OPG/QueerNet Server Replacement
Donation protected
For over 25 years, I've been involved in activism through providing Internet services and working to keep access open. In 1991 I started the QueerNet Project, the first service dedicated to online information and discussion for LBGTQ, HIV/AIDS, and other gender and sexuality projects. In 2000, I joined the board of Star Dust (Will) Doherty's Online Policy Group, advocating for access for underrepresented communities and against censorship. In 2001, we put QueerNet under OPG as a project. Through the entire period, we did our work for free fully supported by donations.
Today, some of our clients include the Long Island Lesbian Cancer Initiative, FORGE, Ritual Art Troupe, Seattle Men in Leather, NextArts, the Southwest Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, plus many other LGBTQ arts and community projects, as well as foreclosure assistance activist organizations.
All of these groups receive services - web hosting, email, and/or discussion forums - free of charge, supported only by donations. To keep costs low, we use coop hosting services; our only major expense is the need to upgrade and refresh our equipment every few years.
We were in the process of preparing a new server, with added capacity to improve services and add clients, for deployment when it was stolen from the workroom in my home. Without this equipment, our services will degrade rapidly, and we will lose the ability to serve our clients.
Unfortunately, server class hardware is expensive - the configuration we need will cost us about $8,000. We need to acquire it by mid-January in order to deploy it in a Bay Area data center.
OPG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so donations in the US are tax-exempt. If you require a receipt, please let us know.
This has been a major part of my life's work for over 25 years, and through OPG and QueerNet we have literally saved lives and defended freedom. Please don't let the lights go out.
Today, some of our clients include the Long Island Lesbian Cancer Initiative, FORGE, Ritual Art Troupe, Seattle Men in Leather, NextArts, the Southwest Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, plus many other LGBTQ arts and community projects, as well as foreclosure assistance activist organizations.
All of these groups receive services - web hosting, email, and/or discussion forums - free of charge, supported only by donations. To keep costs low, we use coop hosting services; our only major expense is the need to upgrade and refresh our equipment every few years.
We were in the process of preparing a new server, with added capacity to improve services and add clients, for deployment when it was stolen from the workroom in my home. Without this equipment, our services will degrade rapidly, and we will lose the ability to serve our clients.
Unfortunately, server class hardware is expensive - the configuration we need will cost us about $8,000. We need to acquire it by mid-January in order to deploy it in a Bay Area data center.
OPG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so donations in the US are tax-exempt. If you require a receipt, please let us know.
This has been a major part of my life's work for over 25 years, and through OPG and QueerNet we have literally saved lives and defended freedom. Please don't let the lights go out.
Organizer
Roger Klorese
Organizer
San Francisco, CA
