There are blogs for just about every hobby, interest and persuasion, but why don't any cover gay lifestyle?
I'm not talking about gay porn blogs, which attract heaps of traffic, or fiscal conservative/same-sex-marriage advocate Andrew Sullivan, or Andrew Towle's Towleroad, which scans the headlines for news of importance to gays and lesbians. I mean a general-interest gay blog that covers fashion, lifestyle and travel.
Media Hack
I can't claim to have come up with the idea, though. David Hauslaib, 21, who operates gossip blog Jossip, did. Next week he is planning to launch Queerty (a play on Qwerty, the keyboard standard), which will feature the blogging of Bradford Shellhammer (yes, his real name: I checked his driver's license). Shellhammer, 29, spots fashion trends for JC Report, the online fashion magazine published by Flavorpill Productions, and has written for Abercrombie & Fitch Quarterly, The Baltimore Sun and Gay.com.
Recently I interviewed the two of them at a cafe in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, where they talked about their plans for Queerty.
Wired News: What makes you think there's a market for a gay lifestyle blog?
David Hauslaib: There's nary a gay bloke I've met who doesn't read dozens of blogs. Meanwhile, blue-chip companies ranging from Absolut and Budweiser to Orbitz and American Express regularly target gay readers. Not only that, but the launch of the new Viacom gay-themed TV channel Logo would indicate there's definite interest.
Bradford Shellhammer: There are many successful gay lifestyle print magazines both overtly gay (Genre, Out, The Advocate) and ones that are gay but don't claim to be (Details and Cargo). Besides, gay people read. Have you seen our coffee tables?
WN: Nick Denton, who runs Gawker Media, told me that no gay lifestyle blog has attracted a sizeable audience yet and wonders if it's "because even the mainstream blogs, like Gawker, are so very gay."
Hauslaib: I disagree. If there's even a gay blog dedicated to my demographic, it's usually a porn site. Gays and lesbians inside my social circle and those who I come into contact with otherwise, such as Jossip's readers, express their disdain with current online offerings for the gay and lesbian community.
WN: What about Towleroad, a blog that interprets news of interest to gays?
Shellhammer: Andy Towle is a former editor of Genre and his site is more of a resource. It is the news peppered with pop-culture observations, but his style is to pull together stories from all over the world that relate to gay men. We want to be a bit sassier than Andy. Towleroad has achieved a large level of traffic, though, for a one-man operation without a Gawker empire behind him.
WN: What will Queerty cover?
Shellhammer: The blog is going to be a gay lifestyle blog with a strong editorial voice. We want to be the place you go when you are planning a trip, buying a new suit, getting a haircut. The coverage will include fashion, style, grooming.
Hauslaib: Gay men don't just want to know about what fashions are coming out this fall. They want to know how to wear them and who's designing which lines.
Shellhammer: ... home decor, nightlife, dining, travel, fitness. I'll also look at politics, sex and online dating. Gay men just eat up online dating. I will be spotlighting a new line of clothing, discovering a gem of a restaurant, posting travel reviews written by my network of friends and colleagues. On my personal website, I have interviewed celebrities, artists and musicians, and am going to adopt this strategy at Queerty.
Hauslaib: So far, the only gay entertainment coverage we can find on blogs revolves around gay porn stars. While Cher and Madonna are celebrated gay icons, gays and lesbians also want to hear more about celebrities they can identify with, like Rufus Wainwright and Randy Harrison.
WN: Do you worry that people will lump you in with all those gay porn blogs out there?
Shellhammer: Queerty is a startup and many new things promise to be many things to many people. You have to envy gay porn blogs' success. Look at Fleshbot and all the advertisers on it. GayPornBlog makes a killing. But Queerty is not going after advertising dollars of porn shops. We want Audi and Absolut and Diesel, and we are also our own target audience.
WN: Which means, if you two want it, you figure there must be a market for it.
Hauslaib: Right. It takes more than butt plugs and nipple clamps to titillate gay readers. Not that we won't offer readers something worth looking at, but our focus is on writing a blog that gay men and women can read at work without fear of getting fired -- or fielding unwelcome advances from their bosses.
WN: What about Andrew Sullivan? His isn't a gay lifestyle blog, although he does advocate for gay rights mixed in with a decidedly conservative political outlook. And he is immensely popular.
Shellhammer: Andrew Sullivan really kinda creeps me out. Some people care more about their wallets then their civil rights.
Hauslaib: At Queerty, there is no debate: It's a blog for fags by fags, and we're only going to let right-wingers in if they agree to get paddled.
WN: Now that you operate a fairly successful gossip site (Jossip) and are launching a gay blog, what's next?
Hauslaib: Maybe personal finance.
WN: You're kidding.
Hauslaib: Seriously. I bet there's a market for it.
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Adam L. Penenberg is an assistant professor at New York University and the assistant director of the business and economic reporting program in the school's department of journalism.
