Amelia has two mommies ... and a loving extended family

Non-traditional families are a growing part of everyday life; meet one that will celebrate its first Mother's Day together - May 10, 2006

By BOB CANNING
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER

There is an upper middle-class family that lives in a modest split-level home on a quiet cul-de-sac in an average American neighborhood. On the lawn across the street, a group of young neighbor kids is playing ring-around-the-rosie (yes, apparently the game is still alive), and the book "What to Expect the First Year" lies on the seat of a baby stroller at the front door. It all would be so Middle America if it were not for the fact that this west Petaluma family is comprised of domestic partners Pamela Asselmeier and Lisa Krieshok and their adopted 8 1/2-month-old daughter, Amelia Pearl Krieshok.

"The experience was a rough one," Krieshok recalls, "the negative response that we got early on, feeling rejected every month when no one responded to our adoption pleas. It kind of rips at one's heart."

Amelia, a plump, dark-eyed beauty with a happy disposition, came to the couple through the North Bay chapter of the Independent Adoption Center, which advocates an "open adoption" policy of voluntary communication between birth mother, adoptive parents and child.

Bruce M. Rappaport is executive director of the IAC. His organization views adoptive parenting as fully on par with biological parenting, and does not discriminate against same-sex couples or single gays who wish to adopt. With some 4,000 successful adoptions, he says, "most of our birth mothers, even after 15 to 20 years, continue to have meaningful relationships with their child's adoptive family."

Amelia's biological mother is an unmarried 22-year-old who already has two children, and because supporting them was a financial burden, she chose adoption. After reading Asselmeier and Krieshok's online profiles and "Dear Birthmom" letters, AmeliaÕs mother chose them because, according to Krieshok, "She told us, 'God told me to.'"

Both women are in their mid-40s, introspective and soft-spoken. They have successful professional careers -- Asselmeier is a real estate attorney who serves on the Petaluma Planning Commission, and Krieshok, who is a graphic artist/illustrator, designed the poster art for the 2006 Butter and Egg Days Parade.

"We've been together for eight and half years," says Asselmeier. "We're older, we've made our mistakes, and we know what we want and where we're going. And we were committed to growing a family together."

The women first applied for an adoption three years ago. Then in August 2005, their lives changed suddenly and irrevocably with one phone call. Asselmeier and Krieshok dropped everything and headed to a hospital in Sacramento, where they met two-day old Baby X for the first time.

"She was born on a Wednesday, we spent four hours with her on that Thursday, and we took her home on Friday," says Asselmeier. "When we were asked for a name for her birth certificate, we chose Amelia for aviatrix Amelia Earhart, a heroine, and Pearl, in honor of my grandmother."

All in all, the process went relatively smoothly and, as Krieshok says, "We're so grateful we didn't have to experience what others have gone though, like traveling to China or Kazakhstan for extended stays and shelling out obscene amounts of money."

Motherhood so far seems to be going swimmingly as well, and Kreishok calls "What to Expect the First Year" a valuable guidebook. Also, family, neighbors and friends have been helpful, caring and involved. At their "adoption finalization party," commemorating their sixth month of parenthood, about 40 guests attended, including Asselmeier's parents from Chicago and the baby's Kaiser Permanente pediatrician.

Asselmeier is a "confirmed Presbyterian," and Krieshok calls herself an "ex-Catholic." Both women understand that there are others who may not approve of their relationship, including Krieshok's "very religious brother," who, along with his wife and children, nevertheless, dotes on Amelia.

Says Asselmeier, "We might raise Amelia as a Buddhist, or some other spiritual belief based on morals and values that foster respect for the earth, all life and all people. These are the things that are really important, not someone's sexual orientation."

Asselmeier's sentiment addresses the Catholic Church's recent opposition to same-sex adoptions. "It's heartbreaking and it angers me," she says, "when they say we are not good enough to adopt without knowing us. I think most people in Petaluma don't make such unrealistic judgments. Our neighbors knew us before as good neighbors and now they know us as good parents."

The Rev. Dave Weidlich, pastor of Petaluma's First Presbyterian Church says, "We would absolutely welcome gay adoptive parents and their children in our church, Sunday School and school. That is our church's position, but I am also quite sure that our congregants would reach out warmly to the family."

The pastors of Petaluma's St. James and St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Churches were both unavailable for comment. However, Bishop Daniel Walsh, Diocese of Santa Rosa, issued a statement that read in part: "I do not condemn the good people who are attempting these adoptions or question their motives, but É one of the Church's requirements for baptism is that the child be raised in a Catholic family where the child can be educated and formed in the faith. In a same-sex union it is questionable whether this requirement can be fulfilled."

Despite impending legislation in several states to ban such adoptions, 15.7 percent of lesbians and 5 percent of gay men in the U.S. plan to adopt in the next three years, according to a 2005-2006 online survey (www.glcensus.com) conducted by Syracuse University in partnership with OpusComm Group, an advertising and public relations agency.

With little Amelia thriving, her two mommies are looking forward to their first Mother's Day together. "We're going to have all Amelia's honorary mothers and grandmothers over for brunch," says Krieshok, "to celebrate Amelia coming into all of our lives."

97% of Gay Americans Out, Says New Census - Thursday May 4, 2006

A new census conducted annually by the School of Public Communications at Syracuse University suggests that 97-percent of gay Americans are out to their families, friends and at work.

That statistic, which some activists are suggesting seems unreasonably high, is partnered with several other percentages in the "Gay/Lesbian Consumer Census Online," conducted in partnership with the media relations group OpusComm.

A spokesman for the census says the GLCensus is the largest annual GLBT study, with nearly 5,000 national responses. The goal of the census is to help paint a clearer picture of GLBT people - their relationships, their families, their politics and their consumer and media habits.

"When it comes to relationships, children, economics, employment, the GLCensus reveals that the national gay community is one that is comprised of a population that is deeply seated in values and concerns, not unlike the rest of America", comments Jeff Garber, President of OpusComm Group.

That 97% statistic is comprised of findings from a number of questions. A deeper look at the survey finds 85% of respondents are out to family, 95% to friends and 74% at the workplace.

Additional findings from the survey include:

• 53% of females are partnered versus 42% of males with the largest percentage together between 4 - 7 years

• 32% of males and 66% of females plan on adding children to their family in the next 3 years

• 12% of males and 15% of females are employed by a government entity

• 57% of males and 45% of females live in cities

• 67% of males and 72% of females are registered Democrats

• 77% respondents feel legal recognition of same-sex marriage for tax, estate and insurance purposes extremely important in voting for a candidate

For gays, the media is the messenger

A new study tracks what they read and watch - By Diego Vasquez, Apr 26, 2006

Could “Will & Grace” be inspiring the gay population to come out of the closet? According to a new GLCensus Partners study, performed by Syracuse University and OpusComm Group and released yesterday, it just might be. The percentage of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) individuals who identify themselves as out has risen from 93 percent to 97 percent in the past four years, and the study’s authors say it could be attributed in part to media, such as “W&G,” portraying their lifestyle in a more positive light. The past few years have seen more accurate representations of gay lifestyles than ever in the media, leading many straights to stop fearing gays as they learn more about them. The annual study examined the buying, media usage, political and personal habits of some 5,000 GLBT respondents, most of them between the ages of 18-24. Among the study’s other findings: two-thirds of women and a third of men plan to have or adopt children in the next three years, and nearly 14 percent work for the government. Jeffrey S. Garber, President and Co-Founder of the OpusComm Group, talks with Media Life about the importance of targeting gays in advertising, their fondness for The New York Times, and why they like Showtime and HBO much more than the average TV viewer.

What did you find most surprising about this study?

I think it’s surprising on a couple of levels. Through the years there has been an increase in those who feel comfortable being out to friends, colleagues, co-workers, etc. I think the increase of the presence of children and the consideration of having them in the next three years is interesting. Also, it’s almost a 50-50 split between the gay community living in urban areas compared to suburban areas.

From a media standpoint, I think it’s a community that’s very media oriented as far as what they like.

For instance, if you look at the top networks, we asked the question “What cable networks do you watch?” There’s a gender split between men and women. With males, out of the top five, you have two premium channels, HBO and Showtime. If you were to look at the top five most popular cable networks [among the general public], I’d doubt any of them would be premium. In GLBT males you have two.

Bravo and A&E continue to be perennial favorites, as well as Comedy Central. People think it’s just about gays watching images of themselves. The answer is yes they want to, but it doesn’t mean the programming has to be all gay-oriented.


What patterns did you find in gays’ media usage? Does it differ from the way straights use media?

The question always is, is there a difference, and the answer is yes. We just talked about cable networks. HBO has shows like “Six Feet Under” and “Sex and the City,” with themes that resonate in the gay community. If we look at the TV shows, No. 1 is “Will & Grace” for males, then “Queer as Folk,” “Queer Eye,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Six Feet Under,” “The Sopranos,” and this shocks me, it’s “The Simpsons” and “Golden Girls” in syndication.

