v i s s i o n.

    

 The absence of a single, ALL inclusive, online social media platform, one which shines a definitive light upon our queer community; built upon the ideals of its pride and freedoms; its acts of participation and courage; and its priorities of preserving radical-self expression––seen first ALWAYS through the lens of equal representation––is IMHO a staggering failure of existential proportions.

    The solution, in an existential sense, is the same for everyone. 

We need only open our eyes to take stock of who we are. And the eternal evasiveness of that question is mind-numbingly simple, that is, once we've dismissed ALL the external things––unwittingly or otherwise––that we have allowed to define us. 

    This inner work is just as much the responsibility of the individual as it is a community's to provide the environments in which ALL its members learn to thrive and grow. 

    Gay Social Media (GSM) predates most ALL current forms of popular social media with the advent of Gay.com in 1996 (Gay  being an ALL inclusive moniker for a wider LGBTQAI audience).

 

    As minorities whose civil rights, not only have been hard won, but also remain on the forefront of political battlegrounds, we must be careful to exercise our freedoms and rights without assuming  they can be taken for granted.  

   

    Currently, the evolution of GSM, despite the proliferation of a multitude of different sites and apps in the past two decades, has narrowed in focus to such a degree that GSM now serves not only one primary target group, gay men, but also does that group a great injustice by offering an exclusively hypersexualed context.

 

    It is my conjecture, as the culture wars before us continue into an uncertain future, that the expanding online social experience will also continue to define that future, therefore to assure the safeguards of liberty for ALL the social media experience must continue its mission of diversification.

 

    Accordingly, GSM must find a way to offer ALL its queer, gay, bi, lesbian, trans, non-binary members opportunities to fully participate in each and every aspect of their culture, NOT just in a manner that is least restrictive, but through a means which is wholly transformative.