Hey Guys

Manhunt reports that "Hey Guys" is the most popular profile header in all but one state. That one exception is Connecticut, where "Looking For A Top" is most frequently used. Hit the link for a listing of popular headlines in every state. (Via Boy Culture)

Billboard Of The Day

Manhunt Promotes Truvada

The hook-up site Manhunt today announced that they will begin promoting the usage of Truvada, which was recently approved by the FDA as a daily HIV preventive for high-risk populations. Via press release:

Manhunt has partnered with Gladstone Institutes’ Dr. Robert Grant and The Fenway Institute to assure that the information conveyed is accurate and consistent with peer-reviewed published science. This promotion is part of Manhunt’s 2012 Social Responsibility Initiative, and it is entirely self-funded. The promotion is being sent to over 2.5 million Manhunt members on World AIDS Day through Manhunt’s internal email broadcast system with the following tagline: “HIV Prevention Pill for Negative Men (and women too): A choice when condoms are in the way or not enough?” The campaign encourages members to visit Manhunt Cares™ dedicated PrEP page to learn more about this important biomedical intervention.

As we've noted here on JMG many times, the usage of Truvada as an HIV preventive has somewhat fractured the HIV/AIDS advocacy movement. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in particular, campaigned against its approval for this usage and called the FDA's decision "reckless." The San Francisco AIDS Foundation and amFAR, however, both support Truvada's usage as a preventive. The long-term effects of Truvada on uninfected (and infected) individuals remains unclear.

Manhunt Wants Tom

Facebook Deletes Manhunt Fan Page

Manhunt reports that Facebook has deleted their fan page.

We have repeatedly filled out online form after form on Facebook, and sent numerous e-mails to any Facebook address we could find via research to ask for information on why our page was taken down and what we can do to get it restored. We have received a single e-mail back that gave us very little info and in fact asked the recipient of an e-mail that none of us received to get back to them. Replies to that single e-mail have not been responded to.

Do many people still use Manhunt in the age of Grindr, etc?

Now Seen In Times Square

Dan Avery wonders if we'll hear from a certain mommy blogger about this.

LOS ANGELES: Gay-Friendly Mom Blogs Objection To Gay Hook-Up Billboard

A Los Angeles mom who describes herself as a gay-friendly, sex-positive feminist is unhappy with the above Manhunt billboard because her son sees it twice a day on his way to school.

You try explaining the “Zero feet away MANHUNT MOBILE” phone application to your 9-year-old son. A 9-year-old who loves Army guys, and so noticed the dog tags right away. It’s not the blatant porn-iness of the over-lit image, or that it is of two men. It would be equally annoying if it were hetero. It’s the fact that I am forced to figure out a way to frame to my fourth-grader the fact that some people like to find causal sex partners fast using their mobile phones. I know some would tell me to use the opportunity for an illuminating conversation. But I don’t need Manhunt Mobile to set my Important Talks Agenda. Our family really could have gone awhile longer without that particular conversation—and should’ve been able to do so.

NOTE: In the category of "no such thing as bad publicity" I should mention that this story was tipped to me by Manhunt's own PR firm.

Ten Years Of Manhunt

The website that almost inarguably did more to recast the social and sexual lives of gay men than any phenomenon in recent history, turns ten years old today. Some, including myself, would say that Manhunt and its copycats are largely responsible for the accelerating demise of gay nightlife, especially the now almost-all-gone gay megaclubs. But as some of you know, this here website thingy was sort of spawned on Manhunt, so even though I haven't been a member in ages, I must give them props for that.

Manhunt Vs. Grindr?

JMG reader David over at Wicked Gay Blog says he's been tipped that Manhunt is about to launch a competitor to Grindr called "Assfinder." SRSLY. Or at least, Assfinder is the working name until the product goes live.

