Gay Line

Gay Line is a web site that provides information for:

* those unsure about themselves and their sexuality so that they have a safe, anonymous place to find out more about what it means to be gay

* those advising others (eg counsellors) who can get reliable information for that purpose and be confident they can safely refer clients who need more information

* young people who need information without the added burden of dealing with sexually explicit material

* established members of the gay community to keep up to date with relevant activities and services

* members of the general public who are interested to understand the general scope of activities and interests of the gay community

Recently the site has been developed to provide an infrastructure to enable many gay organisations to provide their own interest focussed web sites built on that structure while at the same time sharing selected content. Shared content can be kept up to date in one central database. That will enable each organisation to quickly develop content rich sites focused on their own interests while at the same time conserving scarce volunteer resources. This is in the early stages with OutLine counsellors in Auckland and the Gay Line web site in Wellington sharing a common database. Now that the system has been tested successfully with over 400 pages of information, negotiations with other organisations that may be interested to join are beginning.