More and more tourism industry marketers are eyeing the gay travel market.    That’s no surprise considering the market’s disposable income.  Here are the numbers courtes of Witeck-Combs Communications and Harris Interactive,
2004-2008.

6.8% of Americans over the age of 18 ­ roughly 16 million adults ­ self
identify as GLBT.

The buying power of the U.S. GLBT market is estimated at over $712 billion.

There are conservatively estimated over three million same-sex-couple households in the United States.

Nearly one in four U.S. gay men and lesbians live in households with children under the age of 18.

Because roughly 25% of U.S. GLBT households have children, GLBT consumers tend to have more discretionary income to spend than the average American family, affording them more per capita buying power than many consumer populations.

 See Travel marketers eye gay travel dollars
Examiner.com 

A Harris Interactive poll released Dec. 3 found that Americans support a range of policies and protections for gay people.

The Pulse of Equality survey, commissioned by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, found that majorities of Americans favor either marriage or civil unions for gay couples, hate crime laws to protect gay and transgender people, letting gays in the military serve openly, and allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children.

The telephone survey questioned 2,000 adults between Nov. 13 and 17 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Among the specific findings:

* Seventy-five percent of U.S. adults favor either marriage or domestic partnerships/civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Only 22 percent oppose any legal recognition of gay couples.

* U.S. adults are evenly divided on whether gay couples should have access to marriage - 47 percent say yes and 49 percent say no.

* Sixty-four percent think gays in the military should not have to stay closeted, as required by the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.

* Sixty-three percent support expanding hate crime laws to cover gay and transgender people. At present, 31 states and the District of Columbia have such laws that cover sexual orientation and 12 of those laws also encompass gender identity.

* Fifty-one percent favor protecting gay and transgender people under existing laws that ban discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have such laws that cover sexual orientation and 13 of those laws also encompass gender identity.

* Sixty-nine percent oppose bans on gay adoption.

“We observed a positive relationship between knowing a gay or transgender person and one’s attitudes toward them and the policy issues that affect their lives,” said Laura Light, Harris Interactive’s vice president of public relations research.

“Based on other surveys we have conducted on attitudes toward LGBT people and issues, the results of this survey suggest that public sentiment in the U.S. is trending toward greater acceptance of gay- and transgender-related policy issues.”

The survey found that people under 65, and especially those 18-34, are more gay-friendly than people over 65. Women are generally more supportive than men. Latinos are more supportive than whites and blacks when it comes to gays in the military. Blacks are more supportive than whites and Latinos on hate-crime laws. And Catholics and “mainline” Christians (Protestant, Mormon or “other Christian”) are more supportive than “born-again” Protestants, Mormons or other Christians.

Nineteen percent of those questioned said their feelings toward gay people have become more favorable over the past five years. They attributed the change to such things as knowing someone who is gay, seeing gay people on TV and in movies, passage of gay-friendly laws, news coverage of gay issues, and learning of the gay-friendly positions of friends, family members and religious leaders.

“Knowing someone who is gay or lesbian” was the most significant factor, cited by 79 percent of those whose feelings had evolved.

 See Poll: Americans support gay rights
pride source.com, MI -

Two years ago, by a 57 percent to 43 percent margin, Colorado voters approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between a man and a woman. At the same time, they also defeated a measure to allow civil unions.

Now, according to a survey released Thursday, more Coloradans appear to be embracing ideas such as civil unions and gay marriage.

A slim majority of Coloradans support gay marriage and four-fifths support gay civil unions, according to the survey commissioned by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation in California, and conducted Nov. 10-16 by Harris Interactive with 502 Colorado residents.

GLAAD conducted a national poll, but Colorado was the only state the group polled separately. Even though California’s Proposition 8 to outlaw gay marriage is more timely, having passed in the November election, the group felt that Colorado’s history on gay issues and its being home to two opposing forces on the issue - Focus on the Family and the Gill Foundation - made this the best crucible for their research.

 See Survey: More Coloradoans embracing gay unions
Colorado Springs Gazette, CO