Then “South Park,” “Ellen” and “The Daily Show.” What I think is interesting with “Ellen,” it’s syndicated and mainly considered afternoon fare. Once again. if you ask general public, they’d probably list primetime shows, maybe with the exception of women listing “Oprah.”

GLBT Females say “The L Word,” then “Ellen,” “Will & Grace,” “CSI,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “Queer as Folk,” “Jeopardy,” “American Idol,” “Dateline,” “Friends” and “Cold Case.” Also, “Idol” is No. 1 nationally, but it doesn’t appear in the top 10 among gay males.


How important is gay content in influencing gay viewers’ TV watching habits?

I think it’s huge. You’re talking about a community that doesn’t see a lot of their images on TV or movies. If you do, it’s with rare or false stereotypes, and there are few glimmers of things being done well. As people embrace their identity, they want to see themselves in America on TV and in the movies.

They want a glimpse into how other gays live, and they want positive representation so when friends and colleagues see it, they have a better understanding of who they are.


Do gay men and women have many shared tastes in magazines? Why or why not?

For magazines among males, No. 1 is Men’s Health, then Details, Time, Consumer Reports, Men’s Fitness, National Geographic, GQ and AARP.

What that says is they have varied interests. Health and fitness is a concern, but Consumer Reports at No. 4? That goes along with the philosophy of the gay consumer tending to research products they’re interested in. Purchase preferences are based on quality first, and Consumer Reports is identified as a prime tool for that research.

Among females, it’s People, AARP, Time, Readers Digest, National Geographic, O-the Oprah Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, Consumer Reports and Cooking Light. Not sure again if Consumer Reports would be in top 10 among the general public. Time is No. 3 for both men and women, and I’m curious if within [straight] males or females there’s a newsweekly in the top three.

News is important on TV and print for the GLBT community. There isn’t a day that goes by without legislation debate about their rights.


What most influences their preference in newspapers? Are they big local newspaper readers?

The New York Times is the No. 1 national newspaper, then USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angles Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Dallas Morning News. Hands down, The New York Times is at 15 percent and USA Today is at 10 percent.

I think it’s a combination of both local and national, it all depends—36 states still don’t have anti-discrimination laws that protect in employment and housing, and in those areas local may be a little more important. I think it all depends on where you live. If you’re in a state that’s pretty embracing, you may read the news but may not be as driven to read it because you’re not still fighting for rights.


How much do gays take into consideration the gay-friendliness of consumer products such as beer, car rentals, insurance, etc.? Does that influence their loyalties more than say cost or customer service?

I think what affects the different categories is this: Is there an advertiser that’s actively courting the gay market, and if so, in a compelling way?

If you’re a beer company, you have a good chance if you’re going after the market, using gay-themes in ads and doing it within gay media.

Also, if you’re good to your own employees in terms of protecting their orientation, [that helps]. Those companies that do all of that have a great chance at going to the head of the pack. This should be exciting for advertisers because general consumers are so jaded, there’s a clamor to go for niche markets, and gay marketing is a prime example that allows that.

The common denominator across the board is the fact that quality is important. If there are two quality products, the one that advertises to the gay community will win. If they have a mediocre product but think they can bolster sales by going after the gay market, they’re in for a big surprise. There have been a few instances of this in the past few years, but it didn’t work out.


You found that 95 percent of gay respondents are registered voters. How much more politically engaged are gays than straights?

Well, you have to think in terms of this. The average American is concerned about politics, but once again, when there’s constant debate about can you marry, can you not, the wonderful thing in this country is you can vote periodically and voice your concerns. I think the need to be registered and active voter is very important. For the typical American, things like relationships or discrimination aren’t always an issue.

How important is the issue of gay marriage? Has it become more important since 2004, when the presidential election brought it to the fore and some cities and states began permitting it?

We asked a question on social issues: when voting for a candidate, rank the importance of the following criteria. Seventy-seven percent feel marriage is important, and then 73 percent were concerned about employment protection. Then it was parental rights, followed by legal rights for adoption, then anti-hate crimes. After that is HIV funding, which is a little down the line. A lot of younger people didn’t witness first-hand the HIV breakouts, which was at a time more severe.




Study: Gay Market is 'Very Media Oriented'
by Media Buyer Planner - April 26, 2006

The GLCensus Partners study, performed by OpusComm Group and Syracuse University, released Wednesday, surveyed 5,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) respondents and reported on the importance of targeting gays in advertising, writes Media Life.

Of the gay community, Jeffrey S. Garber, president and co-founder of the OpusComm Group, said, "From a media standpoint, I think it's a community that's very media oriented as far as what they like."

According to Garber, "People think it's just about gays watching images of themselves. The answer is yes they want to, but it doesn't mean the programming has to be all gay-oriented."

Gay content definitely influences gay viewers' TV watching habits. "They want a glimpse into how other gays live, and they want positive representation so when friends and colleagues see it, they have a better understanding of who they are," said Garber.

Though magazine preferences differed between gay men and women, Consumer Reports was among each gender's top ten picks. This falls in line with the theory that the gay community does more product research prior to purchasing, with quality being the number one factor.

"News is important on TV and print for the GLBT community. There isn't a day that goes by without legislation debate about their rights," said Garber. The New York Times is the top national newspaper, as 15 percent of respondents preferred it.

Marketers have a better chance of appealing to the gay market if they use gay-themes in ads placed within gay media.




Arts & Ideas: All gay, all the time
Here!
The cast of Dante's Cove.
Posted 7/20/05
By Victoria Hallett

When the Fab Five waltzed onto Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy two years ago, they were heralded as gay ambassadors to heterosexual America, capable of closing the cultural divide with superior hairstyling products and hip party tips. On The O.C. last season, Marisa briefly flirted with a lesbian love affair before pairing up with Ryan again, and on Desperate Housewives Bree reached out to her sexually confused teenage son by telling him, "I'd love you even if you were a murderer."

What do all of these portrayals of gay life have in common?

"They were for straight people," says Damon Ramine, the media director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).

After decades of glimpsing homosexual characters as cameos during "very special" episodes or in mostly asexual contexts on the shows Ellen and Will & Grace, gay and lesbian viewers now have three networks devoted entirely to them. On June 30, Logo rolled out to 13 million homes, becoming the first ad-supported gay network and joining two existing premium networks: Here!, available to 44 million viewers, and Q, accessible to just 1 million homes.

Now it's up to the trio to figure out what exactly those queer eyes want to watch. Logo debuted with "The Evolution Will Be Televised," a documentary about homosexuality in America. Stephen Tropiano, author of Primetime Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV and one of the experts interviewed in the program, thinks the kickoff was a bold one.

"[The documentary] tied the politics of the time with the culture much more than I expected, especially with the AIDS crisis," he says. Still, Logo is shying away from controversy by maintaining a low profile in these early weeks, airing innocuous fare like Can't Stop the Music, the Steve Guttenberg flick about the rise of the Village People, and a Melissa Etheridge music special. The network plans to roll out more-substantial original programming soon, including the series "Noah's Arc," about a black screenwriter in L.A.; comedian Scott Thompson's same-sex wedding show; documentaries on issues like being gay and Hispanic; and special programs, including GLAAD's media awards show.

Like Logo, Here! is balancing its catalogue of gay-themed films with a wide variety of its own shows, including movies and scripted programming. Boasting about the $50 million Here! has spent in the past year on such projects, network chief Paul Colichman says viewers will soon be able to tune into the submarine thriller Tides of War ("It's the gay Das Boot.") and Dante's Cove, a Dawson's Creek-meets-Buffy the Vampire Slayer teen drama that follows what happens when a young man breaks the curse a witch had placed on her gay husband. Q has found its niche covering events, like the Gay Games.

Which of these programs will be a hit? Paul Lindstrom, vice president of national custom research for Nielsen ratings, has been trying to measure gay television viewing habits for more than 10 years. So far, it looks like differences in gay and straight viewers are significant, particularly when it comes to shows featuring gay and lesbian characters. The top five programs among gay viewers are Will & Grace, Queer as Folk, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Six Feet Under, and Law & Order-no Everybody Loves Raymond in sight.

Arts & Ideas: All gay, all the time
(Page 2 of 2)

"Certain aberrations also make sense," Lindstrom says. "Basketball, related to the WNBA perhaps, has a much greater following among lesbians than women as a whole."


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"I hope Logo doesn't get caught in the trap of thinking all gay people are between 20 and 30 and live in urban areas," says OpusComm President Jeffrey Garber. "You want to program to your largest target audience. People in their 30s and 40s are at home more and can afford premium cable. If you focus too much on the MTV crowd, you lose potential."

