| WeHo Pride: Soon to be 90% prouder?
Instead of just blowing the whole load in a weekend of parade festivities, a West Hollywood City Council task force is recommending that the community's gay pride celebration should be expanded into a month-long social and cultural event. Flaggy. Keeping with the suggestion, we think the entire month of June should simply be renamed June Likes Girls, So Get The F**k It Over It. While it may be wordy and a bit annoying for those who like to write out a month's name rather than use its numeric representation, we think it would drive our "We're Here, We're Queer" point home in ways far greater than any flag and float-filled parade could ever hope. So what do we think, world -- summer of '07 begins on June Likes Girls, So get the F**k Over It 21, 2007? We're thinking we're on to somethin'! It's unclear if any other areas of the country will follow WeHo's lead and consider expanding their own pride festivities.
Tourism industry seeing a lot of green in pink
As the tourism industry in Canada struggles to maintain ground in the face of high gas prices and U.S. border issues, travel experts are looking to "pink dollars," or money spent by gay and lesbian travelers, as a sure thing. Recent U.S. research shows gay and lesbian travelers represent about 10 per of the overall travel market, but the annual amount spent is estimated at $700 million. This year was also the 20th anniversary of the Pride Week in Ottawa and it's estimated about 300,000 people attended events over the 10-day schedule. It's this combination of spending power and the growing perception of Canada as a gay-friendly country that is making pink dollars a hot commodity. "The numbers prove that the gay/lesbian consumers are one of the most loyal markets and overall less are traveling with children, so they have a larger discretionary income," says R.
A Growing Sense Of Pride
Fifteen years ago, Morgan Michaels and the three other founding members of the Hartford Harlettes had a plan of attack for the press.
Potbellied gay men in cheerleading sweaters and skirts whose families had yet to learn of their sexual orientation, Trixie, Buffy, Bunny and Rosebud were to fall flat on the floor if a cameraman approached while they performed.
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Pride parade to go ahead in Jersusalem
Organisers of the Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem have indicated they intend to march, despite being denied a permit, 365gay.com reports. A spokesperson for Open House, the GLBT organisation that organises the event, said it was prepared to march, regardless whether or not a permit was approved. .
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