August 23, 2016 ( New York, NY ) ICANN's Board ended its meeting on August 9, 2016 without making a decision on the fate of the .GAY domain space. A positive decision for dotgay LLC ( dotgay ) was expected in light of the recent Dot Registry v ICANN IRP Panel decision and the recommendation of ICANN's Ombudsman that the ICANN Board act immediately to correct the unfair treatment given by the Economist Intelligence Unit ( EIU ) and ICANN to dotgay's application and grant it community priority status.
The Independent Review Panel ( IRP ) in Dot Registry v ICANN ruled that ICANN's Board, staff and external contractors are subject to the principles set-out in ICANN's Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, including the "principles of fairness, transparency, avoiding potential conflicts of interest, and non-discrimination," thus vindicating dotgay's claims that the Economist Intelligence Unit's purportedly independent community priority evaluation reports were flawed, applied unequal standards and that dotgay's application has never been given appropriate consideration. The Panel's ruling that ICANN's accountability processes amounted to no more than a "rubber-stamp" is virtually identical to dotgay's complaint that ICANN's Board Governance Committee simply ignored all of the EIU's misunderstandings of the community gTLD program, misapplication of the gTLD Applicant Guidebook's standards for community priority, and rejected the gay community's own understandings without justification.
The Panel's decision comes close on the heels of a recent report from ICANN's Ombudsman. The report highlights the unfair treatment received by the only .GAY application that is supported by the LGBTQIA and recommends to the ICANN Board that it grant community priority to dotgay in order to let the gay community move forward with .GAY and not force an auction with commercial competitors for the .GAY domain space.
Years of discrimination and marginalization constitute a majority of the attention the gay community has had on the world stage and that common struggle has solidified an undeniable community of LGBTQIA people. Ever since the collective gay community has stood up and asked for their own piece of the Internet with .GAY, every conceivable argument has been used to deny their efforts. The approach being used is divisive and contrary to the goals of ICANN's new gTLD program and aspirations of the LGBTQIA effort behind creating a community-operated .GAY.
The ICANN Ombudsman report focuses on the ICANN Board Governance Committee's ( BGC ) unwillingness to abide by human rights principles, as well as the principles of transparency, fairness and non-discrimination enshrined in ICANN Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation. It also highlights the risk of refusing community priority to the LGBTQIA effort. If ICANN does not award community priority to dotgay, ICANN will simply hold an auction and award .GAY to the highest bidder.
What is next?
ICANN's Board has now deferred a decision of the dotgay application until their retreat in September 2016. dotgay calls upon ICANN's Board to end this long running injustice and grant community status to dotgay's application immediately. Once dotgay's application is granted community status, the application would then proceed to the next step of contracting and delegation.
We look forward to keeping you posted on next steps and encourage any questions you may have on this issue. To learn more about the dotgay LLC plan, get involved and go online to www.dotgay.com
About dotgay LLC:
dotgay LLC is the originator of the landmark proposal to create a .GAY domain space on the Internet. Founded in 2009, dotgay has been an active participant in ICANN's new gTLD program as community advocates to advance a community-based proposal for developing .GAY as a strategic community resource. dotgay is a Certified LGBT Business Enterprise based in New York City.
