US Gay Families Center Stage

TOPICS: Lesbian and gay parenting. New US gay marketing developments, US lesbian and gay market. Lesbian and gay market research. Gay consumer marketing. US. Training. Integration and tolerance.

You are at the Out Now Gay Market News -- Gay Marketing 101 gay market updates site.

To reach our main site on lesbian and gay market research, gay advertising and gay marketing strategies, visit OutNowConsulting.com. To contact us, email info@outnowconsulting.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hot on the heels of last week’s gay adoption debate in the UK – there is an article in US media yesterday about the increases being seen in households where both parents are of the same gender.

Lesbian and gay parenting is not a future issue – it is one that is here now.

It has many implications for marketers – and more than that, it has profound implications for the development of the lesbian and gay community as more people get to realise that lesbian and gay parents have exactly the same concerns for their families as any other parents. They almost always just want what is best for their kids.

My personal view has always been a simple one - what any child needs, more than anything, is love.

Here is an extract of yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle article on the growth in lesbian and gay families:

Training helps gay families win hearts

Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer -- Monday, January 29, 2007

Armed with a slick 162-page handbook and coaching from daylong seminars, gay and lesbian parents across the country are learning to present the most convincing case that their families are normal, even mainstream.

A national training campaign, started in 2005 by Family Pride in Washington, D.C., and ramped up in the past few months, prepares gay parents to be spokespeople and counter critics of the growth in families led by same-sex couples. About 30 parents and other supporters of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights -- plus about 15 children -- attended a training session in San Francisco over the weekend. Los Angeles and San Diego are next.

The campaign to create a speakers bureau of people available to appear in the media and before lawmakers is bearing fruit. A Texas couple who were among the first to complete the training will tell their story on Oprah Winfrey's talk show today.

"The reason we said we would do this is we want people to see we're like everyone else. We're like any other family," said Andy Sutherland-Trevino, 37, who has adopted six children with his partner, Mark Sutherland-Trevino.

At least 250,000 children were being reared by two mothers or two fathers in 2000, according to the U.S. census. Activists say this "gayby boom" proves the ordinariness of families headed by same-sex couples; the challenge now is showing this reality to the broader public.

Huda Jadallah, 42, attended the seminar with her partner, Deanna Karraa, 44, and two of their three children. The couple, who live in the Oakland hills, said they were most concerned about anti-gay taunts and other bullying their twin sons are experiencing in third grade.

"I came here to learn so I could more effectively speak to other parents, faculty, to everyone," Jadallah said, adding that being with other gay and lesbian parents emboldens her.

"It's very isolating when you go out there. There are days when I want nothing to do with it, but I can't because my kids are out there hearing it on the playground," she said.

They heard about using words and phrases that signal what they have in common with people around them -- "being a fair person," "in it together" and "building strong families" -- rather than focusing on gay rights and sexual orientation.

And they talked to one another. About their personal stories of coming out, their children, how much it cost to start their families, how their differences made them alike.

The images and voices of families are more appealing than legal and political debates to people who are on the fence about issues like marriage for same-sex couples, said Rodger McFarlane, executive director of the Gill Foundation, a Colorado organization that spends millions of dollars promoting gay and lesbian rights nationwide.

The foundation's marketing research has found that women -- and mothers in particular -- are most effective in speaking for the movement.

"When we're looking for common ground and looking for Americans to understand us, they have to see us and know us, and right now women and moms are more persuasive," he said.

"Change is going to happen when people realize that person at the desk next to them is gay, and so positioning lay people as media spokespeople is a good strategy because it means the reader can relate to a dad, mom or family as someone they might know."

The Sutherland-Trevinos -- whose appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show today will provide many Americans' first image of a same-sex couple -- hope their efforts can counter past drives in the Texas legislature to bar gays and lesbians from foster parenting and adoption.

"It's not an agenda; it's protecting my family," Andy Sutherland-Trevino said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For further gay marketing information, or to seek gay market advice, please contact:

Ian Johnson, Managing Director, Out Now Consulting
UK landline: +44-20-8123 5288
BE landline: +32-2-514 6443
mobile: +32-4737 60886
web: OutNowConsulting.com
news: Gay Market News - Gay Market Updates by Out Now

Global gay marketing, strategy, PR, training, gay advertising, lesbian and gay market research leaders. Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - The Out Now Gay Market Updates.
OutNowConsulting.com | GayMarketing101.com
Companies marketing & advertising to gays and lesbians.
Better targeting of the lesbian and gay consumer market.