Groups Working to Set Up .Gay Domain

slfisher 0 439 Views

Two groups are working to set up a .gay top-level Internet domain, with plans for using some of the proceeds for registering sites in that domain to support gay causes, according to an article in the New York Times.

While it can cost up to $400,000 to set up a new top-level domain, companies compete for control, because the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which oversees the development and management of the Internet’s unique identifiers, awards the registry rights to just one applicant for each new top-level domain, which can result in millions of dollars per year, the Times said.

Currently, the two groups are competing for the right to apply by each claiming to be more gay than the other. "The Dot Gay Alliance (dotgay.org), out of New York City, is being led by a longtime gay activist," the Times said. "And dotGay () is being spearheaded by a heterosexual German man in Riga, Latvia, who has incorporated a company in San Francisco."

The Dot Gay Alliance points out that it is run by a gay man, while dotGay points out that it is based in San Francisco and that its head has experience setting up new top-level domains.

Neither of the for-profit groups has said what percentage of revenues it would commit for gay causes, though Joe Dolce, founder and executive director of the Dot Gay Alliance, spoke favorably of Al Gore's declaration that he would support a particular group's right to the .eco top-level domain -- where a similar fight is taking place -- only if half the proceeds went to environmental causes.

Dani AI

Generated

— brief, factual update and context (for readers who land here years later):

The .gay string was ultimately approved and delegated into the global DNS; Top Level Design won the contention and the name was delegated in 2019 and opened to the general public on September 16, 2020. Initial registry operations were run by Top Level Design; the contracted registry later moved to Registry Services LLC (GoDaddy). (iana.org)

What happened to the competing community bids? dotgay LLC sought “community” status (the Community Priority Evaluation) but failed to meet the CPE threshold; ICANN’s Board Governance Committee later denied its requests for reconsideration, so the contention proceeded and was resolved without giving exclusive community control to dotgay LLC. That explains why the eventual registry is an open gTLD rather than a restricted community namespace. (domainnamewire.com)

Practical notes and what changed since the thread began: the launched .gay registry has a public rollout, a stated commitment to direct a share of registration revenue to LGBTQ+ groups (registries/press reported a 20% donation commitment at launch), and explicit registration policy language to exclude domains used for harassment or hate. If the goal is a globally reachable domain that resolves in ordinary browsers without extra software, an ICANN‑delegated TLD like .gay is the reliable choice. (businesswire.com)

A word about and “parallel Internets”: alternative roots, blockchain name systems and private “TLD” schemes do exist, but they are not part of the authoritative DNS root and require client-side changes, special resolvers, or browser extensions—so they are not universally reachable by default. The IAB/ICANN technical position stresses the need for a single public DNS root for global interoperability. Use care before investing in a non‑ICANN namespace if global reach and compatibility matter. (en.wikipedia.org)

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Member Avatar for gregedelston
gregedelston 0 Newbie Poster

Yes this is a great idea...
when will it be up and running?

Member Avatar for slfisher
slfisher 0 Posting Whiz

Not sure, sorry.

Member Avatar for Dashworlds
Dashworlds 0 Newbie Poster

Brand new Domains and TLDs have already been launched under categories such as gay, music, sports, social and many more.

For the first time, Internet users can create their own set of Domain Names and TLDs totally free, all without any reference to ICANN.

ISPs such as offer a parallel Internet using new Dashcom (not Dotcom) Domain Names. Dashcoms are brand new web addresses in the format
or or (Examples Only).

With users and members in over 90 countries worldwide, resolution is via an APP (although ISP links are now available to negate that need).

Things change and grow. Not-so-long ago, people would have thought a web based magazine such as this to be a waste of time, effort and money. After all why would anyone want to fork out for hugely expensive computers, sign up for extra phone lines, buy modems and routers, buy an OS, learn how to use it all....Just so they could read a magazine?....Why?....When all they had to do was walk down to the local store.

Having just one Internet in infinite cyberspace is like saying you can go visit anywhere in America just as long as you stick to route 66. So today, just as in the USA (and everywhere else in the world) the Internet has more than one road to travel.

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