Despite being endorsed by over 200 LGBTI organizations worldwide, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which grants top level domain names globally, has rejected an application by Dotgay LLC, the only LGBTI community application, to administer the .gay domain name.

Dotgay LLC had applied under ICANN’s ‘community priority evaluation’ process set up by the authority to protect certain domain names that served the interests of a particular community.

The .gay domain name will now be up for auction and may eventually be owned by a company that may not have any ties to the LGBTI community. Individuals, businesses and organizations would be able to register domain names ending in .gay.

Dotgay LLC, a community organization based in New York, has committed to channel two-thirds of the profits from the sale of .gay domain names to non-profit client organizations and safeguard key community domains based on important generic keywords.

A report dated Oct 6 sets out the reasons why Dotgay failed ICANN’s evaluation with 10 of 16 points; a minimum of 14 points is required.

If successful, Dotgay LLC would be given priority over any other organization that had applied for the same top-level domain name.

ICANN cited that although the group of self-identified gay individuals globally is estimated to be about 70 million, the application states that the size of the community it has defined, based on membership with APs [Authenticating Partners], is seven million.

‘This difference is substantial and is indicative of the degree to which the applied-for string substantially over-reaches beyond the community defined by the application,’ it said.

The Internet authority also took issue with Dotgay LLC including those who are transgender, intersex or straight allies under the ‘gay’ umbrella.

‘Included in the application’s community definition are transgender and intersex individuals as well as “allies” (understood as heterosexual individuals supportive of the missions of the organizations that comprise the defined community). However, “gay” does not identify these individuals. Transgender people may identify as straight or gay, since gender identity and sexual orientation are not necessarily linked. Likewise, intersex individuals are defined by having been born with atypical sexual reproductive anatomy; such individuals are not necessarily “gay.” Finally, allies, given the assumption that they are heterosexual supporters of LGBTQIA issues, are not identified by “gay” at all.’

In a column on Slate.com, Marc Naimark, a Paris-based LGBTQ activist, warns that without a community organization like Dotgay LLC which had planned to use ‘authenticating partners’ to ensure that the domain name is not abused, there would be no oversight over who gets a name or what it’s used for.

Gay bashers will be able to buy .gay domains, and the largest market is likely to be among porn sites.

‘Any legitimate use of the name by individuals, businesses, and organizations associated with the LGBTQ community will likely be drowned in a sea of sex: On the Internet, everyone will be .gay for pay.’ He wrote in ‘For ICANN, Hotels Are a Community, Gays Are Not.’

An online campaign using the hashtag #ICANNisBroken is underway to protest ICANN’s decision.