al Gore to launch the .ECO Top-level Domain on the Internet. We met. Their extensive experience and conviction were apparent and impressive. In thinking about these new Internet web addresses, I instantly thought .GAY would make sense. Minds + Machines instantly saw the potential to unite a community that is still in large part, organized locally. They also generously agreed to  give over half the profits to organizations that fight for LGBT civil rights. What’s not to like?

You can read about Minds + Machines at www.mindsandmachines.com.

The Dot Gay Alliance intends to apply for the .GAY TLD in early 2010, the date that ICANN intends to open its review process.

It will be reviewed over a period of months and if ICANN determines that there is enough community support and backing for this initiative, it can be approved.

When someone buys a .GAY web address, a small portion of the fee goes to ICANN and the rest goes to the registry, which in this case is the Dot Gay Alliance. Half of the profits earned through registration, plus the sales of certain valuable .GAY web addresses, will be returned to the leading organizations fighting for the civil rights of the LGBT community in the US and around the world.

In black and white terms: If 1 million people buy a .GAY web address at $15 per address, that’s a total of $15 million/year. After ICANN dues and other fees, this would leave about $7 million for LGBT philanthropy. To put this in context, there are currently 8 million .ORG and 1.2 million .MOBI web addresses registered.

The costs to launch a new top level domain are high, close to $1 million when all is said and done, and the risks are great—there is no way to guarantee that ICANN will approve these changes to the way Internet domains are named. It is unlikely that any non-profit would take on such a risk. This is one reason entrepreneurs with social consciousness have stepped in. They are able to raise money for the large upfront costs and work for no return in the beginning with an eye towards success in the long term for themselves and for their causes.

This is yet to be determined, but typically the price of a new TLD web address will be $12-18 US.

Ahhh, the multi-million dollar question. At this early point in the process there are many ways to go. We could align with a philanthropic organization that already has a review process in place and ask them to do our screening to determine which organizations are most deserving of funds.

Another alternative is to give a certain percentage to 10 or so organizations whose work we admire and want to support, and reserve another percentage for discretionary disbursement.

Yet another option is to establish an advisory board of International LGBT business and community leaders to help us determine the organizations and causes that will be best served.

Bear in mind that at this point the first priority is to have our application for the .GAY TLD approved.

There is no doubt that .GAY presents a great opportunity for companies to address specific markets like the LGBT community.

But it’s more than that.

We think of it as the LGBT directory for the entire world.

Besides the obvious philanthropic benefits, here are just a few of the other opportunities it can create:

+ It makes the entire LGBT world open to anyone with a computer.
+ It forces companies that sell to gays and lesbians, and that want us in their fold, to be more accountable.
+ It will enable companies to state their hiring practices, benefits programs and diversity programs openly to the LGBT world.
+ It will make a community that is locally organized today, globally accessible.
+ Those people and companies who were unable to buy .COM addresses will be able to buy them as .GAY.
+ It will increase competition, creativity, innovation and customer choice.

Unlikely. .COM was compromised years ago when cybersquatters bought up valuable domains with the expressed purpose of reselling them at inflated prices. We think this will enable the Internet to become a more focused and user-friendly place.

It’s important to realize that there are opponents to all new Top-level Domains — including .GAY. Some large corporations, under advice of their legal departments, will feel compelled to register every one of their trademarks in every single Top-level Domain. This is a potentially expensive process, which is why some corporations oppose them. Fortunately, others, including many supporters of the .GAY initiative, are taking a more progressive view, and some are even considering registering their own .BRAND TLD themselves.

There are also other competitors who are not part of the LGBT community and who are attempting to create a 100% for-profit .GAY Top-level domain. We think our model of social entrepreneurship, plus our technical expertise, is far superior and most deserving of community support.

By adding your name, or that of your corporation to our list of supporters, you can help shape the outcome of this debate. If you are writing from a medium to large company, we ask that you send us a physical letter of support — in your words — which we will submit both to ICANN and to the Department of Commerce, which oversees it. You CAN make a difference.

Sign up for our Twitter feed, join our Facebook fan page, or drop us an email.

And thanks for asking.

Yes, please do!