The Objective Observer

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Gay and Lesbian Interest

• Of Meerkats and Men
• Gays - A Final Word
• The Science of Gay
• I Don't Care That You're Gay
• Homosexuals and Housing
• Gay Travel
• Gay Superheroes
• Of Queers and Men

I was out booking some travel recently and noticed that a large percentage of the major travel web portals out there offer travel deals specifically geared toward the gay and lesbian community. This list of web portals includes most of the major players like www.orbitz.com and www.travelocity.com as well as government websites such as gocanada.com or even www.gay.australia.com. And this does not even begin to include the huge array of travel web sites specifically targeted to gays and lesbians.

I found this quite interesting because here was an industry that was openly embracing and reaching out to the gay and lesbian community and doing so using some of the latest web technology. It got me to thinking as to what exactly had occurred to make all of these travel destinations embrace and reach out to the gay and lesbian community.

Had the GLBA or some other gay and lesbian organization boycotted, threatened, protested, petitioned or bullied all of these travel sites into including features specifically geared toward gays and lesbians? That seemed unlikely. If there had been such a push, it should have made news somewhere, right? I mean it is unusual nowadays to turn on the TV news or pick up a newspaper and not read about some kind of gay and lesbian activism, especially here in Columbus. Could it be that all of these companies are run by a bunch of politically correct aficionados? Also relatively unlikely. So I was left with the question, “Why have so many companies in the on-line travel industry made such overtures to gays and lesbians?”

The only answer that I can find is a very simple one. Economics. Gay and lesbian couples, by-and-large, fall into that most hallowed of consumer categories, Dual Income, No Kids (DINKs). And single gays and lesbians also, generally, do not have kids, Single Income, No Kids (SINKs). With dual, or single, income(s) and no kids, it stands to reason that gay and lesbian singles and couples have a fair amount of surplus income. What better to spend that surplus income on other than rest and relaxation?

The interesting thing here is that I am sure that these businesses could really care less about the altruistic nature of their political correctness versus their more selfish desire to make money. Truth be told, most businesses are ruled by the almighty dollar and any good business is going to seek to exploit an opportunity. This has already been proven by the “internationalization” of many companies, which generally involves moving the business operations overseas to avoid high taxes and moving as many jobs as possible overseas to avoid high wages. These moves are not politically correct or patriotic, but many companies see such decisions as necessary in order to stay competitive.

Which brings me to my first point. It has been said that you can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. It leaves me to wonder how much more effective the gay and lesbian community might be if they focused their resources and energies on promoting themselves to businesses as a consumer niche that has a lot of money to spend versus political activism, protests, parades, lobbying and other, largely ineffective, noise making. Like it or not, America day to day is controlled in large part by its capitalistic nature versus any altruistic motivation. It is a simple fact of life.

Now, I can already hear the yeahbut’s rising up in a chorus of objection. The most obvious cry would be something along the lines of “Yeah, but this does nothing to further the legislative agenda to give gays and lesbians equal footing with heterosexuals.” There are several responses to this objection. First, I would argue that the legislation is already there. There is plenty of legislation on the books that already guarantee’s equal rights for minorities such as homosexuals. Second, legislation is largely irrelevant. The proof for this can be seen by looking at women and blacks in the workplace. Legislation guaranteeing equality has been around for a long time and neither group is fully equal in the business world. And more legislation is not going to help. It is a simple fact that a large part of business is networking, getting to know people. Quite simply, the more people that you know, the more opportunities come your way. Now, this is generally referred to by conspiracy theorists as “the old boy’s network”. Unfortunately, by simplifying and misunderstanding this “old boy’s network” and by further labeling it as sexist and racist is a gross injustice to women and black individuals engaged in business. The simple fact is that white, heterosexual males have been out networking for a lot longer than women or blacks or gays. Furthermore, networking is fairly difficult and time consuming. It takes time to build up a business network and it takes even more time to get opportunities from one’s business network. Furthermore, networking must be a constant effort and the more time that you put into it, the more you get out of it. The sooner that gays engage the business community and begin networking, the sooner they will begin to get opportunities and the sooner they will begin to level the playing field in business. There are few, if any, shortcuts in business networking so the sooner you start...

This then leads to my second and final observation. It would seem that the gay and lesbian community is grossly misaligned politically. Yes, Democrats are the “liberal” champions of the underprivileged, downtrodden and discriminated. Therefore one might think that the Democratic party is the natural choice for the gay and lesbian community. But Republicans are the champions of business and, as I have mentioned, it seems that the quicker road to equality lies in the hands of business and capitalism.