by Lisa Keen
contributing writer
In a sterile conference room on the 11th floor of a non-descript office building in Washington, D.C., more than two dozen LGBT bloggers listened intently last weekend as their more veteran peers instructed them in the art of "blog swarms," "astro-turfing," and "cross-posting."Bloggers, said one, can enable a minor event to "take on a whole new life" in the mainstream media by spreading news about it across 10 or 15 different blogs (aka the "blog swarm"). Lone bloggers can acquire the clout of large groups by assuming a moniker that makes them appear to be a "national" entity when, in fact, they are "a fake grassroots organization" (aka "astro-turfing"). And bloggers can increase readership for their views by posting them not just on their own sites but on other, more widely read, sites (aka "cross-posting").
Blogs, said Mike Rogers, organizer of the summit, can be used to "drag people out of the closet" and persuade a corporation that has donated to an anti-gay cause to make amends to the LGBT community.
Rogers gained considerable notoriety in 2007 after he posted blog items about U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho) being arrested for solicitation in an airport men’s room. A Washington Post headline that year referred to Rogers as possibly "the most feared man on [Capitol] Hill" because he’s made clear he’s willing to use his blog - blogActive.com - to out closeted politicians who vote against the rights of LGBT people.
"I’m an angry gay man," quipped Rogers to a workshop Saturday on "Fighting Back" against anti-gay institutions and people. He urged LGBT bloggers to "take it to the next level" in their posting against anti-gay entities and people.
This first "National LGBT Citizen Journalist Bloggers Summit" attracted about 60 LGBT bloggers. The conference was separate from but simultaneous to the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute. and bloggers and the more conventional leaders met in a few joint sessions.
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