Miss CKC - Lemme See

Carolyn Castiglia aka Miss CKC joins up with Shawn Hollenbach and Soce the Elemental Wizard for a musical primer on the proper way to create a Manhunt profile. (I think I once did a show with Soce (the guy with the beard) back when I was doing that sort of thing.) Builds nicely, I'll probably be singing the chorus for the rest of the morning. Show me your diiiiick. Also: Logon to Adam4Adam cuz it's freeeeeee.

Manhunt Buys DList

Via their PR agency, Manhunt lets us know that they've purchased DList.

Jonathan Crutchley, Chairman at Online Buddies Inc., the parent company of Manhunt, announced today that the company has acquired a majority stake in the leading social networking site for gay men under age 30, DList.com. As part of the deal, Online Buddies will take over all marketing efforts for Dlist.com. Online Buddies CEO, Adam Segel, and CFO, Richard Scott, will be appointed to DList.com in their respective roles. DList.com founder Todd Sowers, recently named Chief Marketing Officer at Online Buddies, retains a minority partnership in DList.com and will be appointed Chief Operations Officer of DList.com where he will continue to oversee the daily operations of the site.

Remember last year when Crutchley made a big deal out of "resigning" from Manhunt's board of directors after it was revealed that he'd contributed to John McCain's election fund? As we all said at the time, that was meaningless damage control. He's still the same conservative Republican calling the shots at the nation's largest gay internet hook-up service.

IMPrezUB2

Princess Sparkle Pony points out the amusing name of this show at DC's Newseum. Head over to Sparkle Pony's site for an amusing reworking of the billboard.

HomoQuotable - James Kirchick

"The hue and cry over [Manhunt founder] Crutchley's politics is all too familiar. Why can't gay activists countenance the idea of a "Massachusetts Republican"? Liberal intolerance. In the minds of too many on the left, gay people (like women and ethnic minorities) have to be liberal and support Democratic candidates. To do otherwise -- that is, to have opinions on issues (even issues utterly unrelated to gay rights) that don't follow the left-wing line -- is to be a traitor to the gay "community."

"For too long, many gay-rights activists have acted as if throwing temper tantrums will magically bring about their political agenda. But labeling everyone with whom they don't agree a "bigot" does not help the worthy cause of gay equality.

"The truth of the matter is that civil rights for gays can't come about without the help of Republicans. And this means that gay people -- and straight supporters of gay equality -- need to stand with, not silence, people like Crutchley who are working to change the GOP from within.

"Gays need only look to California, where a state Supreme Court loaded with Republican appointees legalized gay marriage and the Republican governor is one of the most powerful pro-gay publicly elected officials in the country, to understand the importance of making gay rights a bipartisan cause.

"Gayness is a sexual orientation, not a political one. Aside from their sexuality, gay people are no different from heterosexuals. There are gay people of all races, income levels, occupations, body types and, yes, political beliefs. Gay liberals are always crowing about the importance of "diversity" and lauding its importance on matters of race and gender. Too bad diversity doesn't count when it comes to politics." - New Republic assistant editor and neocon James Kerchick, in an Op-Ed piece published in today's Los Angeles Times.

McCain To Return Manhunt Money

This weekend the Boston Herald reported that John McCain's campaign will return Manhunt cofounder Jonathan Crutchley's $2300 donation.

McCain’s camp seemed just as eager to distance themselves from the brief alliance. McCain spokesman Jeff Grappone didn’t return multiple phone calls on the subject, and Crutchley has apparently been informed that his $2,300 will be returned.

“He said, ‘If John is too good for my money, I’ll give it to (presumptive Democratic nominee) Barack (Obama),’ ” Basile said yesterday. Crutchley, who originally defended his donation in an online post, did not return a call for comment.

“I believe McCain will be a better commander-in-chief than Obama, who also opposes gay marriage,” Crutchley wrote in response to an item in the Huffington Post about his donation. “If we have an experienced, seasoned person defending the country in this dangerous age, we will be able to argue about the gay agenda later.”

Crutchley has since written a “touching” letter to the employees at Manhunt, according to Basile, and is now committed to supporting Obama. “Someone had a reality check,” Basile said.

