.GAY Launching Sunrise For Trademark Holders In February

The .gay top-level domain will be launching their Sunrise
launch phases for trademark holders commencing February, running for 3 months
to 6 May, the registry Top Level Design has announced.

.gay is a proud supporter of LGBTQ people, causes and
businesses and represents a historic step forward, increasing visibility of the
community. Its launch is intended to result in a more LGBTQ-friendly space.

In its support of the LGBTQ community, 20% of the registry fee
for every new .gay domain registered will go to LGBTQ organisations. There is
also a “.gay Rights Protection” policy that will accept reports of any content associated
with a .gay domain name that is harmful or harassing of LGBTQ people and be
able to act against them by working to remove the content or suspending the
site itself. It also means that hate groups are banned from using .gay. Top
Level Design say they know they won’t be able to single-handedly turn the
internet into a hate-free zone but they refuse to accept the status quo.

On 11 May, a week-long “Early Access Period” will begin,
where some registrars will offer a first chance at .gay domains for an
additional fee. Every day, that fee is lowered, functioning like a reverse
auction. Expect highly valued and sought-after names to go during this week.

For those prepared to wait, General Availability will
commence on 20 May where all available .gay domain names will be released on a first-come
first-served basis.