And snagging as many viewers as possible is of course key-both for Here! and Q, which rely on subscribers, and Logo, which needs to convince advertisers that gays and lesbians are tuning in. Getting advertisers at all may be a struggle for the Viacom-owned network, given that companies have been traditionally reluctant to deal with the backlash that comes from supporting gay enterprises. But there are already a number of big names on board, including Orbitz, Subaru, Motorola, and Miller Lite.

As a business model, selling to gay America is a no-brainer, Colichman says.

"It's rare that the wealthiest niche is underserved," he observes. The officially gay networks may just be popping up now, but the fact that gay audiences are an attractive crowd hasn't been lost on other networks, particularly Showtime, which airs Queer as Folk and The L Word, two programs that have been particularly successful in the gay community for their characters and themes. Bravo topped the list of cable networks in the OpusComm study, which comes as no surprise to the home of Queer Eye as well as arts programming. "Gay culture leads to trends, and that's a de facto piece of Bravo," explains network President Lauren Salaznick.

"The LGBT audience is the sweet spot. They have high levels of education and income and they're high entertainment consumers," says Kirk Iwanowski, senior vice president of marketing for the Sundance Channel, which mostly shows independent films. "We have actively pursued that audience since we launched." That's part of why Sundance just formed a partnership with gay.com, one of the most popular websites among gay men, and has made a commitment to creating original programming with gay-themes.

The more gay images on television, the merrier, Ramine says.

"The existence of BET doesn't mean there shouldn't be African-American programming on other networks," he adds.




The Rainbow Connection
The gay community has money to burn, but few marketers know how to reach it

By Joe Mandese -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/25/2005

Imagine if media buyers were unable to identify and target people who represent one of the most important consumer segments, a group comprising as much as 10% of the U.S. population and one with exceptionally high discretionary spending. Imagine that this group also consists of some of the earliest adapters of new media technology.

It's hard to imagine, but that's essentially how big advertisers and agencies have been planning media buys aimed at the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (GLBT) market. Either they've ignored such consumers, or they've had to rely on crude data–and even guesswork–to figure out exactly who gay Americans are and how they use media.

But the gay market is coming out of the media closet, as major marketers begin recognizing its spending power and new media and research become available to reach them. Until recently, this has largely been a print-media phenomenon that has seen a surge in the so-called gay press–slick urban magazines and gay- community newspapers that now account for more than $200 million in annual ad spending. Largely on the basis of print success, big marketers are now earmarking ad budgets to reach gay consumers via TV. And with Viacom's launch of Logo, a major TV player is in the game, too.

Yet while marketers typically are loath to invest significantly without firm data and hard facts about their target audience, most continue to rely on instinct regarding gay consumers. "The gay and lesbian market has been Johnny-come-lately as far as media research goes," says Todd Evans, president and CEO of Rivendell Media Inc., a media-buying agency in Mountainside, N.J., which specializes in the GLBT marketplace. "It's almost nonexistent."

It wasn't until Absolut vodka jumped in a few decades ago that ad spending in the gay press took off. Evans, who publishes an annual tracking study on spending on gay print media, estimates it rose 28.4% in 2004 to $207 million. More important, he says, the list of advertisers in the gay press now includes 150 Fortune 500 companies.

Gay-specific ads

But the most important milestone, he says, is the fact that, for the first time ever, more than half the ads running in gay print-media outlets in 2004 were created specifically for the gay community, as opposed to mainstream ads in gay-media outlets. "That's a big development," says Evans, "because creating gay-themed ads requires a bigger advertising budget and a bigger commitment to the market."

While Absolut's success inspired competitors to jump in, the trend has occurred in other categories, too, including tobacco, travel, autos, entertainment, telecommunications and media–especially cable TV. In fact, a study released this month by Scarborough Research and the G/L Census Partners–a collaboration between the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and advertising and public-relations firm OpusComm Group–indicates that gay consumers are much greater users of digital media products and services, especially digital cable, premium channels and digital video recorders.

Given the fact that the GLBT market has some of the highest discretionary spending of any segment, it's no surprise that a major player like Viacom would launch a channel aimed at that market. Since its June debut, Logo has racked up 13 million digital-cable subscribers and is expected to be in 18 million homes when Comcast completes its rollout in the next few months. How many gay viewers it will actually reach is another story, and one that may not be told for some time.

"You've got to remember those subscriber numbers are households," says Adam Herman, senior VP/director, integrated media, at MediaCom, the New York-based media agency that handles one of the most proactive gay-TV advertisers: online travel service Orbitz. "It doesn't say how many gays are in those households or how many of them will be watching Logo."

Tiers of programming

To help Orbitz best target the gay community, MediaCom developed three tiers of programming. The first includes shows featuring gay themes or characters, such as Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. The second tier includes shows that have "gay sympathy" but a predominantly straight audience, such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show, or have a unique appeal among gay viewers, such as a Liza Minelli special, according to MediaCom. The third tier includes shows that MediaCom's planners believe gays are likely to watch, including hip programs like The Daily Show.

Herman says Orbitz currently places spots only in the first tier: "Intuitively, we know we are reaching a gay audience this way."

The lack of data on gay viewers has pushed some to develop creative applications to infer it. When Bravo generated a hit with Queer Eye, NBC Universal's researchers came up with an innovative way of looking at Nielsen data, creating a custom demographic break based on same-sex adults living in the same household. They then edited out households where people were related or were known to be roommates and asked Nielsen's field representatives to make a judgment on whether they were gay households.

Conflicting results

The results confirmed what advertisers or programmers might expect gay people to be watching, says Horst Stipp, senior VP/director of primary and strategic research, at NBC Universal. But when a Nielsen committee looking into the measurement of gay viewers repeated the study, he says, it generated conflicting results–sending the committee back to the drawing board.

"The take-away from our research," Stipp adds, "is that the gay population is as heterogeneous and diverse as the general population."

That conclusion is similar to one uncovered by media agency MindShare, New York, when it conducted a study of gay/lesbian consumers and their media habits in 2003. "What we found was that their income was a little bit higher and their age a little bit lower than the average American, but otherwise, they looked like the mainstream audience," recalls David Marans, who was head of research at MindShare and is now an executive VP with IAG Research, New York.

The finding was a hot potato within media and marketing circles, which have historically positioned the gay market as being very different–and substantially more affluent–than mainstream Americans. While their incomes are reportedly comparable, Marans says, the primary distinction is discretionary income, as gay households tend not to have children and often have two incomes.

But the most important part of the study had nothing to do with the socio-economic aspects of gay consumers. It had to do with how they feel about the way marketers advertise to them; the gay community has proved fiercely loyal to brands that have been targeted specifically to them.

Says Marans, "There is a tremendous boost if you're an advertiser and you advertise in gay media."

 
MEDIA PATTERNS

Gay and lesbian consumers

Watch gay-oriented television programs

Weekly:

65% of males and 61% of females

Read gay-oriented magazines:

Weekly:

29% of males and 15% of females

Monthly:

30% of males and 36% of females

Read gay-oriented newspapers:

Weekly:

28% of males and 14% of females

Monthly:

20% of males and 21% of females

Visit gay-oriented U.S.—based Web sites:

Daily:

48% of males and 23% of females

Weekly:

31% of males and 29% of females

Monthly:

12% of males and 24% of females

Source: Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census, a collaboration of Scarborough Research, The G/L Census Partners and OpusComm Group





Media Daily News

Bi-Bi Broadcast, Study Reveals Gays, Lesbians Prefer Cable
by David Kaplan

DELL, TOYOTA, AMERICAN AIRLINES, AND Carnival Cruises are the considered the best brands by gay and lesbian consumers, a study released Tuesday by marketing analyst firm Scarborough Research said. Scarborough's "Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census," an annual survey of the demographics, lifestyles, and media patterns of approximately 8,000 gay and lesbian consumers, looked at several categories including travel, media, automotive, and computers. The analysis found that quality is a key factor in gay/lesbian consumer brand decisions. "Across the board, brands known for quality tend to be favored by gay and lesbian consumers," said Jeff Garber, President, OpusComm Group, a G/L Census partner. "From Dell computers to Toyota vehicles, gay consumers favor brands recognized for value and excellence."

In the media category, several premium cable television networks are popular among gays and lesbians.

HBO and Showtime appear in the top five cable networks, and Showtime's program "Queer as Folk" is among the top five television shows. Mainstream television shows with gay themes, such as NBC's "Will & Grace," are also popular among this cohort. "While it is no surprise that gay-themed programming is important to gay/lesbian consumers, it is interesting to note that several of their television preferences require access to premium cable services," Garber said. "The gay marketplace presents desirable demographics that marketers can tap into via niche programming available on premium cable networks."

The survey also noted that gay and lesbian consumers are avid travelers, and American Airlines is their airline of choice. Top domestic destinations include New York City and San Francisco, whereas Canada and Russia are popular for international travel.








