gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.LLC	Dot Registry LLC	hotmail.com	View

DOT Registry plans to serve the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies. Members of the community are defined as businesses registered as limited liability companies with the United States or its territories. Limited Liability Companies or (LLC’s) as they are commonly abbreviated, represent one of the most popular business entity structures in the US. LLCʹs commonly participate in acts of commerce, public services, and product creation.

Limited Liability Companies (LLC) are a relatively new business structure for the United States, the first LLC was validated in the state of Wyoming in 1977 and in 1996 the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws adopted the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act; providing for both the definition of an LLC and the governmental standards under which an LLC may be formed. It was through the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act that a standard set of policies were created to define, validate, and monitor the operations of LLC’s, thus creating a unique and accountable business community in the United States.

An LLC is defined as a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions. LLC’s are a unique entity type because they are considered a hybrid, having certain characteristics of both a corporation and a partnership or sole proprietorship. LLC’s are closely related to corporations in the sense that they participate in similar activities and provide limited liability to their partners. Additionally, LLC’s share a key characteristic with partnerships through the availability of pass-through income taxation. LLC’s are a more flexibile entity type than a corporation and are often well suited for businesses owned by a single owner.

Common advantages to forming an LLC include:

1) Flexibility in tax reporting, LLC’s may choose if they would like to be taxed as a sole proprietorship, partnership, S Corporation, or C Corporation. This is the only business entity form in the United States that allows for taxation flexibility.
2) LLC’s have much less administrative paperwork and reporting requirements then corporations.
3) Unless the LLC elects to be taxed as a C Corp, LLC’s enjoy pass through taxation.
4) Limited liability, meaning that owners of an LLC, called “members” are protected from some or all liability acts and debts of the LLC.

LLC’s have become increasingly popular in the United States because their formation provides owners with the protection of a corporation and the flexibility of a partnership.

With the number of registered LLC’s in the United States totaling over five million in 2010 (as reported by the International Association of Commercial Administrators) it is hard for the average consumer to not conduct business with an LLC (popular LLC’s in the United States include: AOL and BMW). Through the creation of DOT Registry’s .LLC string, consumers can quickly validate that they are working with a member of the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies, providing consumers with brand reassurance and peace of mind. DOT Registry believes that it is essential to identify limited liability companies online in order to expand on their creditability and further highlight their privilege to conduct business in the US. Proper representation of this community would allow consumers to make educated choices in choosing businesses to patronize and support.
LLCʹs can be formed through any jurisdiction of the United States. Therefore members of this community exist in all 50 US states and its territories. LLC formation guidelines are dictated by state law and can vary based on each state’s regulations. Persons form an LLC by filing required documents with the appropriate state authority, usually the Secretary of State. Most states require the filing of Articles of Organization. These are considered public documents and are similar to articles of incorporation, which establish a corporation as a legal entity. At minimum, the articles of organization give a brief description of the intended business purposes, the registered agent, and registered business address.
LLC’s are expected to conduct business in conjunction with the policies of the state in which they are formed, and the Secretary of State periodically evaluates a LLC’s level of good standing based on their commercial interactions with both the state and consumers. DOT Registry or its designated agents would verify membership to the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies by collecting data on each Registrant and cross-referencing the information with their applicable registration state. In order to maintain the reputation of the “.LLC” string and accurately delineate the member to consumers, Registrants would only be awarded a domain that accurately represents their registered legal business name. Additionally, DOT Registry will not allow blind registrations or registration by proxy, therefore DOT Registry’s WHOIS service will tie directly back to each member’s state registration information and will be publicly available in order to provide complete transparency for consumers.
Entities are required to comply with formation practices in order to receive the right to conduct business in the US. Once formed an LLC must be properly maintained. LLC’s are expected to comply with state regulations, submit annual filings, and pay specific taxes and fees. Should an LLC fail to comply with state statutes it could result in involuntary dissolution by the state in addition to imposed penalties, taxes and fees.
While state statutes vary, the majority of states have adopted the following guidelines in regards to the formation of LLC’s:

(1) The name of each limited liability company must contain the words ʺLimited Liability Companyʺ or the abbreviation ʺL.L.C.ʺ or the designation ʺLLCʺ.

(2) In order to form a limited liability company, one or more authorized persons must execute the Articles of Organization. Which shall contain: the name of the limited liability company; the address of the registered office and the name and address of the registered agent for service of process required to be maintained; and any other matters the members determine to include therein.
(3) A Limited Liability Company may be organized to conduct or promote any lawful business or purposes, except as may otherwise be provided by the Constitution or other law of this State.
All entities bearing the abbreviation LLC in their business name create the assumption that they have been awarded the privileges associated to that title such as: the ability to conduct commerce transactions within US borders or territories, the ability to market products, solicit consumers and provide reputable services in exchange for monetary values, and finally to provide jobs or employment incentives to other citizens.
Membership in the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies is established through your business entity registration. In order to maintain your membership to this community you must remain an “Active” member of the community. Active” in this context can be defined as any LLC registered with a Secretary of State in the United States and its territories, that is determined to be authorized to conduct business within that State at the time of their registration. Registrant’s “Active” status will be verified on an annual basis as described above in question 18 in order to ensure the reputation and validity of the “.LLC” gTLD.
Since LLC’s are not currently delineated on the Internet, the creation of this string would mark a unique advancement in consumer security and confidence in the United States. Essentially, this will create the first ever, clear delineator for the Community of Registered Limited Liability Companies.

gTLD	Full Legal Name	E-mail suffix	Detail
.gay	dotgay llc	spimarketing.com	View

Name and full description of the community

dotgay LLC is committed to serving the Gay Community. The Gay Community is a community centered on individuals whose gender identities [1] and sexual orientation [2] are outside of the norms defined for heterosexual behavior of the larger society. The Gay Community includes individuals who identify themselves as male or female homosexuals, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, ally and many other terminology - in a variety of languages - that has been used at various points to refer most simply to those individuals who do not participate in mainstream cultural practices pertaining to gender identity, expression and adult consensual sexual relationships. The Gay Community has also been referred to using the acronym LGBT, and sometimes the more inclusive LGBTQIA [3]. The most common and globally understood term - used both by members of the Gay Community and in the world at large - is however “Gay”.

