Saudi government objects to ‘.gay’ domain name endings
The government of Saudi Arabia has objected to several proposed new Internet address endings, including .gay.
It is believed by the ruling powers of the country that a .gay domain would “promote” homosexuality and offend “many societies and cultures.”
On the grounds of protecting cultural and religious sensibilities, Saudi Arabia’s Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) has so far filed objections to over 30 domain extensions, including .bar and .baby.
The CITC said: “Many societies and cultures consider homosexuality to be contrary to their culture, morality or religion.”
The Saudi government believe that such a name as .gay could be used to host porn websites, adding that “pornography undermines gender equality and threatens public morals.” Their objections to a number of sex-related top-level domains, including .porn, .sexy, .adult, .hot, .sex, .dating and .virgin. are the same.
The country is also objecting to .islam because the applicant is a private company and, said the government, cannot therefore “represent the whole or even a majority of the worldwide Muslim community.”
They also argued that all religious communities should have a voice when it came to the approval of any related domain extensions. The other option, it was suggested, is that such extensions be banned altogether.
The public are able to continue submitting their objections until 26 September.