The Revolution Has Been Televised
- Gay characters on TV not always politically correct, nor uniform, but isn't that the point?
 
By LAWRENCE CHRISTON

 
When the phrase "We're queer, we're here, get used to it" began floating in general circulation, it appeared that the new gay '90s had segued into the new millennium, if not with the crossbeam-and-plaster-shattering crash of
"Angels in America," then at least to the degree that the homosexual community and its subset of bisexuals and transgenders could enter the mainstream without being bashed on sight.

They had survived AIDS. They had survived murderous bigotry and the long silence of bearing the love that dare not speak its name. But aside from political gains and the reaffirmation of legal and civil rights, how did they
know they'd arrived?

They got on TV.

Small signs of coming out began, of all places, in the Reagan era, with the character of Steve on "Dynasty." Billy Crystal played a well-rounded gay on "Soap." The '90s began the range that stretched from Richard Simmons
flouncing on David Letterman's couch and two queen film critics Zorro-snapping on "In Living Color" to Bill Brochtrup's desk jockey John Irvin, whose affecting presence won him a place in the macho precinct of "NYPD
Blue."

Now, after "Will & Grace," "Ellen," "The L Word," "Six Feet Under," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and other gay depictions on broadcast and cable, plus the impending launch of all-gay network Logo, it would appear that
the historic battle for acceptance and recognition has been won.

But before the gay -- or gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community, as it likes to be officially called -- can dust off its hands and declare primetime victory, it's important to note that gay representation on TV over the
past five years has either leveled or fallen off.

While drama series have remained consistent, with the same number of shows in 2000 (11) as in 2005, the number of sitcoms that feature gays has dropped to five from 16 in 2000. In 2000, eight of those 16 comedies were on
network television, while now only two of the five are broadcast on the networks.

Michael Medved, film critic and nationally syndicated talk show host, doesn't view this as much a setback as a more realistic representation. "People think gay people are under-represented in Hollywood? I mean come on, it's
kind of ridiculous, almost laughable," says Medved, whose radio show is broadcast by Christian-oriented Salem Communications. "If you ask people who watch a lot of TV, their sense of the number of out gay people is much
higher (than it actually is). This is particularly true when you compare L.A. and a city like Grand Rapids."

Medved's views aside, there are other speed bumps ahead for the GLBT cause. Some are relatively minor, while others are of a potential magnitude that might lead future historians to ask, "Is Sean Hayes a revolutionary figure?"

The issue has to do with stereotyping. Is the tart, fey, innuendo-dripping swish, however entertaining, the right standard-bearer for the GLBT experience?

"We're all victims of stereotypes," says Jeffrey Garber. "It isn't just a question of how straight society sees gays, but how gays see themselves. If America sees the new gay as young, hip and physically attractive, that's hard to
live up to."

Garber is president of OpusComm Group, a research and marketing consultant organization that polls the GLBT community. Its latest online survey, conducted with the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at
Syracuse U., tracked TV-viewing habits. It returned one general conclusion: ambivalence.

According to the poll, over 95% of viewers found the most accurate portrayal of gays in "Six Feet Under." Nearly 50% chose Ellen DeGeneres as their favorite performer, and nearly 70% of lesbians watch "The L Word."
Thereafter, the numbers scatter. Hayes' flamboyant Jack McFarland on "Will & Grace" was voted the most favorite and most negative character. The most popular show among males, "Queer as Folk," drew 26%, scarcely more
than one in four.

"Every minority," says Garber, "is happy at first just to see itself portrayed in mainstream media. It's only after time that they get impatient with one-dimensional portrayals and start looking for more realistic depictions. While
Jack (McFarland) is effeminate, doesn't have a job and lives off others, you also have the character of Will, who's more rounded if generally less popular. He's evolved over the years.

Most gay spokesmen and observers consider DeGeneres' coming out on "Ellen" as a milestone. "She had a successful series," says Garber. "She didn't use dirty language. She was like 'I Love Lucy.' She told lesbian jokes at the
2001 Emmys. Corporate and Middle America saw then that (her sexual orientation) was acceptable."

"I think gay media representation on the whole is more helpful than hurtful," says Jim Babl, a clinical psychologist with a private practice who works with gay students at UCLA in handling their coming out. "While the main
character in 'Will & Grace' is promiscuous, there's a couple in the background living a normal life. And you do see diversity in 'Queer Eye,' even if it's the prissy guy (Kressley) getting the ink."

However, while Babl sees stereotyping as a part of gay culture much like stereotyping in any other -- whether it's boyz in the 'hood, the cholo lowrider, or, for that matter, the monochrome suit of the boardroom exec -- he sees a
danger.

"There's a lot out there who say, 'We're camp, let's show everybody,' and other gays and lesbians who want to tone down the in-your-face aggressiveness," Babl says. "While the general mood of the country -- even if it's not
ready for gay marriage -- is to support equal rights across the board, the culture in America is based on fear right now."

Indeed, Babl touches on a topic that many in the GLBT community are seriously debating: that the last presidential election was decided in part by the mobilization of religious conservatives against gay marriage.

"Stereotyping has set the movement back," says Howard Rosenberg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning TV critic who now teaches at USC. "I thought 'Six Feet Under' was a healthy depiction, and without Ellen -- who I always reacted
well to -- there never would've been a 'Will & Grace.' I thought they kept the show going by making it convenient to laugh at gays.

"I find 'The L Word' irritating. It's a poor woman's version of 'Sex and the City.' It says every other woman in the world is gay and lipstick gorgeous. It's so slick it's like having sex through Plexiglas.

"The problem is," Rosenberg adds, "is that the whole country is running scared. The discussion isn't as wide-ranging as it should be. You'd think Larry King would have someone else other than Jerry Falwell on his Rolodex
when it comes to gay issues. Falwell is one of those people who insist it's all choice, like the difference between living in Beverly Hills and Pacoima. Stereotypes hurt, no matter who you are."
 
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A Gathering of Minds
Ten movers and shakers from the showbiz and media worlds offer their views on gay entertainment and the prevailing cultural and
political climate
 
By STEVEN KOTLER

Depending on how you look at it, 2004 represented a watershed year for the gay community. Every major entertainment company now has a division aimed at the gay, lesbian, bisexual,transgender (GLBT) market. Advertisers are suddenly awake to the fiscal potential of a demographic that's 22 million-30 million strong, according to a recent study conducted by OpusComm Group and Syracuse U.

On the other hand, the issue of gay marriage is as divisive as ever, an emboldened Federal Communications Commission is mulling policing basic and premium cable, and the lesbian kiss is fast becoming a sweeps week staple -- a sign that the laddie magazine approach to luring viewers still wins out over complex, ongoing plotlines about gay relationships.

To wit, Variety assembled a panel of gay and lesbian industry leaders to address these issues and others. They include: Alan Poul, exec producer of "Six Feet Under"; Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, whose producer credits include the Oscar-winning "Chicago"; Bruce Cohen, Academy Award-winning co-producer of "American Beauty"; Howard Bragman, one of the founders of
PR firm Bragman, Nyman, Caferelli and now a private consultant; Ilene Chaiken, creator of "The L Word"; comedian Sandra Bernhard, whose stage show "Everything Bad and Beautiful" has been touring to critical acclaim; Ron Cowen and Dan Lipman, co-creators of "Queer as Folk"; and Jeffery Garber, president of market research firm OpusComm. Steven Kotler moderated.

The following is a partial transcription. Please click here to view clips of the panel.

Variety: According to current market research the gay community represents about $610 billion worth of spending power. Have we even begun to tap the market's potential?

Jeffrey Garber: It's enormous, but for the most part untapped. For those that go after it in an aggressive or compelling way, it could be huge.

Howard Bragman: What's equally important is the gay sensibility, which is what's leading the marketplace now.

Bruce Cohen: I agree, but I think part of the power of the gay sensibility is that the rest of the market likes the same types of hip stuff. If the gay community was over here and everyone
else was over there, then we wouldn't have nearly as much power.

We should remember that as much as the gay and lesbian community is going to want and embrace their own programming, on a Friday night they also want to see Jennifer Aniston and
George Clooney and Julia Roberts every bit as much as the straight community.

Ilene Chaiken: I think the flip side of that is the gay market is incredibly loyal and fervent because they actually feel a sense of responsibility to our shows and to patronize all of the
institutions that support our shows because they know that everything's still really tenuous.

Garber: One caveat is quality. I think 15 years ago, gays were thrilled to death just to see themselves on the landscape, but weren't necessarily discretionary as to how they appeared.
Fast-forward to 2005, where they are very critical as to how they are being portrayed.

Variety: How fair or accurate are the portrayals on television right now?

Sandra Bernhard: I think, with a few exceptions, it would just be nice to see a little bit more reality in all characters on TV, and this spills over into gay characters as well. They've just
become cartoons: leaping, lisping fags and butch dykes. If they do have straight girls on shows kissing it's just to titillate and then the storyline is never followed through.

