Area LGBT Website Endures but Economy Takes Toll

BY: COLIN MURHY – SENIOR WRITER

    As webmaster of St. Louis’ oldest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) website, Tony Bossaller is the ultimate survivor. Whether adapting to ever-changing technology, enduring financial hardship or even shuttering the site for a season to regroup—Bossaller has maintained gaystlouis.com’s online presence for well over a decade.

    The website was born in January 1997 on EFnet IRC channel #gaystl. But Bossaller was unprepared for the deluge of Internet traffic that Spring when the relatively recent gaystlouis.com went down. To handle demand, gaysaintlouis.com was created—but when the opportunity to purchase the current domain presented itself in November 1997, Bossaller jumped at the chance. And the rest, as they say, is history.

    "The change in the site’s purpose has basically been to meet the changes in how the Internet works," explained Bossaller of gaystlouis.com’s evolution.

    "Websites now are simply roadmaps to other places," Bossaller continued. "A good example is Google News. So I tried to make my [recent] website redesign focused on spreading information by directing users to other websites. There’s still some news from the Forums, but it’s only one small part. I’ve also started focusing on Twitter—mostly retweeting information in an attempt to send that info and let it reach a wider audience."

    Bossaller has always tried to stay ahead of trends in technology. In 1998 he debuted The Rainbow Arch which was an early community oriented blog complete with "Zine Reviews" of local LGBT publications. Web hosting, video and audio projects soon followed but the size and cost of such an online presence forced him to streamline the site in 2003.

    Bossaller predicts within five years people won’t be surfing websites the way that they do now. Rather, he states that much like the iPhone, sites will be intertwined and provide a very simple interface and warns that he and others will have to adapt.

    "Five years from now, if you decide to go to a bar, you’ll pull out your phone, type in "gay bar" and it’ll automatically know where you are from the GPS," postulated Bossaller. "It’ll then pop up a list of bars listed in order of which is closest. You click on one and it’ll pop up a description with pictures (maybe video). Another press and you’ll have turn by turn directions. This is where websites are going because you can do it now, but it requires far too many clicks."

    Aside from a trickle of online donations, gaystlouis.com has been self-funded by Bossaller as a labor of love for the Gateway City LGBT community. To that end—through two lay offs and a tanking economy, he has dutifully maintained the website which costs up to $300, monthly.

    Facing yet another round of cut backs by his employer, METRO, Bossaller admits his greatest fear is getting laid off again. For with his partner currently unemployed and filing bankruptcy and Bossaller still paying on a credit card where he was forced to charge $300 a month to keep gaystlouis.com going—2009 has proven a difficult year.

    "The site would survive, but the fear of a lack of income makes planning the future almost impossible," concluded Bossaller. "But I know I’m looking at ideas for the future… And the mind races with the possibilities!"