IGF Culture Watch

IGF Culture Watch emerged from the Independent Gay Forum project. The original IGF project was created by a group of gay writers, academics, attorneys, and activists who felt dissatisfied with the then current level of discussion of gay-related issues. A great deal has been accomplished in the less than two decades since IGF was formed. Gay issues are now very much mainstream. The Left-wing has almost totally lost its once exclusive grip on gay issues. Gays are now taking their place at the American political and cultural table, as equals, instead of as political pawns. With these advances, it was decide that The Independent Gay Forum should be downgraded from a formal 50(c)(3) not-for-profit organization to a watch-keeper blog site, GF Culture Watch.

We still hold the following goals and values:

• We support the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in civil society with legal equality and equal social respect. We argue that gays and lesbians, in turn, contribute to the creativity, robustness, and decency of our national life.
• We share a belief in the fundamental virtues of the American system and its traditions of individual liberty, personal moral autonomy and responsibility, and equality before the law. We believe those traditions depend on the institutions of a market economy, free discussion, and limited government.
• We deny “conservative” claims that gays and lesbians pose any threat to social morality or the political order.
• We equally oppose “progressive” claims that gays should support radical social change or restructuring of society.
• We share an approach, but we disagree on many particulars. We include libertarians, limited-government conservatives, moderates, and classical liberals. We hold differing views on the role of government, personal morality, religious faith, and personal relationships. We share these disagreements openly: we hope that readers will find them interesting and thought-provoking.

The views expressed on IGF Culture Watch are those of the authors alone, and of those who comment on their posts. These individuals are fully responsible for their own content.

If you have a commentary that you think belongs here, we’d like to hear from you. Please bear in mind though, because we lack editorial and legal staff, all articles published here must be reprinted by permission with copyright retained by author or original publisher.