There was a continual growth in both the number of gay characters and in their relative accuracy and diversity up until about five years ago. That was a period when even every network TV
show had to have a gay character. Even though a lot of those were superficial, at least they were there.

Ron Cowen: Sometimes, when you're a little too accurate in your portrayals, people don't necessarily want to see that.

Bragman:Thank God for cable. On network TV we're a community held together by our sexuality, but we're all neuters. On network TV gay men do not have sex.

Neil Meron: But again, the point is that because there are so few portrayals, those characters take on this added weight.

Poul:There was a point, early on, when every gay character had to be a mini-ambassador. At least we got past that and can create characters to fulfill storytelling needs.

Craig Zadan: You have to differentiate between cable and network television because, as time goes on, you're going to see things getting far worse than they are now. In 1995, we did
"Serving in Silence" ("The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story") on NBC. It would not be on network television today.

Cowen: When (Dan Lipman and I) wrote "An Early Frost," which was the first (TV) feature about AIDS back in 1985, we had to jump through the hoops, but we did get it on. I give NBC
credit for that. But I absolutely believe that movie could not be made (for a network) today.

Cohen: I'll make one small, though specific counter-argument for network television, which hopefully bodes well for the future. "The OC" is doing a major lesbian arc right now with Mischa
Barton, one of the sterling jewels of "The OC" crown. They did a makeout, open-mouth kiss with tongues three weeks ago. Several years ago that would've caused a complete explosion, but it
flew completely under the radar of all the people that are against this stuff.

Fox and "The OC" must have faith in their audience, in that younger demographic, that they're not even going to blink an eye one way or another. The younger generation really doesn't care.
Same-sex marriage is fine by them. And we have to understand, when we were growing up, gays were invisible. I take heart in the fact that (compared to) when I was a kid and came home from
school to watch "Bewitched" or "My Three Sons"; today they get to watch "Will & Grace."

Bragman:In the next 10 to 20 years, when the political landscape changes and the people who are younger now are in power, it's gonna be a nonissue.

Poul:There's no question that the current rollback that we're experiencing, at least in terms of the networks, is inextricably linked to the political climate.

Bragman: If gay people do the same things that straight people do the show's gonna get slapped with a warning, "Don't watch this, Mature Audience." In the same way, the MPAA will give
a movie a harsher rating for a gay sexual scene than they will for a heterosexual sexual scene that shows the same thing or more.

Garber: In our research, the biggest problem with straight America understanding gay people is that when you think of gay, you think of sex. When you think of straight, for the most part,
you don't think of sex.

Cohen: Not to mention that sex sells. So, it's kind of a can-we-have-our-cake-and-eat-it-too? situation. If we want to divorce ourselves from that image of sex, then we may not be on the
cutting edge of people wanting to dress like us, drive the same cars we do and watch the programs we watch.

Dan Lipman: I don't quite agree with you. Over half our audience (for "Queer as Folk") is straight. That was a big surprise to Showtime. Frankly, that was a big surprise to us.

Zadan: You know, we would've been having a different discussion a year or two ago. Now, there are as many people who don't want "Saving Private Ryan" broadcast as there are who don't
want to see gay people on television.

We're entering this McCarthyesque period right now with the FCC. What's about to happen is going to be quite frightening. (Neil Meron and I) had firsthand experience on this with "The
Reagans." I think it's the first time ever that a major event for sweeps was taken off the air two weeks before broadcast because conservative Republicans attacked the show and made threats,
and it was bounced on to Showtime. That was the beginning, and it's going to get worse and worse now that the FCC says they're going after cable.

Chaiken: They won't stop because they're being successful.

Poul:The implication is that gay people now need to find representations of ourselves that don't scare straight people. But I don't buy that. I think the primal need of most gay audiences is to
see their own lives reflected in some meaningful way, not to alienate a straight neighbor. I think what we're dealing with is not ordinary straight people being turned off by representations.
We're dealing with a concerted effort by the people who control the government to roll back the clock.

Variety: If you know that a lesbian kiss is titillating to the straight community, how do you actually work that into a storyline in a way that has value and meaning?

Chaiken: In the particular instance of "The L Word," there's no point in resisting it. We all know that there are some people, straight men presumably, who are watching the show for
salacious reasons. I'd like to think that some of them tune in for that reason and stay for other reasons.

Lipman: On "Queer as Folk" we actually have a similar situation in reverse. We found straight women love watching these guys, which came to us as a surprise. I don't think straight women
in our culture have really been exposed to that, unless they rent gay porn.

Variety: Why are feature films still lagging behind television in their depiction of gay characters?

Poul:e task of telling complex, adult stories about interesting characters has fallen to television, and cable television in particular. Whereas a much larger number of features are films that
expressly fit into a genre framework where one of the soldiers in the alien movie might be gay, but it isn't really going to add that much to the story.

Chaiken: The task of a feature is to capture the largest part of the audience in one fell swoop. They don't have the luxury of building from a core, loyal audience and then drawing in other
people.

Bragman:But the other side of that is the gay independent film world is thriving. There's more product than ever, there's more diversity than ever.

Meron:You know, it's just not gay films that are having problems at the studios, it's anything that has any sense of import unless it's an event film, a tentpole or a genre movie.

Variety: How much responsibility does the Hollywood GLBT community have for getting involved in the issue of gay marriage?

Bragman:You know, we all have to make a living first and then we do things that we're passionate about for our activism. Sometimes they come together, but they don't always come
together.

Cohen:Our primary job is to entertain. And as long as audiences are entertained they'll get a message from it if there's one to be gotten. In most cases, the minute that they sense they're being
preached to, they're turning to "The OC."

Chaiken: We're portraying characters not politics. We all have politics in our lives. The people we portray have politics in their lives inherently, but you can't make it didactic.

Variety: Is there a conflict in the need to create compelling entertainment and the need to accurately represent a minority?

Bragman: There's an inherent conflict in representing anybody well in the media. If you're talking about a sitcom, you've got 22 minutes a week to do it. If you're talking about film, you've
got 90 minutes to do it. And trying to present any characters of any depth in that time frame is very hard. But it's hard for African-Americans and Latinos and everybody else.

Bernhard: And Jews and Asians and Irish. You know, in the end, everybody's a little bit cliche when you're going for comedy.

Variety: What do you think the critical issues are that we're going to be dealing with in the next couple years?

Zadan: Broadcast censorship. You can't underestimate how much further the government is going to go to restrict programming. And I think that every broadcaster is terrified right now. And
there's a fine line between how much you fight it and how much you give in. I think that ABC took a very bold stand and went ahead and broadcast "Saving Private Ryan" anyway, even
though they could've been fined billions of dollars. If they had to pay the fines, stations would have gone bankrupt.

Bernhard: You know, the red states should not be allowed to have any entertainment. I really think that's the way it should shake down. Let them have narrowcasting -- two or three
Christian-oriented broadcasts. And if there's anybody out there that wants something else, then they're going to have to move to the blue states.

Zadan: I think there are snapshots: One snapshot is "Saving Private Ryan." Another snapshot was "Nightline," when Ted Koppel was reading the war dead from Iraq and all those stations
wouldn't broadcast it. There are so many of those little moments that when we look back we're going to see them as signposts.

Bragman:When Janet Jackson exposed her breast, 98% of the letters and emails that came in were from two groups.

Poul:Yeah, but the media ate it up. Right now the prevalent issue (censorship) is one that dwarfs gay and lesbian issues. It's a freedom of expression issue that goes way beyond sexuality.

Variety: If you look at the numbers on the Christian right, they're basically the same as the numbers on the gay community.

Meron: But those Christian groups are incredibly well organized.

Bernhard: Here's the issue: Because gay people are creative people, they're living their lives. They don't want to spend 10 hours censoring the people that make them nervous. We don't care.

Meron:The Christian right-wing movement speaks in one voice. The gay community celebrates diversity. But so much diversity -- which, I think, is the thing that makes the gay community
so wonderful -- might also be the thing that prevents us from being as organized and powerful.

Chaiken: That's always been the problem of the left.

Zadan: I'll never forget, we were in San Francisco about to start shooting the Harvey Milk story, with Oliver Stone directing and Robin Williams playing Harvey Milk. Warner Brothers
thought we call a town council meeting because they wanted the gay community to cooperate.

Bragman: One woman stood up and said, "Don't portray every lesbian as a butch dike and every gay man as an effeminate queen." Twenty minutes later, a guy stood up and said, "Don't forget
effeminate queens and butch dykes, they built this community."

Zadan: Somebody said, "Don't show Harvey Milk promiscuous because they're going to say that's how AIDS was spread." Another person said, "That was a time of promiscuity, if you're not
showing that, it's not accurate." By the end of the evening, we had thousands of opinions about what should or shouldn't be in the movie and you started to realize that there's no such thing as
a gay community.

