Archive for March, 2010

We Love our Jazz Hands…

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Remember when I said Spring was here in Ohio? Apparently, I said that too loudly, because it snowed last night. Really?!?

So, we spend a lot of time blogging about ways for companies to actively market and target the LGBT community. This also applies to the non-profit community, especially in this economy where the "donated dollar" seems to be rapidly disappearing. While we statistically represent a rather affluent community, we too are challenged by these economic times.

I have the great pleasure of serving on the Board of Directors for the Beck Center for the Arts here in Lakewood, Ohio. The Beck is the largest not-for-profit performing arts and education organization on Cleveland's west side. Each year, they serve more than 75,000 residents of Northeast Ohio. It's a fantastic performing arts venue…in fact, we're going to see "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" there tonight!

As a member of the Board, I've been discussing ways to get the Beck in front of the LGBT community. We decided to create a LGBT Task Force, made up of members of the community, to help us actually reach the community. The goals of this Task Force include:

  • Research the LGBT community's needs and interests in arts programming.
  • Position the Beck Center as friendly to the LGBT community.
  • Serve as an advisory group to shape Beck Center artistic programming of interest to the LGBT community.
  • Create and strengthen coalitions with other organizations that serve the LGBT community.
  • Raise awareness about Beck Center and its activities within the LGBT community.
  • Represent Beck Center at various LGBT events throughout the year.

While it may seem a tad stereotypical, creating this Task Force seemed like a no-brainer to me. The LGBT community has been supportive of the performing arts community since the jazz hand was invented. Why not target this demographic to expand our audience base?

We have our first focus group meeting tomorrow. I am excited to get the perspective of the community and to discuss ways to market a non-profit organization such as the Beck. If you happen to be a reader from Ohio, let me know and you can join the Task Force!

Have a great weekend.

P.S. Bragging rights time. The Cleveland Synergy Foundation and FH Out Front are nominated for Multicultural Campaign of the Year for the Public Relations Society of America Silver Anvil Awards for our work with the Gay Games. Woo!

| March 26th, 2010 No Comments »
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Medicines for a Healthy Gay Life…We Hope…

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As the country warm's up, many people are beginning to head outside. And with that transition comes the inevitable focus on bathing suit season and health. Winter's over — it's time to toss the tissues of flu season, head out of hibernation and build a better you in two months so you don't have that many body image issues while on the beach. Even here at our office building today, management is holding a health fair with every thing from fitness tips and dance lessons to a blood drive.

While we've discussed on here before the issues of blood donation bans and former restrictions on HIV+ travelers, a recent study and letter in the New England Journal of Medicine caught my attention the other day. There's another area in healthcare where gays and lesbians are being overlooked and excluded — clinical trials on drugs.

Assistant Professor at Fox Chase Cancer Center Brian Egleston and colleagues headed up a recent study of more than 80,000 clinical trials to determine how many of these explicitly or more indirectly excluded gay and lesbian participants. Of the 243 studies identified as exclusionary, 15 percent (37) had explicit language stating as such. Another trend note was the higher likelihood of exclusion in trials sponsored by industry, covering most of the U.S. and in its third phase — or a broader study.

It is important to note that clinical trials on medicine can have exclusions (for instance, I'm sure the makers of Yaz or Progesterone might want to exclude male studies from their tests of drugs affecting the female menstrual cycle).  However, each exclusion needs a solid scientific argument for the need for the restriction as required by the National Institutes of Health guidelines.

The researchers said, "It is likely that most gay and lesbian patients are unaware of that their sexual orientation is being used as a screening factor for participation in clinical trials. Researchers should be held to careful scientific reasoning when they develop exclusion criteria that are based on sexual orientation."

While yes another area where gays and lesbians are being overlooked, I think it speaks to another important audience we should begin engaging in greater conversations. While gays and lesbians are at a more basic level male and female human beings, there are obvious differences between heterosexuals and homosexuals — differences which could have positive or negative effects in forthcoming medicine. What do you think?

Keep talking to your doctors, pharmacists and other medical professionals about your unique needs as an LGBT individual. A collective voice can continue making great strides in our changing healthcare landscape for gays and lesbians.

| March 24th, 2010 No Comments »
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Sinnkrise of a European – Transnational LGBT Communications

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This is only my second blog entry and already I encounter a “Sinnkrise,” something that is best described as “crisis of meaning” or “crisis of identity.” As you know my goal here was to add more of a European perspective to the blog, showing similarities and differences between the U.S. and European LGBT communications. Now I find myself trapped in the definition of “European.” Can a German actually be speaking on behalf of Europe or would it even be arrogant to pretend just that? After all, most Europeans love to think in stereotypes about their neighbors; Germans are free of humor but efficient, French are dingy but have great food, and Italians are lazy but are great lovers… the list is endless.

While thinking about this dilemma it came to my mind that despite this general pattern maybe there is something like a Pan-European LGBT community. This would be a community which is more or less free from living along the lines of stereotypes. It would face similar challenges in the various countries and share a common set of values.

I know it’s only March and it seems a little early to talk about Pride already. But in this context, there is hardly anything better to symbolize the unity of the European LGBT community. Orgullo, the Spanish Pride in Madrid, is something I enjoy every year and the same holds true for Pride in London.  At the same time, I haven’t been to Pride in any other German city other than Frankfurt so far. Not even to Cologne and that one is huge. I feel equally connected to the people no matter which country, be it the U.K., Spain or Germany.

