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Get Involved

Other than being a resource for diverse music and events that take place outside of a few prominent gay bars, TNG is an online forum for members of our community to express ideas, opinions, short fiction, and personal stories. That’s where you come in. TNG has plenty of readers waiting to hear from you, so read our submission guidelines below the fold and send your writing to submit@thenewgay.net.

We are also interested in finding local editors in cities around the US and world. If you are in the know about events and other goings on in your city and would like to help keep our events listings up to date, please let us know: email us at info@thenewgay.net.

Submission Guidelines

Commentary:
We are accepting short (no more than 1-2 pages, please) essays/stories/commentaries from members of our community. We are not editors or philosophers and we realize most of you are not professional writers, but we do have some standards. Please do not send us your first draft. We don’t mind making small edits, but please submit posts that are grammatically correct, cogent, and well written. We love you all, but for the sake of the readership we must practice quality control.

The TNG staff doesn’t agree with each other on everything, and we don’t need to agree with you in order for you to post here. Also, controversial topics are fine as long as you have a thick skin. Those who choose to comment on TNG tend to be less mean and more thoughtful than commenters on many other blogs I’ve seen, but sometimes comments can be sharp, so take criticism with an open mind and a grain of salt. This is a good forum for us to learn from one another.
Don’t send us overly negative posts. Most readers will assume a snarky or bitchy tone anyway, even when none is intended, so write carefully. If you have a critical opinion, back it up with supporting arguments and/or well-written prose. Humor works well also.
We also ask that you don’t defend yourselves via comments. You should reread your submission and make sure that it stands on its own, as we will frown on you trying to save face in the comments section after you stir up a shitstorm.
Send us entertaining tales of hook-ups and heartbreaks, analysis of trends and ideas, poetry and haiku, saucy fiction, postulations on queer identity, criticisms and celebrations of culture, photographs, or anything else you can think of. The topic doesn’t need to be specifically gay, just well written and interesting to a “new gay” audience, which is curious, intelligent, reflective, and opinionated.
We don’t want to read about celebrity culture and gossip. Frankly, we find you much more interesting. There are a ton of gay blogs that do the gossip thing better than we can. Also, we don’t want to hear about the latest gay-centric news of the moment. You can read about this stuff on Queerty or Towleroad. They do a good job of it. However, we DO encourage you to submit commentary on individual news items, should you feel compelled.
Follow up! We can’t tell you how many people express an interest in writing for us and then disappear. Don’t second guess yourself: if you have something to say, say it. We’ll publish for you, but only if you send it to us.
Finally, the most important thing to remember is that this blog is written for other people. Whereas many blogs are concerned with what their author had for breakfast or why they’re really tired today, everything written for TNG is for an audience. Always think “so what” when writing a post. You can attempt to answer a question, tell a story or lodge a complaint, but only if you’re not just doing it for yourself.

Maybe there is a particular local beat you want to cover that TNG doesn’t currently provide? Let us know.

We are particularly interested in hearing minority (African-American, Hispanic, Asian, etc.) and transgender voices.

4 Comments »

Daniel Bassinger said:

umm. I’m really curious to know what you guys think about this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkqNIBwIUMs

as a gay man i do not know whether to be offended, or applaud the dominion stage’s efforts.

11 June 2009 at 5:41 pm

John Myers said:

Life is all about experience. Our own unique experiences make us the people we are. There’s an old saying that I happen believe in wholeheartedly: “Experience is the greatest teacher.” It really is! As a teacher, I’ve learned that the key to getting through to kids while teaching them is to connect what’s being taught with their life experiences. Students (and we’re all students in a way) learn best when they can relate what they’re learning to things that have touched their lives in a direct way.

I’ll give you an example:

A couple of years ago, I had several students in a Biology class. Being that English is their second language, they often need extra help in learning what they’re supposed to be learning, so one day I was helping them with a quiz they had just had in Biology class. There was a question that had something to do with using Miracle Grow on a sample of tomato plants in a greenhouse in an experiment.

“Miracle Grow?” “A green house?” They don’t have Miracle Grow in Guatemala. Or Poland. There was no way these kids were going to know the answer because although they knew what the individual words meant, they had no direct experience with Miracle Grow or a greenhouse, for that matter. If they had, they wouldn’t have been as confused about the question as they were.

We all take experience for granted. Each of us has opinions on everything from what’s the best toothpaste to who should be President. If we’ve never tried Crest, how can we know we don’t like it? If the candidate’s from another state, how do we know what kind of President they’d make? The answer is we don’t because we haven’t experienced them yet.

The word “prejudice” has a lot to do with experience. To pre-judge anything literally means to judge something before it’s experienced. We take experience for granted because each of us is guilty of judging without experience. We judge books by their covers, people by their looks, and products by their reputation, but the most tragic thing about prejudice is making assumptions about people without getting to know them first.

Think about it! If you live in a rural area, what must you think about people from the city? If you’re in your fifties, what do you think of a Goth? Do you even know what that is? I can only imagine what you’d be thinking if you saw one.

How can you have any knowledge of what it’s like being a Muslim if you’ve never even spoken to one? Or a Native American? An Asian person? How about a person who owns a gun? Or someone that has had an abortion? The truth is you can’t. Each one of us is unique in our experience. Not all Jewish people are alike. New Yorkers, either.

A person swerves into your lane on the highway. You cuss at them, but you had no idea they had a giant spider on their leg and lost their attention momentarily. (It wasn’t me! I swear!) Someone in the emergency room was seen before you, but their chest pains were really more urgent than your laceration (Again, not me!).

The truth is, none of us really know what it’s like to live in someone else’s shoes. Remember that the next time you see a young girl with piercings all over her face, or a man wearing Hassidic garb, or even a guy wearing leotards in a parade. Inside each of them is a person trying their best to be who they are, based upon their experiences, which we know nothing about. Just remember that!

26 August 2009 at 12:39 am

Ellie Gutowski said:

Hi, I work at the Whitman-Walker Clinic and was wondering whether you would be willing to post this volunteer position that recently opened up:

Make a Difference in your Community

Become a Peer Counselor!

Whitman-Walker is now seeking Peer Counselors to provide one-on-one Peer Support through our Peer Support Program.

For more information call: 202-939-7646
Or email: V-EGutowski@wwc.org

Thanks!

2 October 2009 at 2:07 pm

umstrum said:

Hey there!

i was browsing this blog and i just thought i’d drop you a line to thank you for your good work and to let you know that i too have a blog that you might want to check out. it’s no way near as good as yours but i’m doing my best. it’s all about music and you’ll find lots of new and interesting tunes mainly from Europe (especially France, Scandinavia and UK) and Australia.

pay us a visit: http://umstrum.com

hope u like it!

16 November 2009 at 6:54 pm