Gingerbeer (web community)

Gingerbeer is a London-based virtual community for lesbian and bisexual women. The name "Gingerbeer" (Cockney rhyming slang for "queer") refers to both the web site, and to the community which it supports. Gingerbeer is one of the largest and most popular social networking services for lesbian and bisexual women in the United Kingdom. It is maintained and moderated entirely by a team of volunteers.

Gingerbeer was initially launched on January 1, 2000, and has undergone two subsequent relaunches, firstly on June 25, 2001, and later on November 11, 2005, following a major redesign. Gingerbeer became an official not-for-profit organisation in March 2004, when it was registered as a limited company by guarantee.

The site's main feature is a highly active messageboards forum, with over 2000 registered members at May 2007. The messageboards receive approximately 10 million hits per month, and in the eighteen months to the end of May 2007, they had logged over 335,000 posts in over 5000 topics or discussion threads. One of the distinctive features of the messageboards is that they support an active calendar of social, cultural and sporting events across the UK, so that Gingerbeer exists as both a web community and a real life community.

Besides the messageboards, Gingerbeer offers listings of bars, clubs and community events, reviews, and a London guide. Gingerbeer has been recommended as a useful, up to date resource for lesbians by a wide range of sources, including universities, doctors, lawyers, therapists, local authorities, equality workers and travel journalists.

Research on the needs of black LGB communities was undertaken in 2001 by Galop, a London charity which gives advice and support to LGBT people affected by homophobic hate crimes. The research found that LGBT internet services including Gingerbeer were used by 34% of the respondents, with 79% finding them useful.

Gingerbeer has also been cited as a source of lesbian respondents for research on LGBT issues.