.gay is currently open to trademark holders and brands, but will become available to the general public in the northern hemisphere’s autumn of 2020. Through .gay‘s business model of giving to LGBTQ causes, they have already raised $17,200 for GLAAD and $17,200 for CenterLink during their first .gay Sunrise Phase, which kicked off in February and just ended last week.

In addition to creating a completely new medium for LGBTQ visibility, .gay has made this industry-first commitment of donating 20% of all new registration revenue to its LGBTQ nonprofit partners, which will help address key issues facing these communities. All registrars are also encouraged to match the .gay donation at the retail level or make their own pledges in support for LGBTQ people. This first $34,400 donation is the first of many more to come as the .gay brand launches and grows.

Beyond increasing visibility for LGBTQ communities and directly supporting organisations through charitable giving, the brand is centred around rejecting the status quo and creating a safer internet for LGBTQ people through its “.gay Rights Protections” policy, which ensures that registrars and domains will represent LGBTQ people appropriately and respond to reported instances of hate or harassment on all .gay sites. The registry is committed to setting a higher industry standard by taking steps to ensure that all .gay domain names remain free of harassment, hate speech, and anti-LGBTQ content, as well as providing specific remedies for domains that do not uphold these standards.

.gay is also directly supporting broader LGBTQ communities between April and August of this year by providing early access to a limited number of .gay names free of charge. Any LGBTQ organisation, community group, individual, or small business looking to foster digital pride and connection in advance of the official .gay launch this fall can fill out this form to begin the process of securing their .gay name at no cost to them: https://www.ohhey.gay/gay-giveaway