Delineation

The membership criterion to join the Gay Community is the process of ‘coming out’. This process is unique for every individual, organization and ally involving a level of risk in simply becoming visible. While this is sufficient for the world at large in order to delineate more clearly, dotgay LLC is also requiring community members to have registered with one of our Authenticating Partners (process described in 20E). The Authentication Partners are the result of a century or more of community members voluntarily grouping themselves into gay civic organizations. Membership in the Gay Community is not restricted by any geographical boundaries and is united by a common interest in human rights.

How the community is structured and organized

While there isn’t a hierarchical structure that organizes the community, there is a cooperating loose mesh of organizations that represent the diverse segments and various interests of the Gay Community, often created to work towards ending discrimination of the Gay Community. The following examples will help to provide further understanding of representing organizations:

Discrimination in the workplace; Resulted in the creation of organizations to advocate for gay employees including: Out & Equal (USA), Parks Diversity (Italy), OutServe (USA Military employee group).

Discrimination in the travel industry; Resulted in the creation of organizations to identify safe space and promote gay travel including: International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA), Travel Gay Canada, Brazilian Gay & Lesbian Travel Association.

Discrimination in the marketplace; Resulted in the creation of organizations to promote gay business including: Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, National Gay Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (USA), Argentina Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Discrimination in sports; Resulted in the creation of gay sports teams and leagues including: Federation of Gay Games (FGG), Gay and Lesbian International Sport Association (GLISA).

Discrimination in human rights; Resulted in the creation of organizations including the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA), Federacion Estatal de Lesbianas Gays Transexuales y Bisexuales (Spain), Lesben und Schwulenverband in Deutschland (Germany).

Discrimination in social services; Resulted in the formation of Gay Community centers and service organizations including: CenterLink (community center support), Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (ally support), Trans-Fuzja Foundation (transgender support), Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS (HIV⁄AIDS support), Lambda Legal (legal services) and the Trevor Project (teen suicide prevention).

Discrimination in media; Resulted in the formation of organizations including: Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association (NLGJA).

It is these exact organizations that form the cooperating loose mesh of organizations that serve as the foundation of the Gay Community and enable it to structure and organize efforts.

When the community was established

While gay individuals have always existed, visibility of these individuals only began in the 19th century. One of the first movements for the human rights of the Gay Community was initiated by Magnus Hirschfeld (Scientific Humanitarian Committee, 1897). In the 20th century a sense of community continued to emerge through the formation of the first incorporated gay rights organization (Chicago Society for Human Rights, 1924). In the ensuing years additional organizations continued to emerge, but it was a watershed event in the streets of New York City that would kick-started what would become known as the modern gay rights movement. At the Stonewall Bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village in June 1969 male and female homosexuals, bisexual, transgendered, intersexed and allied patrons fought back against routine police raids on gay bars in the Village and the events of that evening spiraled into several nights of riots in the streets. The ensuing mayhem helped not only galvanize the Gay Community and moved many individuals out of the dark bars and into the comparatively brighter streets, but resulted in global media coverage that had the unintended effect of both launching the modern gay rights movement and connecting gay individuals around the world to a larger Gay Community. For those gays living in remote parts not only of the US but of the world, knowledge of an angry mob of gays in New York City gave otherwise isolated individuals a community to finally identify with.

To commemorate the anniversary of Stonewall, three American cities organized “gay pride” demonstrations one year later. At this writing hundreds of gay pride celebrations occur around the world and an international organization of Pride Organizers called InterPride has been created. Along with other global gay organizations InterPride is one of dotgay LLC’s Authentication Partners linking dotgay LLC to the origins of the modern global gay community.

This is just one of the many timelines that can be drawn in Gay Community history. Each of the organizations endorsing dotgay LLC has a similar record of activities in the organization of the community.

Estimated size of the community

As stated above, the Gay Community is global. Since the Gay Community is self-identifying, it becomes a difficult challenge to measure accurate statistics using tradition standards. Most studies place the global gay population at 1.2% (Williams 1996), higher in countries with existing gays rights protections projected at 4-6% (eg. Australia, Canada, United Kingdom, United States). Rather than projecting the size of the community from these larger global statistical estimates, dotgay LLC has established a conservative plan with identified partners and endorsing organizations (listed in 20F) representing over 1,000 organizations and 7 million members. This constitutes our base line estimate for projecting the size of the Gay Community and the minimum pool from which potential registrants will stem.

[1] “each person’s deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond with the sex assigned at birth, including the personal sense of the body (which may involve, if freely chosen, modification of bodily appearance or function by medical, surgical or other means) and other expressions of gender, including dress, speech and mannerisms.” The Yogyakarta Principles www.yogyakartaprinciples.org⁄principles_en.pdf

[2] “each person’s capacity for profound emotional, affectional and sexual attraction to, and intimate and relations with, individuals of a different gender or the same gender or more than one gender” The Yogyakarta Principles

[3] LBGTQIA – Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Ally is the latest term used to indicate the inclusive regard for the extent of the Gay Community.