glbtq.com is an online

ONLINE

ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....

 encyclopedia

Encyclopedia

An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....

 that presents detailed biographies

Biography

A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...

 of notable gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

, lesbian

Lesbian

Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

, bisexual, transgender

Transgender

Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....

, and queer

Queer

Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...

 (GLBTQ) people. It was named one of the "Best Free Reference Web Sites" in 2005 by the American Library Association

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

.

glbtq.com was launched in 2003 and is regularly updated. It houses the largest, most comprehensive encyclopedia of LGBT culture

LGBT culture

LGBT culture, is the common culture shared by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people. It is sometimes also referred to as Queer culture. The term gay culture, though not synonymous, is sometimes also used though this may also apply specifically to the culture of homosexual men.LGBT...

 in the world. The encyclopedia contains more than 2.2 million words—including overviews and surveys—covering almost 2,000 entries. The entries are categorized into three departments: Arts

ARts

aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....

, Literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

, and History

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and Social Sciences. The site also includes a discussion board and a special features section that presents interviews, slideshows, and spotlights. glbtq.com also issues a Newsletter on the 1st and 15th of each month, calling attention to new entries and spotlighting a particular group of entries.

The publisher of glbtq.com is Andrew "Wik" Wickholm. The General Editor is
Claude J. Summers

Claude J. Summers

Claude J. Summers is an American literary scholar, and the William E. Stirton Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. He has taught at the university since 1970, was promoted to associate professor in 1973 and professor in 1977....

.

All entries in the encyclopedia are signed and referenced. There are more than 350 contributors, whose biographies are included on the site. These include Tee Corinne

Tee Corinne

Tee Corine was a lesbian visual artist notable for the portrayal of sexuality in her artwork.-Early life and education:Corinne was born and grew up in Florida. Her mother introduced her to principles and techniques for making visual art...

 (photographer and visual artist),
Shaun Cole (curator

Curator

A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...

 at London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...

), William Hood

William Hood

William Hood is an art historian and the Mildred C. Jay Professor of Art Emeritus at Oberlin College, where he taught from 1974 through 2007. Since January 2008 Professor Hood has been teaching this history of Italian Renaissance Art in Columbia University's Department of Art History and...

 (professor of art at Oberlin College

Oberlin College

Oberlin College is a private liberal arts college in Oberlin, Ohio, noteworthy for having been the first American institution of higher learning to regularly admit female and black students. Connected to the college is the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the oldest continuously operating...

), Karla Jay

Karla Jay

Karla Jay is a professor of English and the director of the Women's and Gender Studies program at Pace University. A pioneer in the field of lesbian and gay studies, she is widely published....

 (director of Women's Studies

Women's studies

Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...

 at Pace University

Pace University

Pace University is an American private, co-educational, and comprehensive multi-campus university in the New York metropolitan area with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York.-Programs:...

), Stephen O. Murray

Stephen O. Murray

Stephen O. Murray , is a gay sociologist, anthropologist, and independent scholar based in San Francisco, California. A member of the second class at James Madison College within Michigan State University, he had an undergraduate double major in social psychology and in Justice, Morality, and...

 (writer), and Jim Provenzano

Jim Provenzano

Jim Provenzano is an American author, playwright, photographer and currently the Assistant Arts Editor for the Bay Area Reporter.-Life and work:...

(writer).