glbtq.com (also known as the glbtq Encyclopedia Project) was an online

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

of gay,

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

, transgender, and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

( GLBTQ) culture. Launched in 2003, it was edited by Claude J. Summers, emeritus professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn, and published by Andrew "Wik" Wikholm. It was warmly received by critics, who praised its columns as well-researched. The encyclopedia closed in 2015; its content is accessible via an online archive.

History

The website was launched in 2003 with over 1 million words of entries, and was regularly updated until its closure in 2015. Before its closure, the encyclopedia contained more than 2.2 million words—including overviews and surveys—covering almost 2,000 entries. The entries are categorized into three departments: Arts, Literature, and History and Social Sciences. The site also included a discussion board, interviews, factoids on queer history and spotlights on selected articles. All entries in the encyclopedia had bylines and references. Its editor was Claude J. Summers, emeritus professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn. Andrew "Wik" Wikholm was the founder and publisher. Over the projects life, more than two hundred people contributed to the encyclopedia, including

Shaun Cole Shaun Malcolm Cole (born 19 November 1963) is a British cosmologist and academic. He has been Professor of Physics at Durham University since 2005 and is the current director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology. He was joint-winner of th ...

( curator at London's Victoria and Albert Museum) and Edward Sullivan (professor of fine arts at New York University). A decline in advertising revenue led the website to shut down on August 1, 2015. Its contents were archived by ONE, Inc., and are accessible at glbtqarchive.com.

Reception

The encyclopedia was well received by reviewers. ''

Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...

'' found it well-researched and described its columns as "lively and succinct". Writing that the contributor's backgrounds were impressive, '' Choice Reviews'' called the website "phenomenal" and praised the "great, nearly faultless, text", but bemoaned the lack of illustrations. In an otherwise positive review, '' Reference Reviews'' felt that the website's advertising was intrusive; ''Choice'' disagreed, finding it innocuous. The website was termed the "Encyclopedia Britanniqueer" by ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

'', and one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" by the American Library Association.

Publications

In association with Cleis Press, glbtq.com produced three books: * * *

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{Cite magazine , last=Buskirk , first=Jim Van , title=Glbtq: an Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, & Queer Culture , magazine=

, volume=130 , issue=6 , pages=21–22 , date=April 1, 2005 , id={{Gale, A131608630 {{Cite journal , last=Clink , first=Kellian , title=GLBTQ: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Culture , journal= Reference Reviews , volume=27 , issue=6 , pages=21–22 , date=2013 , doi=10.1108/RR-03-2013-0055 , id={{ProQuest, 1443778136 {{Cite magazine , last=Stillwell Jr. , first=S. J. , title=Glbtq: an encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, & queer culture , magazine= Choice Reviews , volume=43 , pages=179–180 , date=August 2006 , id={{ProQuest, 225781153 {{cite magazine , url=https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/entertainment-news/2003/03/04/encyclopedia-queer-culture-goes-online-7922 , title=Encyclopedia of queer culture goes online , magazine=

, date=March 4, 2003 {{cite magazine , title=Encyclopedia Britanniqueer. (On the Web) , magazine=

, date=April 15, 2003 , id={{Gale, A99850355. {{ProQuest, 215736651 {{cite magazine , last=Szymanski , first=Zak , title=Sunshine in Cyberspace , magazine=

Curve In mathematics, a curve (also called a curved line in older texts) is an object similar to a line (geometry), line, but that does not have to be Linearity, straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point (ge ...

, volume=14 , issue=2 , date=April 2004 , id={{Gale, A114521778 {{cite news , title=Glbtq.com shutting down Aug. 1 , newspaper= Windy City Times , date= July 15, 2015 , id={{Gale, A427759401

External links

Online archive of glbtq.com
Internet properties established in 2003 LGBT-related websites English-language encyclopedias American online encyclopedias 2003 in LGBT history