What springs to mind as the stereotypical gay occupation? Computer professional? Michaelangelo Signorile, author of the newly released Queer in America: Sex, the Media, and the Closets of Power, cites a study showing ten times more homosexuals in the computer industry than in the fashion industry. Not only are there more homosexuals, but more of them are out and lobbying for progressive company policies such as domestic-partner benefits.
A number of gay rights organizations have sprung up at high-tech companies - Gays and Lesbians at Microsoft (gleam) and Apple Lambda are two of the best known. Digital Queers, founded in 1992, goes beyond company policy issues, linking the digital revolution to a network of gay organizations.
DQ grew out of the informal social network of gay and lesbian high-tech professionals milling around computer industry trade shows - in particular the San Francisco Macworld Expo last year. Co-founders Tom Rielly, director of strategic relations at SuperMac Technology, and Karen Wickre, a marketing manager at 3DO, wanted dq to be more than just a queer old-boy network. The adoption of the regressive Amendment 2 by Colorado voters last year caught the attention of Rielly, Wickre, and other industry activists. "dq," says Signorile, "is the manifestation of that new outward look."
DQ's initial goal was to bring the gay rights movement into the digital age by applying the powerful tools of high-technology to regional, state, and national grassroots organizations.
One glance at the ailing computer network of the Washington-based National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), and Rielly knew where to start. dq gave the NGLTF a technological root-canal, replacing a decayed system of "pathetic, aged, Intel-based PCs" with more than $200,000 of donated equipment and consulting services, according to NGLTF Co-chair Elizabeth Birch.
DQ has evolved into a high-tech consulting firm, fundraising foundation, and e-mail-based grassroots network. A techno-savvy gay movement is not only more efficient, Rielly says, it also provides an advantage over the well-funded media barrages of Rush Limbaugh, The 700 Club, and other organs of the conservative right. Digital Queers: +1 (415) 974 9122, fax +1 (415) 364 9530. (info@DQ.com or DQ@yes.com)
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