Fifty years ago, LGBTQ communities joined together to march in honour of the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Today, we’re proud to partner with .GAY on the launch of a new space for LGBTQ communities.

We see this launch as an enormous and incredibly exciting opportunity to celebrate, support and uplift LGBTQ communities. As we know there is no one, all-encompassing LGBTQ experience or worldview, but we see the .GAY team looking to support and empower those that may not feel directly represented by .GAY.

Voices of .GAY

George Takei, best known for his role in Star Trek, a NYT Bestselling Author, and LGBTQ activist, is enthusiastic about the new .GAY TLD. George posted on social media:

“I never thought I’d live to see the day when .GAY was an actual domain! And I’m ‘GLAAD’ they’re also giving back to the LGBTQ community. Definitely something to keep an eye on.”

GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance and equips and empowers advocates and storytellers to strengthen their media impact and accelerate acceptance for LGBTQ communities. They posted:

“This year, .GAY is embarking on an unprecedented journey, in commemoration of the first Pride parade. As a domain, .GAY will operate not unlike .COM, .NET, .EDU, etc., but we also have the historic opportunity to create a completely new namespace for people in LGBTQ communities to celebrate and connect online.”

CenterLink develops strong, sustainable LGBTQ community centers and helps create healthy, vibrant communities. Their social media message was:

“.GAY is launching their campaign to lift up LGBTQ voices and create more LGBTQ-friendly spaces on the internet. 20% of every domain registered benefits CenterLink and GLAAD! Want your own .GAY domain? OF COURSE YOU DO!”

Giving Back

The Top Level Design registry is fully committed to supporting and uplifting LGBTQ communities. For every .GAY domain registered, 20% of .GAY’s new registration revenue (not just profit!) will be donated to address important issues facing LGBTQ communities. The registry is proud to stand alongside GLAAD and CenterLink, supporters and builders of strong, sustainable LGBTQ communities and voices.

Questions for the Registry:

We reached out to Andrew Merriam, VP of Business Development at Top Level Design to ask some burning questions we had about the new TLD launch. Read his answers below:

What are your expectations with the .GAY TLD?

The .gay launch presents a historic opportunity as a completely new namespace for people in LGBTQ communities to engage online. Its launch is an important step in global representation and we aspire to honor decades of social progress, while welcoming new avenues for connection, expression, and celebration. Indeed, it will create more meaning than any other name extension, not just through representation itself but through our unique, industry-first policies, such as donations tied to every registration and strong anti-hate measures.

We understand that there is no single, all-encompassing LGBTQ experience, so it was imperative that we engage the community at-large and learn from a variety of lived experiences before launching .gay. We listened to our friends, family and colleagues, as well as surveyed individuals who self-identify as LGBTQ. We found through our research that 61% of surveyed LGBTQ community members would be more likely to use a .gay domain because of the value they see for their communities, and a majority of those surveyed thought .gay would lead to improved freedom of expression and create a better online experience. Also consider data like that from Edelman’s 2020 Trust Barometer, showing that employees expect their CEOs to lead on social issues and consumers expect brands to be involved in social improvement.

The data reinforces the point that our unique and socially informed plans for .gay are not only welcome, they’re necessary. In this way, we are opening a space where all LGBTQ individuals and businesses, as well as allied businesses and individuals, can have a distinct and meaningful online experience.

We're proud to support a TLD that does so much to give back to the community. Why did Top Level Design decide to commit to the unique cause of donating 20% of every .GAY's new registration revenue?

We’re so happy to talk about this part of our business; it’s an exciting development that we think corresponds to this moment in history and the evolving use of the internet. Our donations and other community support will allow businesses and individuals to make their online experience more meaningful. We are the only known domain extension that has developed charitable policies like this. By giving 20% of all new registration revenue (not just profit!) to LGBTQ organizations, we are doing our part to make sure that this domain space truly benefits the community at large.

Our inaugural beneficiary partners are GLAAD and CenterLink, which both offer vital tools and life-saving services to LGBTQ communities. We chose CenterLink, an umbrella organization for over 250 LGBTQ centers across the US and around the world, because of their efforts to provide safe physical spaces that liberate, dignify, and empower LGBTQ lives, loves, and families. Their important work providing physical safe spaces directly aligns with our mission to create safe online spaces for LGBTQ people. We are equally honored to partner with GLAAD, whose preeminent legacy and continued work is rooted in fighting against misrepresentation and hate in the media. The GLAAD Media Guide is core to our marketing and policies.

What looks like success for you in terms of the new .GAY TLD launch?

With each domain registered, we have the unique opportunity to celebrate and grow the vibrancy of the gay Internet. .gay offers a space for businesses, organizations and individuals to converge and stand together for something bigger than just themselves — which is why our launch timing coincides intentionally with the 50th anniversary of the first Pride parade this year.

We recognize how the internet has long been an important tool within the LGBTQ community. It has provided a place for people to connect and be their authentic selves when the physical world was not welcoming. However, the internet has also been used to spread hate and incite social violence. It’s important not just for .gay to exist, to provide visibility and representation, but for .gay to develop as a groundbreaking and hate-free zone.

A successful .gay will be used for weddings, for coming out, for drag nights and for dance parties. It will be local and small businesses moving to .gay in solidarity or running special messaging during local pride festivals. A successful .gay looks like major brands using it for their pride marketing, or internal resource groups, or for highlighting their commitment to diversity and inclusion. We’re so excited to see the sheer breadth of uses for .gay because the LGBTQ community is endlessly creative and supportive of one another.

This is a global launch, and we’re excited that our small team in Portland, USA has this historic and important opportunity to help others around the world. We encourage others to reach out to local LGBTQ communities and leaders and help us internationalize the .gay movement, reminding one another of just how far we’ve come, while providing support, connection, and allyship for the work ahead.

Launch Schedule:

Sunrise 1: February 10, 2020 - March 31, 2020

Sunrise 2: April 6, 2020 - May 6, 2020

Early Access Period (EAP): May 11, 2020 - May 18, 2020

General Availability (GA): May 20, 2020

Please note that Sunrise 1 is open to TMCH holders while Sunrise 2 is open to other trademark holders registered in an official national or international trademark registry. To register a domain during the Sunrise 2 phase, please email your application to [email protected].

We're proud to be a part of this new internet movement and are excited to see where the future of the .GAY TLD takes the industry. Pricing details are currently available in your Hexonet account. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].