I think many of us were slightly taken aback, in the best possible way, by the announcement last week that a decision by the California Supreme Court on same-sex marriage would be coming in the next 24 hours and even more so when such a clear ruling lifting the ban was delivered without referring the matter back to the legislature.
As we all know this has major implications for gay and lesbian rights in California and across the United States. The expected referendum ballot in November to decide on this issue also means that it may well impact on the general election, including the presidential race.
Leaving the victory for equality and the political dimension aside for a moment it’s important to consider the impact this could potentially have for gay and lesbian communications.
While we have seen civil unions in New Jersey and Vermont and gay marriage in Massachusetts, the news that California, the most populous state with the most same-sex couples in the U.S., looks set to legalize gay marriage offers an unprecedented new marketing opportunity for a whole range of products and services.
In many ways it increases the critical mass of the market required to make businesses and new services aimed at legally married gay and lesbian partners viable and potentially lucrative.
Of course it will support an influx of new niche businesses offering gay and lesbian oriented planning services for weddings. More significant for gay and lesbian communications perhaps will be a huge number of mainstream companies who will inevitably be moving into this space to offer a vast array of marriage-related products and services: retailers offering “gay” wedding lists; tour operators, hotels, and airlines offering “gay” honeymoon packages; venues marketing themselves as the perfect location for nuptials, banks and insurance companies offering specialist products, and attorneys offering legal services (there will be gay pre-nups and divorces as well of course!).
Another important point to mention is that, unlike Massachusetts, the decision in California will not require those getting married to be residents of the state so the potential for tourism dollars will be enormous.
Even Governor Schwarzenegger who has supported the decision of the Court but can hardly be described as a gay rights advocate said:
"You know, I’m wishing everyone good luck with their marriages and I hope that California’s economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married,"
How many other states might see the $$$ signs and be more pragmatic in their position on allowing gay couples to marry?!
We have seen in many other countries with civil unions or gay marriage that a new market has emerged offering these types of specialist services. Of course there will be many who think this is simply an easy new market to tap into while the savvy corporations will realize that they must use the right language and imagery, have a credible record on offering equal rights to their employees, and be in it for the long-term if they are to be successful.
As someone who was in the UK when ground-breaking civil partnerships legislation was enacted, I witnessed how a whole range of mainstream companies tapped into this new market that simply did not exist before.
It also increased the visibility of the gay and lesbian market as a whole. Those companies who started offering legal services for newly partnered same-sex couples realized that they needed to get their house in order and get a decent score in the Stonewall equality index and also saw new opportunities to target this market more widely.
Other brands who may not have products based around gay and lesbian partnerships were given a wake up call that this market existed and began to examine the potential to target gay and lesbian consumers. A few too many of them dipped their toes in rather than wholeheartedly engaged but civil partnerships were certainly a catalyst for many to recognize this market segment not as part of their CSR programs but as a major part of their customer base.
Let’s not get too excited yet. The California developments could be scuppered in November. However it will not just be gay and lesbian people, and their allies, who will be observing the debate. There will be plenty of corporations who will be, and even more that should be, watching closely.
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The news coming out of California last week is truly exciting. As founder and President of outLOUDstock, a mainstream gay & lesbian stock photography company based in California, I have been receiving many calls from graphic designers, creative directors, and other image buyers throughout the country regarding licensing gay and lesbian wedding images for advertising, commercial and editorial use.
Many of these callers are outside our traditional client base so there is definitely an increase in excitement in the gay & (now) gay-friendly marketplace.
It certainly is great news to hear and even better that, “A majority of California voters approve of same-sex marriage, according to a new Field Poll out today. Conducted in the aftermath of the California Supreme Court decision allowing gay marriage, the poll showed 51 percent in favor of same-sex marriage, compared to 42 percent opposed.
In 2000 – just eight years ago – voters approved a ban on gay marriage with more than 61 percent of the vote.” — Capital Alert.
It’s good to see this shift in public opinion.