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

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. 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 nouns with female homosexu ...

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

, and

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

(

GLBTQ glbtq.com (also known as the glbtq Encyclopedia Project) was an online encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer ( GLBTQ) culture. Launched in 2003, it was edited by Claude J. Summers, emeritus professor at the University ...

) culture. Launched in 2003, it was edited by

Claude J. Summers Claude J. Summers (born 1944) is an American literary scholar, and the William E. Stirton Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. A native of Galvez, Louisiana, he was the third ...

, emeritus professor at the

University of Michigan–Dearborn The University of Michigan–Dearborn (UM-Dearborn) is a public university in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1959 with a gift from the Ford Motor Company, it was initially known as the Dearborn Center, operating as a remote branc ...

, 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 The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

, and

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

and

Social Sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

. 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

, emeritus professor at the

. 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. Cole grew up in Chipping, Lancashire. He graduated from Jesus College, Oxford with a first-class degree in Physics in 1985, and subsequently completed Part III of the Math ...

(

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

) and Edward Sullivan (professor of fine arts at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

). 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 Choice is a publishing unit of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). It includes the magazine ''Choice'' as well as other products including the ''Choice Reviews'' database. The magazine was established in 1964. It is consid ...

'' called the website "phenomenal" and praised the "great, nearly faultless, text", but bemoaned the lack of illustrations. In an otherwise positive review, ''

Reference Reviews Emerald Publishing Limited is a scholarly publisher of academic journals and books, headquartered in Leeds, England. Originally focused in the areas of social sciences and management, including management, business, education, and library studi ...

'' 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 (magazine), ''The Advocate'' (magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States * ''The Harvard Advocate' ...

'', and one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

Publications

In association with

Cleis Press Cleis Press is an American independent publisher of books in the areas of sexuality, erotica, feminism, gay and lesbian studies, gender studies, fiction, and human rights. The press was founded in 1980 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It later moved to ...

, 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=

, 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=

, 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, but that does not have to be straight. Intuitively, a curve may be thought of as the trace left by a moving point. This is the definition that ...

, volume=14 , issue=2 , date=April 2004 , id={{Gale, A114521778 {{cite news , title=Glbtq.com shutting down Aug. 1 , newspaper=

Windy City Times ''Windy City Times'' is an LGBT newspaper in Chicago that published its first issue on September 26, 1985. History ''Windy City Times'' was founded in 1985 by Jeff McCourt, Bob Bearden, Drew Badanish and Tracy Baim, who started Sentury Public ...

, date= July 15, 2015 , id={{Gale, A427759401

External links

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