Twelfth Annual Weblog Awards

This? I recently found out about because I read my backlogged Twitter stream:

You’ll see there if you look closely that Lesbian Dad has been nominated for a 2012 Bloggie for Best LGBT Weblog. Those who need know no more than where to vote may do so here until 10pm Eastern; 7pm Pacific, Sunday, February 19.  Either scroll down a bit or select “lgbt” from among the categories in the lefthand grey nav bar.

I am honored, flabberghasted, puzzled (can a person’s cumulative contribution really overcome a year of undeniably anemic posting? can it really?), and you name it. But there you go. There was a nomination period, some folks nominated this earnest (if lately anemic) thing–for which: thank you!–and somebody else from a random assemblage of nominators selected it from among the nominated. So there you go.

A few words are in order now about some of the other blogs recognized with nominations this year.  I’ve read Rob Tisinai’s work ever since he began to share his cogent analyses online in the wake of Prop 8 (he describes that vote as having sparked an “awakening” in him).  And I–alongside many others–have found that he has provided reasoned, researched, persuasive argumentation on facet after facet of the current debates around, predominantly, same sex marriage, but also more widely, fallacies about gay people which form the currency of homophobic hate groups and extremist political candidates. His blog is called Waking Up Now, and you should visit it regularly. I’ve now corrected an oversight and have it conveniently lodged in my link column down there to the right.

You’ll notice that the national spokesgay chap Dan Savage’s It Gets Better Project is up too; I figure anything that gets content submitted to it by a sitting Secretary of State and a string of nationally known media personalities has a pretty high profile and doesn’t need me to call much more out about it.

In another category, the prodigious and witty gals of Autostraddle are up for Best Entertainment weblog, which rather undersells that website, I think any regular reader would agree. They do news, entertainment, opinion, and of course, “girl-on-girl culture” in a way that makes a thinking gal relieved there’s an internet and youngsters keeping it all fired up. They’re also up for Best Group or Community weblog, and that’s damn skippy what they are. AND Best Weblog of the Year. Which they also are. The fact that Effing Dykes is also  up for that last honor makes this The Year of the Dyke at the Weblog Awards, I’m totally willing to say.

That five of the six blogs up for Weblog of the Year are written by women also says something, I’m going to go right ahead and say about our command of this medium and the depth of our engagement with readers in it. That or the randomly chosen group of winnowing folks were all ladies or sympathetic to ladies. The former seems much more probable.

Schmutzie is up for best Canadian weblog, which it is, and it should be recognized as such.

The perpetually hillarious and big-hearted Jenny Lawson’s The Bloggess is up for (take a deep breath before continuing) Best Parenting or Family weblog, Best Designed, Most Humorous, and Best Writing. All true. Then again Hyperbole and a Half is also up for both Most Humorous and Best Writing.  Ouch: both brilliant, and brilliantly unpredictable; both quite essential to those who read them religiously. I recuse myself.

Up for Lifetime Achievement is the national treasure Joe.My.God.  His blog has been a regular stop of mine, particularly for breaking news of relevance to our community, for years, and I hop his audience of faithful readers helps him receive the recognition he deserves.

Me, I’m going to take the nomination and its voting period–through 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific, February 19th–as a jab to try to post more frequently (and with as much quality as my work and parenting hours will permit).  I think this may be one of the primary benefits of these sorts of contests: in addition to often bringing less well-known publications to a wider audience, they spur folks to produce their best work, for which I’m grateful.  And though I’d be honored if you voted for LD, in spite of the job-induced blogging anemia, I’d also tell you here who I think ought to make off with Best LGBT Blog, because of the quality and utility of his contribution, and the years-long, solo effort, pro bono spirit behind it: