TNG 1 Year Anniversary

In June of 2007, three homo-guys were walking up 14th St. NW on a sunny Summer Saturday afternoon talking about our complaints with gay culture in DC: not enough options, too segregated, too much hollow fascination with pop culture... We thought that, instead of complaining about it, we should actually do something about it. Zack suggested we start a blog, and flippantly tossed out the term "the new gay." A few minutes later, the tag line "for everyone over the rainbow" was coined.

But unlike so many of the "other" ideas I've had in the past, like we've all had in our pasts, we actually committed ourselves to doing something about it. We met the following week and made an action plan. We put together a design template, we came up with a logo, we decided upon style and formatting standards, we concocted a shared vision. And we made it happen.

On October 1, 2007, TheNewGay.net was launched. And oh, the places we've been.

Since then, we've added ten additional named contributors as well as five editorial staff members. (Shout-outs to Margaret, Andrew and Brian! You'll be better represented on the site soon.) Over the past year, we've published (as of this moment) 1320 posts, an average of 5.28 per day, covering a variety of topics, from the serious to the frivolous. And we've gotten a lot of feedback from our readers.

Throughout this journey, we've always let you know what "the new gay" means to us. The short answer is, each of us has our own definition. And now, it's your turn.

Everyone who writes for this blog does so because gay culture, the culture to which they belong but had no hand in forming, does not work for them. They wanted something different from their gay life, whether that be different music, different bars or nightclubs, a different way of thinking, or a different way of speaking and relating with their gay friends.

So on our one year anniversary we invite readers to tell us what their relationship to gay culture is. Do you feel welcomed by it? Rejected? Indifferent and bored? Let us know. We want to know what about gay culture you would keep the same and what you would change. We want to know if you even feel that you are a part of any gay culture, or if you've rejected the concept completely. To some of the TNG founders, "The New Gay" means defining your own life and not letting gay culture do it for you. Readers, what does the concept of a "new" kind of gay culture mean to you?

During October, you'll also find a whole host of fun TNG events in store for you. Of course, you'll have to check back on a regular basis to find out the details.

So, please send us your perspectives, so that your voice is represented and heard. And thank you for reading, participating, and most of all, thinking.