Gayness, now with each copy of Internet Explorer

From The Stranger:
July 3, 2007
Gates Invests in Gay.com

It's fantastic that Rev. Hutcherson's pro-discrimination ballot initiative died a sad, lonely death recently. The fortunes of domestic partnerships in our state are on the rise, Democratic Presidential candidates seem to have their gay houses more or less in order and Seattle Pride just wrapped up its second go-round Downtown. Things seem to be looking up, but Seattlest likes to judge which way the wind blows by figuring out where the money goes. The local money is in Redmond. Er, Medina... Meaning Bill Gates has it. And he's investing it in PlanetOut to the tune of $26.2 million via his private investment firm Cascade Investment LLC.
PlanetOut owns legendary hook-up site Gay.com, RSVP Vacations, The Advocate (which just published a "best gay places to live" list that does not include Seattle), as well as Out magazine and a bunch of other publications, each one gayer than the last. PlanetOut has been struggling, according to the P-I's John Cook, and Gates is swooping in as an investing angel. It may or may not be the big sociological indicator we want it to be, but at least it keeps the doors open at PlanetOut.