Raw Story Media, publisher of RawStory.com and BlueLemur.com, is proud to announce the first of its community-oriented web portals, rawstoryQ.com, a site for gay and lesbian news. "We are pleased about this exciting opportunity to expand Raw Story," said John Byrne, Raw Story's publisher.

rawstoryQ.com is a cutting-edge site providing the links and exclusive news stories to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. "Out news with an attitude," rawstoryQ will be edited and co-published by Michael Rogers, publisher of blogACTIVE.com, one of the most popular and controversial blogs in the gay community.

"Partnering with Raw Story on behalf of the lesbian and gay community is a natural match," said rawstoryQ editor Rogers, "The entire team at Raw Story Media is top-notch and make up exactly the kind of company I enjoy working with - cutting-edge and forward-thinking. I cannot think of a better media outlet to work with."

In just a handful of days online, rawstoryQ.com has already been cited by Sirius Radio host Michelangelo Signorile as a must visit site. "Gay news - with some bite," Signorile remarked.

L.A. Weekly veteran Doug Ireland said, "You should bookmark it now."

rawstoryQ.com will also provide work by author Wayne Besen and popular blogger Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend. Sections of the site will be dedicated to lesbian and gay organization news (national, statewide and local) and to actions, with direct links to web-based actions of interest to the community.

Additional sites under development

As part of a long-term effort to provide resources for emerging online communities, Raw Story Media will be announcing a number of other sites. A document storage and display site for bloggers, and a site designed to provide news information for those interested in the environment, will be the next sites to be debut.

About the founders of rawstoryQ.com

Raw Story Media chairman John Byrne graduated from Oberlin College in 2003. He has worked as a reporter for the Boston Globe, and his articles have also appeared in the Sacramento, Fresno and Modesto Bees, the Raleigh News & Observer and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The stories he"s broken on Raw Story have been cited by the New York Times, the Associated Press, the Guardian, the New York Post, The Nation, the Toronto Star, the L.A. Weekly, Roll Call, the Hill, and myriad other newspapers.

Byrne founded two publications while still in college. Raw Story is his first online news venture, and his largest trafficked to date, with more than 600,000 unique visitors each week.

rawstoryQ.com Editor and co-publisher Michael Rogers has held development and marketing positions with New York's Harvey Milk High School for lesbian and gay youth, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Greenpeace, and the Funding Exchange, a national network of community-based foundations supporting social change activism. Rogers was recently honored by Genre Magazine, as one of this year's eight Men We Love.

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Click to visit rawstoryQ.com. After you drop by the site, please be sure to drop me a note at editor@blogactive.com to let me what you think.