Gay Today: World

NationalGayLobby.Org Calls
America Online Boycott

Compiled By GayToday

Washington, D.C.—"Despite repeated requests," says NationalGayLobby.Org (NGL) America OnLine "has not seen fit to meet with representatives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community organizations that question its Terms Of Service (TOS) enforcement procedures."

"Rather," says NGL, "AOL has relied upon organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) to run interference for it in the media, and provide the illusion of concern and accountability the corporation understandably seeks to convey.

Both Wired Strategies and NGL, web-based activist centers, were excluded from a recent AOL meeting with gay representatives, although it was these organizations that had initiated criticisms of AOL.

As a result, says NGL, it has had no option but to move ahead with the boycott of AOL and its subsidiaries and advertisers scheduled for noon today.

"America OnLine is taking the position that it has no responsibility to be proactive in policing its community in order to maintain a safe and friendly environment. The company says that all anyone who finds an incident of hate or verbal violence against any minority group has to do is report the incident and all will be well," said NGL Executive Director Michael Romanello.

"The Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD, both of which receive millions of dollars from the GLBT community to fight violence, defamation and discrimination, have by their participation in a November 9 meeting hosted by AOL and their subsequent statements to the media, in effect said yes, AOL is correct.

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Related Sites:
NationalGayLobby.org

GLAAD

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"We disagree."

In anticipation of the boycott, NGL began yesterday morning to post information on its web site about services and rates offered by local, regional and nationwide GLBT-owned and GLBT-friendly Internet Service Providers.

GayToday's ally, Softec Systems, is among such providers.

NGL has made AOL information available on its special discussion board created for that purpose. The organization encourages internet users to use its board as a central source for sharing both internet service and content information.

Within the next two days, NGL plans to post to its web site lists of AOL's advertisers with appropriate electronic contact information.

"We hope that all of our web site visitors will access this information and send these companies e-mail expressing their support for the boycott," said Romanello.

Between October 18 and November 16, NGL received more than 600 e-mail messages, most of them from AOL subscribers, who indicated they would support a boycott.

Several of these messages have been published at the NGL web site at www.nationalgaylobby.org .

"We haven't undertaken this action lightly or without considering everything involved," said NGL President Jayce Fortwangler.

"This is probably going to be a long, difficult boycott. The easy thing would have been to just let the matter fade away, but sometimes you just have to do what's right. We think this is the right thing to do, even if it turns out that no one supports the effort. But, I think people will support it."

Asked what it will take to end the boycott, Romanello said:

"All it will take, is for AOL to act responsibility. Instead of holding meetings with organizations which America OnLine either funds or owns, AOL must meet with representatives of the organizations which have expressed concerns about its TOS policy and TOS enforcement procedures. That hardly seems like an unreasonable request."