Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters hits a milestone! 7,500,00 hits and counting! But what comes next?

Congratulations to my lovely blog because as of today, it has hit over 7,500,000 hits. Not bad for a part-time gig in which I make very little money off of.

And yet, I don't feel celebratory. I'm tired just a bit. But more about that later.

 I began this blog in 2006 as a way of publicizing my book, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, as well as talk about how the religious right lies and distorts science to demonize LGBTQ people. I felt that this issue was not being covered as it should have been. The book, a self-published disaster, came and went. But the blog stayed and I stayed with it, reaching lots more people than I ever would have imagined and doing more than I could have ever dreamed with a book.

My blog allowed me forge alliances, wonderful friendships, and meet many, many famous people. I know I scared the hell out of former Sen/ Al Franken, but on the flipside I also helped to prevent Sen. Sherrod Brown from being the victim of a far-right set-up.

So many people opened doors for me (I will be forever grateful to people like Michael Rogers and Joe Sudbay), while others unconditionally embraced me for what I was trying to do (thank you, Monica Roberts. You will always be in my heart). And even more nudged me further up the road when during the times I seemed to have stalled (thank you, Pam Spaulding and Jeremy Hooper).

But taking all of that into account -  the little bit of notoriety and fame, the fun of the fight, the GLAAD Media Award nominations and one victory (oh come on, like you think I was actually going to not mention that) - I still am weary. 

Sometimes I wonder why have I spent a considerable amount of time at this. I feel sometimes that I am not being listened to, the issues I talk about still aren't seen as important (even by many in the LGBTQ community), bloggers seem to be dying out, and it seems that very little has changed.  Anti-LGBTQ hate groups are still plugging away at us, constantly attempting to snip away our rights and humanity via various lies and harmful tactics.

But then I remember that when I started, they weren't seen as hate groups. But they are now. And yes, I am going to give myself a little bit of credit for that. Me and folks like myself constantly reminded people of things these groups did to belie their "Christian" reputation. Things like their basic lies, cherry-picked science, or reliance on bad science by discredited researchers, including one who falsely claimed that gays stuff gerbils up their rectums. 

Not just me, but other bloggers like me cleared away a lot of the clutter created by these terrible groups. With pen to paper and fingers to keyboards, we chopped down veritable forests of tall trees, crooked branches, and deadly thorns all formulated to keep our community away from the road to equality. We opened the gates in which so many LGBTQ people were able to walk through and present themselves and their lives without worry or fear. And in doing so, the community won crucial victories.

The question is what do we do now. Hell, what do I do now. The religious right have adapted and modified while the community has become a bit more blase than they were over 14 years ago. A blog post declaring how a group like the Family Research Council deliberately distorted a certain study isn't as much of a shocker as it was back then.  Things have change and I have to change a bit with it. 

I don't know how as of yet, but I know the answer will come. And it will hopefully open up the next chapter for Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters.