TOPICS: Mainstream media. New UK media reporting of Equality Act developments. UK gay tourism and gay travel market. Gay consumer target marketing. PR. Travel. Diva GT gay travel market research. UK. Gay hotels worried about potential impact of Equality Act. Gay-only and same-gender gay market properties may fall foul of new UK Equality Act regulations. Out Now. Ian Johnson quoted in the Diva magazine coverage of the effects of the introduction of the UK Equality Act on gay targeted business in the travel sector.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 Out Now, send us an email.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The UK Equality Act is now a week old.We thought it opportune to remember that the drafting of the text that is now law in the UK may actually come back to haunt lesbian and gay business.
Those businesses that target an exclusively gay or lesbian clientele may well find themselves falling foul of provisions in the Equality Act laws worded to prohibit discrimination in the provision of goods or services on the basis of sexuality rather than 'homosexuality'.
This article from Diva magazine in the UK about gay business and the Equality Act is worth recalling, and an extract is below for your reference. The remarks by the IGLTA spokesperson, Stephen Coote, are especially illuminating about the potential problems inherent in the drafting of this legislation. It is early days and we hope gay business will not suffer as a result of the Equality Act, but it will take time to see if that is the case.
Shrinking horizons - is the gay holiday industry doomed?
Lesbians are chilling the bubbly: it should soon be illegal for hotels, b&bs and campsites to discriminate against us. But, asks Patricia Curmi, will that spell the end for the exclusively gay travel industry?
When the new Goods and Services Act was passed in Northern Ireland - as it is due to be passed in England - outraged protesters from the Religious Right took to the streets outside the Houses of Parliament, and church ministers from various denominations spoke of being ‘forced’ to do business with gays and lesbians, against their conscience.
Less audible, however, were the whimpers of protest against the Act from within the LGBT community itself. Owners of gay hotels, B&Bs and holiday tour companies were left uncertain about the future of the gay travel market after months of confusion as to where they stand in relation to the law, and concern about a potential dent in profits if the demand for a gay-only niche market declines.
The 2005 OutNow DIVA and GT Readers’ Survey found that 5% of gay men and women (around 135,000 individuals) had been refused goods and services because of their sexual orientation, so it’s unsurprising that the number of holiday accommodation and travel companies catering exclusively to the gay and lesbian community has proliferated. The gay travel industry is worth roughly £600m by some estimates, and savvy tour operators and hoteliers are keen to lure pink punters their way.
But while the Goods and Services regulations due to come into force this month are intended to quash homophobia in the provision of goods, facilities, services and premises, they will also mean that gay bars will no longer be able to deny access to heterosexual people. Some are questioning the need for exclusively gay hotels and guesthouses at all. Isn’t it just another form of self-exclusion, out of the mainstream and into the margins?
Stephen Coote of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association (IGLTA): ‘In the UK, we have pretty much everything we want, legislation-wise, so, in theory, no-one is being refused entry or made to feel embarrassed. In practice, this isn’t always the case: however "gay-friendly" a place claims to be, the person sitting in Reception sets the tone, so why would you go where you’re not wanted?’
And it appears that there are still significant numbers of us who prefer being in a gay environment when we’re on holiday. In a recent DIVA poll, just under a quarter of you claimed that you’d always stay in lesbian-run accommodation, even if it means shelling out more of your hard-earned cash. One reader, Dara, explains; ‘I like to stay at a lesbian-run hotel especially if it’s women-only.
Ian Johnson, managing director of OutNow Consulting, sees another potential issue facing the gay travel industry: the law forcing hotels and holiday tours currently catering to lesbians and gay men to open their door to heterosexuals. ‘Many [gay] women find the thought of staying in a women-only space tremendously reassuring,’ argues Johnson, ‘but if we demand equality, we can’t turn around and refuse to abide by the principle of equal treatment for all (including heterosexuals) when it suits us.’
Heather and Helen Bradley-Tsopanoglou, lesbian owners of Blackpool’s only exclusively-lesbian B&B, are less convinced that the regulations will have big implications for gay businesses. ‘The law may force people legally to accept gay guests,’ Heather says, ‘but it can’t change people. It can’t stop receptionists asking awkward or homophobic questions - women come here to feel comfortable, not to stay in an uncomfortable environment to prove a point.’
She says if Johnson is right, and gay businesses are forced to admit straight people, they’d have to know where to look. ‘We only advertise in specific gay publications, and it’s pretty clear no men are allowed, so if any man tries to book, we just tell them the hotel’s full. We’re not rude, and we don’t say, "You’re not welcome".’
But Coote, himself a B&B owner, would be reluctant to accommodate a straight person. ‘I have some sympathy for these evangelical Christians who own guesthouses - I have a room in Vauxhall that I advertise as a gay B&B, and I don’t want straight people in it, to be honest.’
Peter Tatchell of queer human rights group OutRage! responded to the doubters in January by saying that he thought it was highly unlikely that heterosexuals would be ‘banging on the doors’ of gay B&Bs.
Johnson, however, believes this kind of rhetoric belittles hundreds of gay and lesbian businesses struggling to make it in the UK. ‘At OutNow, we disagree that Tatchell is able to speak for all members of lesbian and gay communities in assessing the implications of these new laws for gay businesses. People could actually be put out of business as a result of them, and many lesbians will find their available options significantly diminished as a result. We hope this won’t be the case, and we still have to wait and see what the impact of the law will be in practice. It’s early days.’
To better understand how gay marketing, laws and business affects your gay market planning, contact Out Now.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For further gay marketing information, or to seek gay market advice, please contact: Ian Johnson, MD, 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
Gay PR. Global gay PR marketing, gay PR strategy, PR, training, gay advertising, lesbian and gay market research leaders.
Gay Market News is Gay Marketing 101 - The Out Now Gay PR Market Updates.
OutNowConsulting.com |||| GayMarketing101.com |||| Companies marketing & advertising to gays and lesbians. |||| Better understanding of the lesbian and gay consumer market. Gay market insight is Out Now.
gay market gay advertising gay marketing gay tourism gay travel pink dollar pink pound gay agency advertising marketing travel tourism gay lesbian gay and lesbian market research
0 comments:
Post a Comment