Variety:Fifteen, 20 years ago if an actor played a gay character, it might have signaled the death knell of their career. But we've had actors like Tom Hanks and Dennis Quaid play gay
characters in critically acclaimed films and it seems nowadays, Hollywood's much more accepting of straight actors playing those roles.

Bragman: Except gay actors can't play straight. Straight actors can play gay now but gay actors aren't believable in straight parts.

Poul: There's also a distinction between a role in feature film that's a one-time opportunity and a role on a television series. When you're coming in to be cast in the pilot, you essentially sign
a five-year contract. For instance, on "Six Feet Under," when we were casting the roles of David and Keith, which we thought were great roles, we thought we'd have no trouble getting a higher
level of name actor. But the most common response was, "They're great roles. If it were a movie, I'd do it in a second, but I'm not going to be trapped on TV for five years playing gay."
Because there's this perception, valid or not, that on television the audience tends to identify the actor with the character more and rather than thinking they're an actor playing this role.

Variety:We seem to be getting mixed signals from Gov. Schwarzenegger, who initially seemed sympathetic to gay rights but has resorted to calling legislators "girly men" if they don't agree
with his policies.

Bragman: He's doing a balancing act on the edge of a razor blade. He was elected in a state that's very liberal, yet he gets a great deal of support from the Republican Party and he doesn't want
to piss anybody off. On a personal level, I happen to know he's very good on our issues, but he's not going to do himself in and say that for his big power play. He still thinks he's going to
be president.
 
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Niche Market Attracts Diamond Ring Designer Behr
By Jeff Miller
 
 
Udi Behr lived through three wars and one infamously tragic September morning in New York City. Now the "Trillion diamond ring designer" is following in the footsteps of corporate giants --General Motors, Subaru of America, IBM, JP Morgan Chase, Jet Blue, and American Express-- by reaching out to the gay and lesbian marketplace. Trillion diamond rings use the triangle as a positive symbol of devotion.

Love & Pride is the brainchild of Behr, 43, who launched the collection in New York City on April 7, 2005. According to the company, the designs are the first collection of wedding bands, engagement rings, and other jewelry created specifically for same-sex couples. Behr is a native of Israel, but he moved to New York in 1983 after learning the diamond trade in Tel Aviv. Behr's previous designs have sold at Saks, Fortunoff, and Macy's, but for his latest venture he met resistance.

"When I saw Mayor Gavin Newsom stand up for gay couples in San Francisco last year, I decided I had to do something too," Behr said. "As a jewelry designer, the natural thing was to lend my support with a new jewelry collection." But Behr says jewelry retailers declined to carry the line, so with $2.5 million from investors Behr staked out the Internet as the company's sole way in which to reach its niche customers.

The Consolidated Management Associates trade show firm in New York City hosts an annual Gay Life Expo, and it puts the average earnings of gay and lesbian couples that attend their shows well above the national average. “Visitors at the Expo earn an average of about $93,000, but it varies year to year,” Steven Levenberg, the company's chief operating officer, told Rapaport News.

The demographics of gay and lesbian consumers paint a picture of a high-income, and higher educational degrees, according to research by Syracuse University in New York, and the Opuscomm Group. With 27 percent surveyed reporting an income in excess of $100,000, that alone tops the general population; but the average household income for gays and lesbians ranged between the high $40s and mid $50,000s, roughly $12,000 above the national average. More than half of those surveyed make online purchases each month. But 65 percent of those surveyed said they were more likely to purchase products marketed around the use of gay themes.

Marriage was important for gay and lesbian consumers, the study said, with 52 percent saying they were partnered, and 4 percent said they were already in a legal civil union.

Love & Pride jewelry is manufactured in Italy, the website is hosted in Israel, customer service is based in Philadelphia, and design and marketing departments reside in New York City.

Gay TV: What Do You Watch & When Do You Watch It?
by 365Gay.com Entertainment


The first survey of LGBT viewing habits shows we love to watch television - especially when it involves gay characters.

It shows that gay men are from Mars and lesbians are from Venus when it comes to picking their favorite TV.

Men gravitate toward shows featuring guys: Queer as Folk and Will & Grace; women go for "chick" shows: The L Word and The Ellen Show.

While 32% of women say The L Word is their favorite show, .5% of men do. And Queer as Folk was the favorite of 26% of the men, but 10.2% of the women. 

Overall, 69.9% of women watch The L Word, compared to 22.4% of men, according to the online study conducted by GLCensus Partners, a research partnership between OpusComm Group and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

No matter what show they did pick, many of the 2,149 GLBT respondents are ambivalent about their image in the medium.

Case in point: Jack McFarland. The flamboyant, over-the-top character from Will & Grace was the No. 1 pick for both "most favorite" and "negative portrayal." The show was a top five favorite for both men and women, but with reservations.

"I enjoy Will & Grace despite the fact that it is one long series of gay jokes," said one respondent. "If Jack were a monogamous homebody like me, there would be no ratings and no show," said another. One respondent summed it up: "Although Jack on Will & Grace portrays the worst of the stereotype of gay men, he is still the funniest of all the gay TV characters. Though I despise the stereotype, I love his comedic talents. Go figure."

Those mixed emotions also are manifested in the fact that 47% of respondents couldn’t pick their least favorite show that featured either a GLBT character or GLBT participant in a leading role.

"This leads me to believe that the GLBT respondents are partial to GLBT shows in general, but that they also are concerned with how they are being portrayed," said Jeff Garber, president of OpusComm Group, which helps companies target the GLBT community. 

"Early on, [gays] were just happy to be included. Now they want what they believe to be a fair representation."

Glennda Testone media director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) agrees. "It's clear that gay and lesbian viewers are expecting a more sophisticated approach to media images of our lives – and this research bears that out," said Testone. "We need to see more stories where our experiences with relationships, family and sexuality combine to create three-dimensional characters that reflect the everyday reality of who we are."

Respondents echoed that feeling: "It would be great to see gay characters in the leading roles on prime time channels ... Something where the relationship of the main characters is treated just like any other normal relationship." Also: "Television has come along way with its portrayal of gays and lesbians in our culture but still has a long way to go … we are still the ‘funny character’ on shows."

The level of consciousness is not the same across the board. Said one respondent: "I'm just so happy that mainstream TV is finally starting to depict real gay characters. I have struggled for years with feeling like I can't relate to characters, like I don't belong. This new trend has gotten me interested in TV again."

©365Gay.com 2005

 
 
 
 
 
 
Tanke Pride in Your Brand
by Vivian Manning-Schaffel 

In 1993, Danish newspaper Politiken launched one of the first gay focused advertisements seen on television. Directed by Danish film director Lars von Trier, the ad depicted a humorous yet romantic scenario of a couple having dinner—the couple just happened to be two men.

Apparently there wasn’t much concern about a backlash in Denmark but in some countries, including the US, many brands have shied away from using traditional channels of mainstream media to reach the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgendered communities. As recently as the mid-90s, the first TV spot shown in America by IKEA made worldwide news for featuring a gay couple. Soon after its launch, the spot was relegated to late night programming and eventually was pulled due to bomb threats.
 

But times are changing. With an increased acceptance of gay culture in the mainstream media, made evident by the tremendous popularity of US-based programming like Will & Grace or Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, more and more brands, looking to find a way out of the closet, are creating campaigns that include the GLBT sector.

Jeff Garber, president of OpusComm Group in conjunction with the SI Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and Scarborough Research conducts a yearly gay/lesbian consumer online census. According to Garber, there are approximately 22 to 30 million gay, lesbian, bi-sexuals and transgendered people in the United States alone. That is a considerable market share that lacks attention from many brands.

 
“The gay market is an opportunity market with considerable spending power,” says Joe Landry, publisher of The Advocate, Out, and the Out Traveler magazines. “A 2004 analysis by Witeck-Combs Communications and MarketResearch.com estimates the market to ring in at around US$ 513 billion.”

According to the 2003 G/L census, the median combined household income of gay couples in the US is $65,000, with more than a fifth of respondents reporting a total combined income of $100,000 or more. “With this demographic, incomes are high because education levels are higher,” says Garber. “When you grow up knowing that you might not be protected by society, it’s motivation to be more self-reliant.” As only 13 percent of gay/lesbian couples have children under-18 years of age living at home, this amounts to a serious disposable income for brands to target and vie.

With an estimated 52 percent of gay/lesbian Internet users spending around $100 online monthly, the web is a vehicle that is proven effective in reaching them. “For the GLBT sector the Internet is huge,” informs Garber. “Fifty percent of the population live in urban areas but for the other half living in middle America, the best way to reach others is online. The average user clocks in at 23 hours a week.”