This feeling of mutual acceptance was institutionalized in 1992, when the EuroPride was established in London. It was thought of as a platform for the LGBT community to exchange and discuss ideas and visions. Moreover, it was a great instrument to give those members of the LGBT community a voice in whose countries they didn’t enjoy their lives as they pleased to. Thus, the EuroPride was even more a platform to communicate universal beliefs and human rights than the national prides could ever be.

This year will actually be a special year for the EuroPride. The voice of equal and human rights will not come from a place with a long LGBT tradition. This year the voice will move to a place where the LGBT community still suffers from repression by society and politics – Warsaw, Poland.  It’s a brave move to hold EuroPride in a city where in previous years, the then mayor and now president of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, tried to outlaw Pride and ordered police to break up the march. It was only with the help of foreign visitors and international media that the Polish Equality Foundation, which runs Warsaw Pride, was able to succeed in putting on a Pride event each year despite the pressure.

So EuroPride 2010 has the potential to achieve three things:

  • Be a signal to East Europe that LGBT rights are human rights. Create a deeper understanding and ease communication between the local LGBT communities and society.
  • Create further awareness in Western European countries for the challenges LGBT communities still encounter in East Europe.
  • Most importantly, it will help to form a truly European voice that is heard and understood across the continent.

Coming back to my Sinnkrise and the question if there is something like a European LGBT community, I’m still a little concerned whether or not I’ll be able to live up to my own goals. On the one hand there are still so many differences in how LGBT communities are accepted across Europe. Think of Spain, U.K. and the Netherlands with equal marriage and then think of Poland and Russia on the other hand where it’s dangerous to hold hands in public. Given those very different backgrounds, a very different communications approach is essential and needed.

On the other hand, I was reminded of one of my favorite blog entries on Out Front by Ben Finzel, Say What? – Eight Words and Phrases to Avoid in LGBT Communications. It speaks of the universal taboos when communicating with the LGBT community. These eight phrases and words are true for West and East Europe and build the common grounds for a unified European LGBT communication, no matter where you are. The message is the same. It is just the way to get across that is different.

What do you think? Is there something like a European or even global approach to LGBT communications? Or is it more useful to go country by country, society by society?

| March 24th, 2010 1 Comment »
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Finally, Just Another Number

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This weekend, the BF and I got our U.S. Census paperwork. We've each individually filled these out in years prior, but this was the first time we would fill one out together as part of the same "household."

To many, the Census form is just another piece of bureaucratic paperwork. To me, the 2010 Census represents a milestone. For the first time, the census will publish data on same-sex spouses who self-identify as married on their census forms.

You see, in years past, this level of data was both not captured accurately and not encouraged. According to reports, census officials added a category for “unmarried partner” to the questionnaire in 1990, but same-sex couples who identified as “husband” or “wife” were counted as opposite-sex married couples, as if one partner had erred in reporting his or her gender.

In 2000, Bush cited the Defense of Marriage Act and directed the Census Bureau to re-code same-sex couples who reported they were married as unmarried same-sex partners. The Obama administration has reversed that policy, allowing same-sex couples to count as married. In 2012, the bureau will use the raw relationship data from the 2010 census to publish reports on the characteristics and demographics of both unmarried and married same-sex couples.

And the U.S. Census team is making sure that the LGBT community recognizes this opportunity by advertising in LGBT publications and hosting town hall meetings.

Now I said this is a milestone, but certainly it's a small one. 45 states do not recognize same-sex marriage, but at least we count as numbers. And, the government is making sure our numbers count by marketing the Census directly to our community. It's that level of acknowledgment that can start to add up.

And while we didn't check the husband box, we did check the unmarried partner category. And that felt good.

Have a great week.

 

| March 22nd, 2010 No Comments »
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Gay, the European Way

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I know Spring isn't scheduled to arrive until this weekend, but I have to tell you– it's beautiful here in Cleveland right now! Sunny, almost 60 degrees– what a way to prematurely start the weekend!

Now I know the past couple of postings I have focused on the tourism industry and LGBT marketing. Perhaps it stems from my desire to go on vacation somewhere. Regardless, I keep seeing LGBT marketing progress coming from this sector, and now, my interest is captured by some great LGBT travel products from across the pond.

London is a city I have always wanted to visit, yet never had the opportunity to do so. And apparently, they want me to come! The "tourism chiefs" in London have launched a "Gay London" iPhone application, which provides listings of bars, restaurants, hotels and attractions. Additionally, it also features a blog (unfortunately, not ours) which promises to be continuously updated with LGBT news and events for visitors to London.

In the Czech Republic, ESO Travel has released a "Pink Go" brochure, which boasts gay-friendly hotels, crusies, and LGBT-only accommodations from around the globe. But, no such hotels or houses are listed for Czech itself. According to teh CEO of the travel company, "there are no hotels or guest houses in the Czech Republic that were ready to clearly declare their gay friendliness or approach to this minority. So I think that this project may inspire other service providers within the Czech Republic and we think that definitely in the next brochure we will be able to include some wellness facilities that will be willing to label themselves a gay-friendly destination.”  

First NYC, then Houston, off to Atlantic City and Philly, now London and the rest of Europe. The tourism industry has established how trendy it is to be "LGBT friendly." You can market to us, but you need to give us discounts as well. And, even more effective, make sure you have a presence within the local LGBT community, and not just focused on those visiting your humble abodes.

Have a good weekend all. My forecast calls for shopping, sleeping, and perhaps sunning. You choose the order. 

| March 19th, 2010 No Comments »
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