You are the MOST important VIP! You and Ilene and Tim!

We all owe such a debt to out celebrities and luminaries. They remind the public of the vast body of meaningful creative work that gays have contributed to the arts & entertainment libraries. They are ambassadors of acceptance, brave and good and queer!

Queerosphere has invited the out guests to our Sweet & OUT Loud Party, of course. We hope they come! I'm sure they would love the solace of finding their people in the sea of Chicago. We invited Tim Gunn, Ilene Chaiken and Carson Kressley with invites written right on Queerosphere cue sticks fresh from our pooltable header! (Though Carson's Nikon people say he's busy until late with them helping straight folks learn how to look good in photos in their private event.) But if you bump into him Friday, let him know we'll be at the Crimson Lounge chilling a Queertini with his name on it. Paula Deen is also going to be there, but she doesn't seem to be gay. You never know, though, do you?

We can't wait to see you! Don't forget to confirm your entries in the Sweet Caribbean Cruise giveaway. This is just too good to be missed! The list of ways to gain entries is on the Queerosphere event page; tell us about your entries here.

It's all happening so wonderfully queerly!!!

Queer Eye View of the BlogHer Conference Agenda, Updated!

The Queerosphere party is building momentum, and the RSVP list is growing. The support and sweet wishes have been amazing to hear, and it's clear that the hottest chicks in the blogosphere have been waiting for a party to be called for us and our allies. We're so glad some of Chicago's queer social media stars are joining us at the glam Crimson Lounge along with BlogHers, and we're counting on them to give us the real story of charms of the Second City.

The conference itself has a good bit of queer content, too, in between all of the parties. First of all, getting your geek on might mean getting some technical and social media fixes, and at BlogHer Sarah Dopp and Liz Henry are the Geeks to Meet in the conference-long Geek Lab. BlogHer has also done a great job of selecting representation from the queer community throughout the two days of content. Here's a snapshot of some of the sessions in the agenda that stand out:

Day 1, Friday

10:30 Break-Out Sessions

• The Transformational Power of Blogging -- Daniela Capistrano is on this panel, discussing blogging about the "post-queer movement."
• Bloggers are Pioneers in a Post-Employee World, panel discussion includes life coach Paula G.
  
• Have You Found Your Mommyblogging Tribe? Briar Sauro is on this panel.
  
• Room of Your Own: Blogqueers - LGBTQ Bloggers -- Kathryn Martini, Stacy Jill Jacobs (who is one of our party sponsors through Queerly Wed) and Liza Barry-Kessler are discussing the state of the state of the Queerosphere.

1:15 Break Out Sessions

• LifeBlogging Outside the Lines -- Trish Bendix from AfterEllen and Amber Rhea are on this panel.

2:45 Break Out Sessions

• Blog to Book -- our own Deb Rox is speaking on this panel about her book 5 Ways to {Blank} Your Blog.

4-4:45 Expo Appearance by Carson Kressely

Community Keynote

• TW from Retro Food is one of the selected readers for this special session.

8:30 Queerosphere Blogging OUT Loud Party at Crimson Lounge!

Day 2, Saturday

9:30 Keynote: Traditional Media Chops Meet a New Media Calling

• Ilene Chaiken, creator of "The L Word" and OurChart.com is one of the interviewed media leaders.

10:45 Break-Out Sessions

• Hope and Change in Action session in the Leadership Track includes Kathirin Ivanovic, founder of The Diversity Projekt.
• Advanced Social Media, Syndication and Stats -- BlogHer community manager Denise Tanton is on this panel.

3:00 Break-Out Sessions

• Online Safety: Panel includes Harvard University Berkman Center Fellow danah boyd
• ROTFLMAO Humor Writing: Deb Rox is on this panel.
• 3-5, Tim Gunn in the Expo area talking about fabric care.
  

These are only the sessions where the bloggers have queer-identified in the session description or in their bios, so we've certainly missed some community members. Let us know!

Updated:

Polly from Lesbian Dad is coordinating a Lesbianfamily.org Sunday Brunch for BlogHers and locals alike. You know, we all might never leave the conference.

AND

Tim Gunn is repping fabric care products in the Expo, making an appearance Saturday from 3-5. And Carson Kressley from Queer Eye and How to Look Good Naked will be repping a camera compnay on Friday from 4-4:45. This conference keeps getting queerer and queerer. Hurray!

Blogging OUT Loud with the Queerosphere: BlogHer 2009

It's on!

We're celebrating the launch of Queerosphere with a great big queer event at BlogHer, the huge conference for online women to be held in Chicago at the end of July.

We'll be there, live-blogging it from a queer point of view, sharing the words and pix of leading GLBTQ bloggers at the conference. Best of all, we're throwing the best party for the weekend for the queers and our allies at the Crimson Lounge! Read all about on the OUT Loud page, and join in on the party in person or by webinar.

The door prize is phenomenal. Our title sponsor, Sweet lesbian travel company, is giving away a stateroom for 2 on their fall Caribbean cruise. The company is stellar, and we couldn't be more jazzed to be OUT Loud at BlogHer with them.

Boys, the timing of BlogHer this summer does tilt this prize towards the lezzy side, so we know we owe you one. More amazing opportunities are up ahead for all of us!

Getting Started with the Queerosphere

We love the Queerosphere. Stunningly meaningful, diverse, entertaining and important content by and for the GLBTQ community. That's not surprising -- in every field the gay community tends to be creative vanguards and early adopters. What is surprising, though, is that good content can hard to find. After talking to many bloggers about this problem, especially at SXSW 2009 where Deb lead a Core Conversation about the Queer blogosphere, 3 Smart Girlz decided that we should offer a solution.

We're proud to bring the Queerosphere to our community. We're still in the generative start-up phase, with lots of features yet to be added. But we welcome you to join in early, start an account, start posting links to the stories you find as you bounce through the web, and let us know how the site could work better to meet the needs of bloggers and writers in search of the best GLBTQ content online. Move on into the Q and make it yours!