Proof positive of this is the recent success of a television campaign launched to promote a section of the US-based travel site, Orbitz. “Most companies go after the gay audience with national print ads,” says Jeff Marsh, director of marketing at Orbitz. “But you cannot reach millions with print. To reach a larger audience more efficiently, advertising on TV is an extraordinary opportunity.”

Creating a campaign that addresses the GLBT sector (and does a good job of it) has rewarded Orbitz with loyal consumers and better business. “Gays and lesbians represent some of our best customers,” claims Marsh. “Since running our TV ads, we’ve seen a 50 percent increase in traffic. When asked what brands consumers consider when booking their travel online, the percentage of gay users who spontaneously consider Orbitz is considerably higher.”

Landry gives kudos to a few other brands that do a commendable job of reaching the sector. “Absolut has been the most consistent marketer for the longest period of time. They also sponsor GLBT events. Subaru has been advertising for 10 years. They, too, sponsor GLBT events, and have hired (tennis player and lesbian) Martina Navratilova as a spokesperson for a national campaign.”

These brands reap the benefit of paying attention to a demographic that is so rarely addressed in the mainstream—loyalty. “There is no doubt that general marketing efforts are going to reach gays but if you are going to earn their loyalty, you have to be inclusive in messages,” states Marsh. “This means creative with accurate depiction of the gay community without being stereotypical or negative. If you are going to market, you need to market appropriately.”

“Research confirms that the G/L sector has an incredible sense of brand loyalty, depending on if the advertiser reaches out to them,” confirms Garber. “The way to reach this audience is in a sensitive, compelling and honest fashion. If your brand is going to reach out, it’s important to reach out publicly and show a true understanding of how to reach them.”

It’s also recommended that a brand looking to earn loyalty from this sector begin its practice at home by making sure its employees are on board and comfortable with their mission. “For any company to market to the gay community, you have to prepare for success,” advises Marsh. “It’s important to have an internal focus first before looking externally.”

“For a brand to win at this, it’s crucial they have their own housekeeping in order,” adds Garber. “It’s important to implement a full 360 degree approach.”

As publisher of three key G/L publications, Landry’s business centers around brands that are loyal to the gay sector. “Considering the affinity the gay and lesbian consumer has to brands that address them directly, it’s a wise business decision to include them as part of an overall marketing strategy,” he advises.

Garber concludes, “The mainstream is beginning to understand that it’s a global market. There is no magic behind it. Loyalty is a direct offshoot of an emotional connection. Consumerism for this group is a form of activism.”

With recent media focus on issues like gay marriage in the US, Garber is hopeful that the days of threatening brands with bomb threats are over. “Maybe five to six years ago there would have been a backlash. But as the mainstream is more embracing of the culture, there is considerably less energy spent against those who are vocally supportive. What I say to those companies is: ‘how can you tell they are [not] your client anyway?’ ”

The new consumer - Coming out to shop
Gay and lesbian consumers are a new driving force in the marketplace

By Vilma Barr, New York Editor

NOVEMBER 01, 2004 -- While brand loyalty may be on the decline with some U.S. consumers, it is increasingly important to one growing demographic: the gay and lesbian market segment. This demographic, which consists of up to 15 million people, has an estimated annual buying power of more than $450 billion, according to marketresearch.com.

"Marketers are reaching out to create relationships with the gay customer," says Jeffrey Garber, president of OpusCommGroup, Syracuse, N.Y., which conducts the annual Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census in conjunction with the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University and Scarborough Research, a joint venture between Arbitron Inc. and VNU Media Measurement & Information. "Our research shows the gay customer is extremely brand loyal," says Garber, adding that this consumer also wants to know that he or she is important to a product's manufacturer or retailer. Sixty-five percent of 8,000 respondents to a recent Consumer Online Census said they were more likely to purchase products or services from companies whose advertising uses gay themes than from companies that do not.

"Gays will actively seek to patronize organizations that support their physical and emotional needs," says David Morse, president and CEO of New American Dimensions, a Los Angeles-based multicultural marketing firm that has launched New American Pride for the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) market. And, he adds, as acceptance of this lifestyle grows, so does its inclusion in mainstream advertising and marketing. For example, in April of this year, Starbucks ran a full page ad in The New York Times Magazine congratulating the winners and nominees of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards.

Ken Nisch, chairman of design firm JGA of Southfield, Mich., notes that Home Depot's Expo branches and some major car dealerships have promoted a "gay friendly" image. Subaru in 1996 became the first major marketer to target lesbians and the first to launch gay-tailored ads. "Gays are a sensitive constituency, an affinity group," Nisch says. "They prefer to ally with brands that have taken a stand on issues that affect them and their lifestyles."

Morse of New American Dimensions concurs with Nisch's comment by pointing out that such mass-market brands as MasterCard, Washington Mutual Bank, Ford, Gap, American Airlines and Absolut Vodka are directing print and electronic promotional messages to the gay community. "Companies are coming out to show their support of gays and lesbians by sponsoring ads in targeted and general interest media," he says.

Joe Landry, publisher of Out magazine, calls on retailers and product marketing executives to encourage them to advertise in his magazine, the largest of the gay men's style titles. "An important distinction I make is that, this readership is unmarried with no children to support; they have more money to spend on themselves," Landry emphasizes. He points to the magazine's median household reader income of $80,000, beating the national average by $30,000. New Out advertisers in 2004 include Baker Furniture, La-Z-Boy, Benjamin Moore paints, KitchenAid and Lladró.

Landry admits that there have been discussions at his company about introducing a sister publication for lesbians. "They are harder to reach, and so far, we find that gay men spend more freely," he says.

Lesbians, who account for approximately one-third of the gay demographic, do not yet have the same impact on the female market, agrees Paco Underhill, managing director of Envirosell Inc., a New York-based behavioral research and consulting firm. "They have been an almost invisible part of our culture," he says. Indeed, a lesbian beauty industry executive was recently quoted in The New York Times as saying, "As lesbians, we feel our place in fashion is tenuous and so the presumption is perpetuated that we don't exist." But, Underhill adds, "Now, strategies are being developed to appeal to them through advertising and promotion."

This year, upscale jeweler Cartier ran an ad depicting two women holding hands, each wearing the store's white gold Menotte bracelet (priced at $3,995). Singer Melissa Etheridge and actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, real-life partners, posed for the ad, which appeared in popular magazines, including Vanity Fair, with the tagline, "Menotte Bracelets, Inseparable Connection."

In fact, fashion preferences and trends today are often first popularized by gay men and women, then adapted or modified into the mainstream. "The gay male market leads the street market," observes Underhill. "What you see in Chelsea in New York today turns up in Bensonhurst in Brooklyn next week," he says.

Jay Valgora, design principal for architecture and design firm WalkerGroup, New York, concurs that progressive trends, such as alternative and gay lifestyles, migrate into and modify the mainstream. "In retail, this is clearly incorporated into all areas of display, advertising, in-store graphics and communications, with a greater sensitivity to the unusual, the more exotic, and more visually complex elements," he observes. He feels this has led to the incorporation of trends such as kitsch, pop culture and the use of body and sexual imagery.

When it comes to retail, gays and lesbians shop where they find peers, according to store designer George Homer, of GH & Associates, New York, and Brasilia and São Paulo, Brazil. "They want to walk around and feel comfortable in a retail environment," Homer says, citing efforts by Whole Foods, Abercrombie & Fitch, Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters and Banana Republic.

To this list, Garber of the OpusCommGroup adds Kenneth Cole's current ad campaign, which includes in-store photomurals and ads showing a close-up of two men holding hands. "Supergraphics like Kenneth Cole's say, 'Hey, you are welcome here!'" Garber says.

Furniture manufacturer The Mitchell Gold Co., Taylorsville, N.C., launched its 2000 provocative ad campaign with the tagline, "We're coming out September 15th." A 2001 campaign titled "Why do people love Mitchell Gold?" featured Corey Johnson, a high school football team captain who announced to his teammates, classmates and family that he was gay. The ad featured Johnson in full football gear placed over Mitchell Gold's question. More recent ads feature attractive, scantily clad men with taglines such as, "Incredibly good looking…and built to last."

Jewelry by Ponce, Laguna Beach, Calif., has been specializing in manufacturing and selling gay and lesbian jewelry since 1983. Tony Lowe, co-owner of the store with John Ponce, says they produce more than 2,500 designs of rings, bracelets, pendants and charms. "Commitment rings and now wedding rings are a big part of our business, up to 30 to 35 percent of our sales," says Lowe. Popular styles include metals he describes as "tough and durable," such as titanium, tungston and steel. Designs with tension-set center stones are also in favor, Lowe says. Bestsellers range from $45 to $250. "Our clientele is about 95 percent gay, divided nearly evenly between men and women. The men buy somewhat more expensive pieces, but women buy more frequently," he says.

