Each year, I post about the top stories on my blog for the year. These are the stories that received the most traffic/visits, as well as most comments. Since the start of the blog in 2008, each year has been the “n” number of posts, based upon the year, but that would mean this year would be the top 14 posts and that just seems excessive or I’m too tired to write that much. So, my plan was to mention the top 4, and then there are a few others I will need to mention too, so screw the math. This is the top posts based on some almost arbitrary reasoning.
The “not clickbait” posts
Try as I might to write really great posts (and my writing has improved over time), there are a few posts that are always the top hit posts when I view my Google Analytics. When I look at the past year, these are the posts that are at the top of the list with the most views. They function in a way, like clickbait but they aren’t really clickbait as I didn’t post them specifically to drive traffic. They were real posts which just happened to have search terms that fit lots of clickbait like searching. I guess I could just ignore these, but I’m just astounded how these posts remain the top hit posts after so long. There are 3 posts in this category:
Navarro Admits To Same Sex Encounters
This was a post written (2012) amidst the flack surrounding Cynthia Nixon’s comments regarding choice and bisexuality. Back when I wrote this in 2012, I had a big crush on Navarro which has since passed. In 2014, two posts I’m very proud of also dealt with this notion of choice and identity. Brooke Hemphill doesn’t understand the difference between Identity and Orientation. and A Gay Man Reads ‘Lesbian for a Year,’ both dealing with Brooke Hemphill’s book. The issue of identity and choice will remain hot topics for debate and since Navarro is a hot guy, I’m sure this post will remain a top hits for my blog.
High School Wrestling Includes Gay Sex?
This post is from 2010 and deals with a case where a known wrestling move and an improper sexual assault are too close to alike. Really! In hindsight (no pun intended) I think this story really shines a light on how sexual assault/intimidation/improper touching and heteronormativity are prevalent in High School sports. We teach out kids to be bullies and promote heteronormativity. We teach them to use violence and intimidation. I’m glad to see this post continue to be hit so much, but I hope it is actually read.
This is another 2012 post (that was a good year for thomascewaters.com) and deals with some of the claims ignorant Christians make regarding gay people and gay sex. This is a timeless post as appropriate today as when written. Glad to see it as the third most highly visited post on my blog.
2014 Posts
In May, I wrote about Tom Goss’s new video, Illuminate the Dark. I’ve bee singing (not in the lyrical way) the virtues of singer/songwriter Tom Goss since 2009. He is a tremendous performer and really fine human being. I’m glad to call Tom a friend. This video is really awesome, so glad to see it get so much traffic on my blog.
I’ve been writing a fair amount about homophobia and Sports since I was first encouraged to blog about a sports-related story by a very close friend. She still kids me about it a bit. But I’ve said now numerous times that athletes are a key to ending homophobia, and stories especially about high school and college jocks are at the lead in ending homophobia by dispelling stereotypes and pointing out how wrong it is to stigmatize our queer youth. Here are some other posts from 2014 regarding sports and jocks:
- Trans student first to play on HS softball team.
- The Michael Sam Kiss and Coming Out as a Process.
- Michael Sam and two of the most significant advances in LGBTQ Rights.
- Homophobia in the locker room is irrational.
Will New Pgh Police Chief Be Good News for LGBTQ Pittsburgh?
This post was next on the list of top viewed posts, and several about the new Mayor Peduto also ranked pretty high. The new police chief really has his work cut out, but so far, in my opinion, he is doing a great job getting started. I shy away from writing too much about police issues as I sit on the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board, and I don’t want to do anything that might biased me or harm my ability to work objectively on that board. Here, at the end of 2014, we have an emerging story about the LGBTQ persons and public safety. There have been a number of missing persons reports and conflicting discussions as to if the persons were or were not members of our queer community. I haven’t written anything on this, but have been doing some other behind the scenes work. I do expect to post some stories in 2015 about this issue.
I wrote at least 19 posts about transgender persons or issues in 2014, and I’m proud of that, even if a few come from gut wrenching sadness such as my most recent post about Leelah Alcorn’s suicide. 2014 saw much controversy surrounding the Trans community and both he LGBTQ community and culture as a whole. One of my favorite posts was Open letter to Nelson Garcia: Transgender is not a disease. But it didn’t rank as high as this one. As the trans* community and trans persons become more visible, issues surrounding identity and expression will also become more visible.
Was there Police Brutality at Pittsburgh Pride 2014?
I wrote actually, 5 posts, but this is the one that ranked high in my analytics, and in my opinion, this story is probably one of the top LGBTQ stories for the year, if not the top Pittsburgh LGBTQ story. As soon as I heard of this incident I reached out to Gary Van Horn of the Delta Foundation for information. The story is a mixed bag of stuff, and came about because of a collision of things including problems with the way police are assigned to extra duty jobs like being at Pride or other events.
Stories that didn’t make this ‘top viewed posts’ list
If anything, 2014 had to be the Year of Marriage Equality news, yet not a single story of mine regarding marriage equality was one of the top viewed That’s interesting to me, but it also speaks to how the role I play as a blogger is not one of reporting the basic stories that everyone is writing about. I’m fine with that. I decided about two years ago that I no longer wanted to be what I call, a “cheerleader” blogger, who simply pumps out rah rah posts in support of the LGBTQ community ad that make us feel good. There may be a place for that type of blogger, but it isn’t for me.
The list also says much about who my readers are and what is important to them, and I feel grateful for the readers I have. They like stuff I like to write, and what more could a blogger want?