Gay online encyclopaedia debuts
WikiQueer, a gay, bi and trans online encyclopaedia has launched publicly this week.
The wiki site began collating content after its soft-launch last year and has now gone live.
Unlike Wikipedia, WikiQueer says it will allow dynamic content from existing online LGBT and wiki projects, content geared towards activism around issues, and in-depth information on the LGBT communities which may not presently meet Wikipedia’s notability standards.
WikiQueer founder and lead administrator, Gregory Varnum said: “I felt drawn to the concept of presenting LGBT information via wikis for years.
“Helping with dozens of pages and projects on Wikipedia and assisting with the development of specialized LGBT wiki projects fulfilled some of that. However, I consistently came back to the need for a truly comprehensive wiki by and for the LGBT communities, free of any community politics.”
WikiQueer is backed by The Aequalitas Project, a nonprofit organization “serving as an incubator for new progressive programs”.
Founder of POZ Magazine and inaugural member of WikiQueer’s global advisory board Sean Strub said: “WikiQueer enables a wealth of information about the LGBT community to be shared.
“It’s a far cry from the time–not so many years ago–when looking up “homosexual” in the card catalog at a high school library was so often the first step to finding ourselves and each other. I’m looking forward to the creative ways the growing WikiQueer community will develop and utilize the information we share and collectively own.”