Simon Doonan, creative director, Barneys New York, agrees that there is a place in the marketing firmament for a direct appeal to the gay community, but it is not the approach followed by Barneys. Rather, the store invests in regional print media seen by a broad upscale consumer base. "When we advertise in publications like The New York Times, we are reaching the gay consumer," Doonan says. "We've found it more effective to promote Barneys through this type of media vehicle plus direct mail and in-store events," he adds. "At our luxury level, we need to target the style- and fashion-conscious shopper, whether gay or straight."

Certain services and specialized products can gain market share through visibility in gay-oriented publications, Doonan asserts. He lists such services as financial planners, banking institutions, insurance providers and travel packagers and destinations, plus liquor brands and auto manufacturers.

Doonan notes that Barneys has served loyal lesbian, style-conscious customers for many years. He notes that, historically, lesbians have been more concerned with social issues than fashion. More recently, there has been a shift to expand the numbers of those "who love fashion in the lesbian community," Doonan says.

In 1986, Barneys, by sponsoring an AIDS benefit, was one of the first major retailers to show support of the gay community and the AIDS crisis. Participants included Madonna and the supermodel, Iman.

Other strategies include in-store events, such as those sponsored by the gay men's fashion magazine, Out, at Macy's West, Diesel and Federated Department Stores, for its Inc. collections. Crate & Barrel staged a pre-store-opening private breakfast and registry for gay couples. For major retailers, it seems the gay and lesbian market has become a viable consumer segment.

National Roundup
by Andrew Davis

It was not a good week for New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. First, he lost round one in his bid to overturn a law that would force companies doing business with the city to provide domestic-partner benefits. A judge refused to grant Bloomberg a temporary restraining order to prevent the law from going into effect Oct. 26. Then, a gay appointee of the mayor resigned because of Bloomberg’s opposition to the legislation. Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, wrote Bloomberg that “principle requires that I resign” from the Commission on Human Rights after the mayor’s administration went to court to try to block the Equal Benefits Law from being enforced. Bloomberg is expected to refuse to enforce the city’s new law.

The Ohio Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge to placing a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage on the November ballot. The court ruled 6-1 against opponents of the amendment who challenged the validity of the initiative as it was submitted to the Secretary of State’s office.

Sen. Kerry seems to have the backing of former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura. In a bizarre news conference in the Capitol complex in St. Paul, Ventura stood silently next to former Maine Gov. Angus King in an event billed as Independents for Kerry. King said Ventura wouldn’t be talking but had authorized King to answer questions on his behalf. Ventura, King said, had changed his mind after saying in September that he didn’t like either of the candidates.

The board of directors of the national gay group Log Cabin Republicans is renewing the group’s contract for Executive Director Patrick Guerriero for at least two more years after praising his leadership skills and dismissing critics who claim he has been too adversarial toward President Bush. “We have full confidence in Patrick,” said Bill Brownson, a Columbus, Ohio, GOP activist who chairs the Log Cabin board.

Virginia gay rights groups expressed outrage at the introduction of a proposed state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage in the state. Virginia House Joint Resolution No. 528, which was pre-filed on Oct. 8 for the 2005 session of the General Assembly, would add a subsection to the state’s Bill of Rights outlawing gay marriage.

The number of senators and House members receiving a top rating of 100 percent on gay and AIDS issues—including many gay-friendly Democrats—dropped nearly 50 percent in the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC’s) latest congressional scorecard. HRC, the nation’s largest gay political group, has rated each member of Congress on gay- and AIDS-related issues in each two-year congressional cycle since 1992. The number of the 535 members of Congress receiving a perfect 100 score fell from 196 in 2002 to 97 this year. In its latest scorecard for the 108th Congress, which was released Oct. 15, HRC set a heavy penalty for lawmakers who voted for a proposed Federal Marriage Amendment.

Speaking of HRC, to defeat anti-gay ballot measures, get out the vote in targeted states, and elect fair-minded officials to federal offices, HRC and HRC’s Political Action Committee will be spending more than $6.5 million nationwide in the 2004 cycle. This amount includes $475,000 in Florida, $586,000 in Michigan, and $458,000 in Missouri.

Police arrested 21 protesters at the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Virginia in a demonstration against the administration’s policies. The protest was organized by the AIDS advocacy groups ACT UP and Housing Works. The protesters were charged with trespassing, and police used bolt cutters to remove seven people who had chained themselves to the front door.

A Michigan state constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage, civil unions and possibly domestic-partner benefits appears headed for decisive approval, a Detroit News poll shows. Proposal 2 is winning by more than 2-to-1, with 65 percent in favor, 27 percent opposed and 9 percent undecided, according to a survey of 600 likely voters.

Ten same-sex couples, including the mayor of Nyack and his partner, have lost the lawsuit they filed when New York State denied them marriage licenses. Acting state Supreme Court Justice Alfred Weiner ruled in New City that the state’s domestic-relations law limited marriage licenses to heterosexual couples. Lambda Legal issued a statement regarding the so-called “Nyack 10” decision: “We believe same-sex couples have a fundamental right to marry under the New York State Constitution, and we’re pursuing that aggressively in our lawsuit that’s pending.”

Joanie Miller and Florence Amore got married in East Haven, Conn., in front of two anti-gay billboards. Dozens of drivers honked their horns as the twosome, who have been together for 25 years, exchanged vows.

At least three gay-owned companies that conduct business over the Internet say that PayPal, the giant Internet payment processing service, has dropped them as clients. H.I.M. Corporation, Belhue Books, and the Red Hot Organization have all claimed that their relationships with PayPal have been discontinued because of the service’s anti-porn policy—even though the sites do not have porn.

In an unusual election season twist, Massachusetts Rep. Vincent Ciampa is mounting a write-in campaign in an effort to win back his 34th Middlesex District seat, which he lost to fellow Democrat Carl Sciortino, an openly gay man, in the September primary. Sciortino unseated the eight-term incumbent, who earlier this year voted for a state constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, by a margin of just 93 votes in what was considered a major victory by same-sex marriage advocates. There is no Republican challenger for the seat.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss an employment discrimination lawsuit against the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association for firing a 31-year employee after learning she was a lesbian. The case pits religious freedom against the employment rights of gays and tests Minnesota’s Human Rights Act. Sara Thorson, who worked as a mail clerk with the BGEA in Minneapolis, was fired in 2002. Thorson was forced to admit her sexual orientation after co-workers spotted her kissing another woman in a parking lot near her job.

The annual Gay/Lesbian Consumer Online Census, fielded this past July and August by GLCensus Partners, found that of registered voters 55 years and older, nearly 84% of females and 75% of males identified themselves as Democrats. (Among 18- to 24-year-olds, 68.8% of males and 67.4% of females identified themselves as Democrats.) The census also revealed that older and wealthier gay voters tended to be more Democratic. Also, it turned out that 88% of GLBT respondents are registered to vote and that nine out of 10 GLBTs will cast their votes to Kerry.

A Harris Interactive® poll found that almost half of U.S. adults believe that a white woman will become president before a gay man. In fact, the survey discovered that almost half of those polled ?%) indicated that a white women would reside in the White House before an African-American male ?%), a Jewish male ?%) or a homosexual male ƒ%). Among other findings, when asked which U.S. politician is most sensitive to gay and lesbian rights, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was first choice with 25%; John Kerry came in second with 18%.

New Jersey first lady Dina Matos McGreevey is buying a house in Union County, and friends say she will move into the modest, ranch-style home without her husband, according to a published report. A notice of settlement was filed with the Union County clerk, giving the wife of Gov. James E. McGreevey 45 days to close on the property in Springfield or walk away. McGreevey announced Aug. 12 that he was gay, said he had an affair with a man, and declared he would resign Nov. 15.

Pat Robertson, the founder of the U.S. Christian Coalition, said he told President Bush before the invasion of Iraq that he should prepare Americans for the likelihood of casualties, but the president told him, “We’re not going to have any casualties.” Robertson, an ardent Bush supporter, said he had that conversation with the president in Nashville before the 2003 invasion. He described Bush in the meeting as “the most self-assured man I’ve ever met in my life.”

Former Gov. Barbara Roberts and Sen. Ron Wyden joined with constitutional expert Dr. Stephen Green to caution Oregon voters that Constitutional Amendment 36 would set a dangerous precedent of placing unequal treatment into the state’s constitution. The amendment, on the November ballot, would put unequal treatment of gays into the Oregon Constitution by banning gay marriage.

Speaking of Oregon, that state’s superintendent of public instruction is upset over broadcast ads and statements in the voters’ pamphlet that she says inaccurately link gay marriage to public schools’ curriculums. “They have no business using our public schools as part of this campaign,” Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued what appeared to be its most specific statement against gay marriage. The statement from the First Presidency, before Utah voters decide a proposed amendment banning gay marriage, says only men and woman should be married, and “any other sexual relations, including between persons of the same gender, undermine the divinely created institution of family.”

Almost half of all New