Follow the story at Stop Manhunt.

Damage Control: Manhunt Chairman Jonathan Crutchley Resigns

Towleroad is reporting that Manhunt chairman Jonathan Crutchley has resigned from its board of directors. In a lengthy statement, Manhunt cofounder Larry Basile strenuously defends his decades-long record of personal gay activism and confirms Crutchley's resignation. Basile concludes with this:

"It should be known that Jonathan Crutchley's donation to McCain left the entire Board in disbelief. I am disappointed that we have lost some customers, and I understand the anger. It is too bad for the web site if we lose customers, but PLEASE never refer to me as a Republican. I consider it an offense. Earlier today, at the request of the Board, Jonathan has stepped down as Chairman."

As Andy Towle points out, it is quite likely that Crutchley remains a primary recipient of Manhunt's millions in annual revenue. (Coors, anyone?) And I find it rather unlikely that Manhunt was previously unaware of Crutchley's politics. Still, this is a positive move for the company.

McCainHunt

It's been 24 hours and so far not a peep about the McCain/Manhunt story in the MSM, despite the story headlining virtually all gay and progressive blogs and forums. I did find mention in Ben Smith's column at Politico.com, but nothing from traditional media so far.

(Image Via - Michelangelo Signorile)

Manhunt Founder Donates Max To McCain

Hot on the heels of last week's evisceration of Manhunt in Out Magazine's article Is Manhunt Destroying Gay Culture?, comes the revelation at Towleroad that Manhunt cofounder Jonathan Crutchley has donated the personal maximum of $2300 to John McCain's presidential campaign.

Via Towleroad comes this exchange between Crutchley and a commenter on Online Personal Watch:Andy Towle: "It appears John McCain has accepted the maximum individual campaign donation from the owner of America's largest gay sex hook-up website."

Log in, get off, get betrayed.

HomoQuotable - Michael Joseph Gross

"As a normative way of socializing for gay men, online cruising is a disaster. We need to recognize its effects -- including its tendency to isolate us, encourage objectification, and diminish our sense of life’s nonsexual possibilities -- as disasters. We need to recognize that too many of us, too much of the time, are cruising online because it is easier and feels safer than thinking about the love we are missing and the power we do not have. Too many of us, too much of the time, are cruising online because it’s easier and feels safer than mustering the courage, patience, discipline, and imagination required to help ourselves and each other become the men that, in our strongest moments, we want to be.

"Gary Cohan, a physician who treats half of A-list gay Hollywood, says we have to start thinking in a deliberate way about what normal social interaction consists of. “For a long time,” Cohan says, “it has been considered normal to be on the Net. We need to start thinking, That’s not normal.”

"We need to put our heads together and try to figure out what we want normative social life to look like. Whatever the answer turns out to be, it will involve creating social structures that serve and gratify our desire to have sex with each other and also promote and support the possibility of developing and sustaining intimate relationships. Gay men came close to the goal of building such a society when they were hit with the plague of AIDS. That generation learned the rewards of sacrifice and of setting limits on the place of sex in our culture. But to those of us who were children or teenagers during the epidemic, AIDS made coming out so scary that we preferred to avoid getting too involved in our gay forefathers’ world.

"And along came the Internet, a tool that let us build gay lives without having to get very involved with older people -- not that, if we’d wanted to, there were a whole lot of them still living. Now, though, it seems our avoidance has created a different kind of society, more isolating, more brutal, and weaker. We still don’t know how to have enduring relationships. We still don’t have examples. We still don’t have mentors. We still don’t have courtship rituals. We are still getting HIV.

"We celebrate the fact that we’re out to the straight world, even though the only thing that means, in many cases, is that they know we’re gay.

"When we logged on, I don’t think most of us realized we were creating new secret lives. I don’t think we knew what we were getting into. But we got into it. For most of us, this is not working. And if it’s not working for you, then it’s time to get off." - Michael Joseph Gross, in an Out Magazine story titled Has Manhunt Destroyed Gay Culture?