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Who Dunnit  ** In bed together

January 2001

In bed together
Is corporate America tucking in the gay media for a long snooze?

By Jim D'Entremont

The story of the Cases' gift to Westminster Academy first surfaced in mid-October on Gay.com, an online news, entertainment, and chat service that for many gay people has been a desirable alternative to AOL. In November, the merger of PlanetOut Corp with Gay.com's parent company, Online Partners, to form PlanetOut Partners was announced.

While preserving separate websites, the two San Francisco-based businesses intend to combine operations. PlanetOut CEO Megan Smith will serve president of the new company; Online Partners head Lowell Selvin will be its CEO. PlanetOut Partners will serve a gay international online community of 3.5 million people.

PlanetOut will continue to maintain partnerships with AOL and other mainstream online services to which it provides a GLBT special-interest portal. In addition to acquiring Online Partners, PlanetOut is now negotiating the purchase of Liberation Publications, the parent company of The Advocate, Out magazine, and Alyson Publications.

Some gay and lesbian commentators greeted PlanetOut's mergers with wholehearted approval. "The more economic muscle we demonstrate," insisted lesbian columnist Rachel Gold, "the more attention we get. And with attention comes acceptance."

Others point out that the resulting gay media monster will further the marginalization of non-mainstream points of view, and can be mainly be counted on to give the gay market niche more of what it's being trained to care about: updates on the fortunes of Ellen DeGeneres, fluff about the latest movie or TV show with gay content, speculation on the sexual orientation of Kevin Spacey, and limitless opportunities to shop till you drop while sitting down.