Immigration Equality Blog (www.immigrationequality.org/blog/) focuses on achieving equality for glbtq and HIV-positive individuals and couples under American immigration law.

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Dr. Jillian T. Weiss maintains an informative blog focused on transgender issues in the workplace, Transgender Workplace Diversity: The Law, Politics, and Public Issues of Transgender Workplace Diversity (transworkplace.blogspot.com/).

Mike Rogers's blogActive: Direct Action Tools from D. C. (www.bioactive.com) may also be considered a specialized blog. Rogers, who is featured in Kirby Dick's documentary Outrage (2009), specializes in exposing hypocrisy among government officials, especially politicians who vote against glbtq rights while surreptitiously pursuing gay sex. Although Rogers comments on general glbtq issues and news, he clearly most relishes exposing the hypocrisy of moralistic politicians.

Conclusion

The proliferation of glbtq political blogs says something about the thirst glbtq people have for information about their lives and issues, information that is not always forthcoming from mainstream news sources. While it is true that glbtq issues are now covered more often as general news than they previously were, the coverage of these issues by the mainstream media is often biased or uninformed. Hence, the need for specialized news services and commentary is as imperative as ever, and the glbtq political blogs help meet this continuing need.

This proliferation is also a manifestation of grassroots (or 'netroots) activism. It probably indicates a widespread desire for a decentralized, bottom-up approach to advancing the glbtq movement, especially in light of the fact that many blogs were launched in the aftermath of the passage of California's Proposition 8, a loss that is widely blamed on the apparent ineptness of professional political experts and established organizations. Indeed, whether merited or not, the political blogs express over and over again a lack of faith in the ability of established organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign or Equality California to achieve the goals of the movement.

The growth of the gay political blogosphere also reflects the new popularity of participatory journalism. At a time when established journalism is under attack for a lack of objectivity and for ideological slants of various kinds, participatory journalism not only offers citizens an opportunity for self-expression, but the new tools of the Internet also allow their voices to be disseminated widely and with an immediacy not heretofore possible.

Perhaps most profoundly, however, blogging on the Internet creates the kind of community that most glbtq people can not find in their "real" lives, especially if they do not live in centers of gay activism. The new media and tools make it possible to communicate directly and quickly with others of a like mind or similar interests, and thereby create communities that may be "virtual" but nevertheless deeply satisfying. The creation of these communities make possible a new kind of political activism, one that may be able to bridge many of the divisions that separate our extraordinarily diverse communities.

The socially and politically conservative Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long been antagonistic to the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people.

Since the advent of the Internet, lesbians, gay men, and sexual and gender nonconformists of all kinds have been able to use a variety of computer-mediated communications to meet and network both on- and offline.

Those countries that allow the immigration of glbtq persons based on persecution in their home countries often raise difficulties or apply the existing laws inequitably, especially in the case of glbtq couples who apply for entry as domestic partners.

The gay and lesbian press is of prime importance in sustaining a frequently embattled minority and has been crucial in the development of a national mass movement for gay rights.

Lesbian and gay couples have been fighting for the freedom to marry since the dawn of the modern glbtq struggle for equality; despite some success abroad, progress toward same-sex marriage in the United States has been slow.

Activist and author Keith Boykin has committed his life to advancing the rights of the African-American and glbtq communities and to enhancing communication between them.

Comedian Kate Clinton has been comfortably open about her lesbianism from the beginning of her career in the entertainment field.

Award-winning television journalist Anderson Cooper, famous for his reporting from war zones and scenes of natural and man-made disasters, ended years of speculation by confirming his homosexuality in 2012.

The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, in effect from 1993 until 2011, was a compromise intended to end discrimination against gay men and lesbians in the U. S. military, but it failed to halt discharges based solely on sexual orientation.

Equality California (EQCA) is one of the largest and fastest growing statewide glbtq advocacy and civil rights organizations in the United States.

Actor Harvey Fierstein has had phenomenal success as both a performer and a playwright, and has been steadfastly committed to the cause of glbtq rights.

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is a watchdog group dedicated to promoting accurate representations of the glbtq community in the media.

The largest glbtq political organization in the United States, the Human Rights Campaign has emerged as the leading national organization representing glbtq concerns.

One of only a few openly gay anchors on national television news, Thomas Roberts has emerged as a visible symbol of new opportunities for openly gay people in society generally, as well as in journalism in particular.

Best known for his syndicated sex-advice column, Dan Savage is also the author of books chronicling his and his partner's experiences in adopting a child and dealing with the issue of same-sex marriage

Michelangelo Signorile is a prolific, and often provocative, writer and activist whose books and articles, radio show, newspaper columns, and website champion the cause of glbtq rights.

Social and political commentator Andrew Sullivan has established himself as an influential participant in Anglo-American political discourse.