Cincinnati's Queer Blogging Scene

Special 900th post...

You'll note, if you care enough to pay attention to my blogroll, that the first section on there is called "Cincinnati Queer Bloggers." Who are these people, exactly?

One of the reasons I started QueerCincinnati.com was because I didn't feel that there was a strong enough blogger out there that focused on LGBT issues in Cincinnati and Ohio. In fact, there was not a single "public interest" one, and the ones that existed either posted rarely or were extremely personal. (Insert dirty joke here about QueerCincinnati.com "filling a hole" -- did we all get a giggle? Good. Moving on.) The other reasons I started the blog -- as an honest reviewer of drag shows and my own personal shouting match with the gay community -- kind of all fell by the wayside.

But there have been quite a few more that have popped up in the last year, and there are a lot more than I think I remember seeing originally (though some have been posting way longer than me). So who are they? (Order is determined by the current order on my blog post -- i.e., who the most recent posters are.)

• Montgomery Maxton -- Author, writer, all around good guy. I just added him to my blog feed after the debut of his work this past week here in his hometown of Cincinnati. Blah, blah, blah, he's young, accomplished, published (a book coming out, and a picture in National Geographic), good looking, intelligent... yadda yadda yadda. It's so frustrating when you meet people like that, isn't it? :-)
• Texas Liberal -- Neither queer nor in Cincinnati, but a blogger nonetheless. Texas Liberal was one of my first regular readers, and he was one of the first blogs I followed regularly. He's funny and he writes some classic one-liners, for example: "Is declaring himself a god an option to save the career of politically troubled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich? " The reason he stays in this category is that he's originally from Cincinnati, and he is a hugely supportive ally. And he's there, so I don't feel like moving him :-).
• Back2Stonewall -- A relatively new blogger in town who may, one day, outpace me on postings. Extraordinarily activist oriented and left wing, which is why I love it. He's also big on asking people to, you know, talk to your elected representatives about what you believe in. What a silly thing to ask :-).
• Juliet & Juliette -- When I began, the only LGBT blog I knew about in the city, as it's been run for years by my dear friend LV, aka "Juliet." Posts are irregular and focus on lesbians -- ewwwww :-) -- but there are some extremely personal and fascinating posts on semi-regular basis. We've also recently introduced J&J to twitter -- @JulietandJuliet. Until recently, it was the only lesbian blog we knew about in Cincinnati.
• TheSkeptikOne -- Who can't love a woman who self-identifies as "Short, brown and round." Seriously, she reminds me of Kathy Y. Wilson, including her tone and writing style. Liberal, intelligent, and deals with a lot broader issues than I do.
• Cincinnati NAMjA -- (note to the author: there has always been love for NAMjABlog, duh) A downtown'er, and a homo, and a person of color... This was one of the few queer bloggers I found when I did my initial search. Blogs regularly -- usually once a day -- about a variety of issues. Though does talk about being gay in the city, he focuses on the city just as much.
• Blind Prophecy -- A newbie to the city, this young man has become one of my BFFs in the blogging world, though we have never met in person. I still think that's funny. He's trying to get into law school and adjust to Cincinnati as best he can. He has a really great history with LGBT organizing and activism, and, I think, he is finding the Cincinnati experience decidedly different.
• Nite to Remember (NSFW) -- We all need more fabulous stories of sex and sexuality... and an occasional naked picture of the author. Funny, this is actually more what I viewed this blog to be like when I started out. A little bit more risque.
• Edro Edro -- One of my friends (IRL -- really, I have them). Edro and I go back a couple years when he was dating my then best friend. I see him out all the time, and our social lives occasionally entwine. Blog tends to be more personal, but he has a dedicated readership, of which I am a part.
• Queen City Survey -- Actually an architecture blog that I may be moving to the "Cincinnati Blogger" section, but he's been here so long, I hope he doesn't mind me constantly outing him.
• Tony's Web Diary -- The Blogger home of a new contributor to this site, Penny Tration. Though older posts show a more personal focus for the blog, I get the feeling that, as Penny become more of a public figure, the focus of the blog had to change as well. Now, Tony's web diary is more "happenings around town." And now she's VLOGGING over here, which I'm super excited about.
• Let's Say You're Right -- When you have a friend that says "I met a great guy in Boston, we're in love!" you inevitably think "Oh, good, this won't last." Such was my introduction to Jason over here. Matt (his partner) and I go way back, and I was not sure how long this would last. I've met Jason, now, and I'm glad the two of them are together. Makes me sick -- happy gay men. Jeez. But Jason is a local photog and has an amazing eye. (And if Julie, Kate, and I ever get off our butts to work on our calendar, he's offered to be our photography.)
• BigLugLand -- My oldest friend in the city, recently back to the world of blogging, and quite the regularly tweeter.
• PlayaMind -- Joined the list when they showed up at the November 15th equal marriage protest at City Hall. Ignoring the fact that they aren't actually queer (I don't think), I gotta give the love though to a person of faith who believes in equality.
• http://illkeepyouposted.typepad.com/ -- Another blogger I discovered around the November 15th equal marriage protest. I admit, I don't follow him as well as I should, but it's one of my new years' resolutions to do just that.
• RainbowCincinnati -- I actually write a little column over there. There are several contributors who help to make this site a sort of clearing house for queer-ness in Cincinnati, though Steve B. doesn't even live in town any more -- HA! (I just outed you, Steve.) But it's gained some recent activity, though the regular updates tend to come from a small group of contributors.
• Divas Never Die... -- The blog of the infamous and fabulous Rikki Lee Tanner, whom I have met a hundred times and seen perform even more so, though I didn't realize it until recently (darling, do you remember coming to Oxford with Truly once?). Very personal, but always funny. And a strong readership base.
• Die Fledermaus -- Remember that whole thing about Jason from Let's Say You're Right's partner? Yea, this is him. An old friend and associate in town.
• Pagan Musings -- A spin-off from Divas Never Die, and a celebration of Rikki Lee's religion.
• Dan Rambles -- Started off very strong, but we've not heard from Dan in a few months. I think, because he billed it as the musings of an "easy" kid in Cincinnati, being in a relationship has thrown off his identity. :-) Miss your VLOGS, Dan! (You can check out all of his vlogs on YouTube -- http://www.youtube.com/user/danrambles)
• Vinyl Polis -- A once Oxford native, now expat in Amsterdam, and one my IRL BFFs... his focus was almost exclusively on music, which he knows more about than anyone else in the world, I'm convinced. Occasionally referenced in my blogs as "TY." Not updated in months.

That turned out to be a little more self-serving than I thought it would be :-). I'm just showing off all the fabulous blogging and writing coming from queers here in the city ...

...and making the offer that if you would like to be added to the blogroll, now is your time to pimp yourself!!!!

Damn, this post took much longer than I thought it would.