Today is a momentous day in Below the Belt history. As we approach our fourth anniversary in 2010, we are publishing the first annual Below the Belt Reader, a compilation of selected contributions from the past year that we firmly believe exemplify our work.

We are immensely proud of the work and sense of community that our contributors and readers have achieved, and the Reader is a culmination of that achievement. I hope you'll join me in celebrating this milestone by checking it out. The Reader will always be available to read for free on our Press page linked at the top of the blog.

As the first decade of the new century draws to a close, I am so excited at the prospect of a new year full of continued coverage and dialogue on gender, sexuality, identity and their intersectionalities. All of the contributors at Below the Belt donate their time, energy, and thoughtful contributions to improve the community on this forum. As the main administrator for this site, I can attest to this blog being a labor of love. However, every year the overhead costs to running this site steadily rise.

If you're reading this, you're one of the thousands of readers who comes through our neck of the interwebs every day. Chances are, you'll never have to pay a cent for the content you see here. The contributors, queeriously, and I do this because this is what we love to do. If you want to help support us in our effort in providing a thoughtful safe space for dialogue on gender and its intersections, than I hope you'll lend a hand and pitch in. Give whatever you can, be it $5 or $50. Every gift in support of Below the Belt means so much to us. You can click the Donate button on the menu bar to make a gift. As a special thank you, for every gift of $20 or more, we'll send you a free hard copy of the Reader.

A hearty congratulations to everyone who has touched this community in one way or another and made it what it is today. You deserve it.