Imagine if you will, a daily news, media and culture website exclusively from a LGBT perspective. Try to envision it … breaking news about Proposition 8 … a special report on the life of gays from Byelorussia … live coverage of the pride parade in Sao Paulo. Now, add to it an integrated social networking platform that offers a safe environment for open dialogue — deep or otherwise. Imagine that website. Then imagine it in French. That website is Yagg, the (soon to come) news and social networking website for the French-speaking lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

The idea was conceived in 2007 and started in 2008 by a group of seasoned French journalists. Collectively they believed that the current online LGBT offerings were dispersed and uncultivated. And the options even worse for the French-speaking world. With Yagg, their mission was to create a comprehensive and fully realized French-speaking option that reports LGBT-centric news while engaging with and enabling the community at large.

Yagg is Christophe Martet, Xavier Héraud, Judith Silberfeld and Yannick Barbe. Veterans of LGBT media and leaders within the community, the four founders met while working for the leading French gay magazine, Têtu. Before becoming chef editor of Têtu, Christophe Martet worked for French national television France 2 and was President of Act Up-Paris from 1994 to 1996. Xavier Héraud is author of the “Guide for Young Gays” and is an unbridled blogger. Judith Silberfeld is a journalist and currently has her own shop selling design and fair trade goods. Yannick Barbe is a journalist and was a voice personality for major French radio stations such as Radio Nova and Radio FG.