Who reads La Parola?

If you're new to these pages, La Parola offers a wealth of resources for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. If you're new to our community, you may have wandered here looking for a specific topic, or general sources of information, or just interesting reading. We have all of that, and welcome to our changing world.

Many readers come here to look at our Matthew tribute, find what they are looking for, and leave. That's expected. When La Parola went online, gay sites were still somewhat of a lighthouse, a beacon for newcomers and wayfarers. Our Archives are a track record of the last decade of gay progress. A lot has changed.

Today, there are probably more sites devoted to Matthew Shepard than all of the sites devoted to GLBT causes in the early 1990's. The glossy gay magazines are thriving, have their own websites. Prime time shows with openly gay themes and actors are non-controversial and fashionable. The venomous "Dr. Laura" has been de-fanged and sulks in her hole (thanks in large part to the tireless efforts of media watchdogs GLAAD). Now that Bush is in office but without clear consensus, he lip-synchs the words to "Onward Christian Soldiers" but doesn't appear ready to swamp the boat.

Mostly, people just want to get on with their lives. In that respect, most of us are no different than anyone else. Sure, there are gay-specific issues, but even if you aren't and never had been part of the gay community, there are always issues: taxes, oil, energy, transportation ... even if you still think the world is going to hell in a handbasket, it would seem it just doesn't get any better than this.

If you're an old friend of La Parola, you keep coming back here month after month, to see what's new, and frankly, not much is new. Of two Features entries for the first half of 2001, one is syndicated community news, and the other is a humorous personal anecdote with a gay twist.

If it's not original and cutting-edge, we have a deep-seated fear of becoming the "party-line hack", the green-visored gnome who grinds out the expected tirades every month just in time to beat the newsletter deadline. It's a thankless job, and fortunately, you readers aren't paying us to do that.

We have asked for feedback from time to time, and the numbers just don't look good. Matthew gets more "hits" than the La Parola index every month. If the average reader response to a typical page is 1 in 10,000, and if La Parola gets 1500 "hits" a year, who's going to hire extra help to handle the mail?

Yes, sure we'd like responses, but only if you have something to say. Would a Chat page or Guest Log help? Note: the icons below do not lead to gay-specific areas. They are in use by the general readership now. Would you like to see dedicated versions of these just for La Parola?

Site-wide, Summitlake.com has simple interactive forums or chat boards available for the general community. The response isn't overwhelming, but the occasional delighted visitor and loyal reader alike keep adding entries. If you would like guest and chat areas added to La Parola, please drop us a note (or use the existing interactive areas) to say so.

We have more "Write-Us" buttons site-wide than you can shake a stick at, and frankly I have reservations about using such devices myself. Some of my objections:

• The reply gets you mired in some long, rambling exchange when you just wanted to say "thanks"
• You get stuck on somebody's mailing list
• They never reply at all

You don't have to worry too much about any of these possibilities at Summitlake.com. Read our policy about Cookies. Not only does it contain useful research about these beasts, it puts forth the Summitlake Privacy Policy. (Summitlake.com does not have a mailing list. No cookies are currently used in La Parola at all, and elsewhere they are only used as a rudder for the interactive forums.)

So, if there's something you'd like to see in La Parola, including interactive forums, sure, please do feel free to drop us a line.

All that notwithstanding, "Don't Ask Don't Tell" is in worse shape than ever. The Episcopals are again on the brink of doing something major with respect to gay policy, and we've lost track of who's who and which side is winning. The media continues to dish out the same shameless stereotypes that they visit upon almost every other community in this vast nation of ours. Come to think of it, we're not too pleased with California's energy policy right now, either.

We haven't heard from Uncle Tubbs in a couple of years, but we suspect he would say things haven't changed much, or, like Benjamin the Mule in Orwell's Animal Farm, he might affirm that life goes on as always - "that is to say, badly."

Whatever. As Uncle Tubbs would say, kick back and relax and enjoy the Fourth of July:

"You have a Safe and Sound, son, you hear?"