The 50 Spot: Cities Vie for Share of Pink Money

by Michael A. Jones

Published April 07, 2009 @ 07:33AM PT

Given the financial woes facing many cities, especially in the arena of tourism, many places are stepping up their game to try and woo LGBT travelers. Chicago is now one of them, with a renewed effort underway by city officials and LGBT groups to market the Windy City as an uber-LGBT-friendly place. Elsewhere in the country this fine Tuesday morning we've got a revised civil unions law being discuss in Hawaii, and religious groups coming out in support of marriage equality in Las Vegas.

Illinois: The Chicago Tribune has a long story about the role of LGBT travel dollars, and how Chicago needs to get in the game when it comes to marketing the city as an LGBT-friendly destination. Why? Well, according to one of the travel experts they interview, despite the sour economy, LGBT travel spending isn't declining. Which means that it's in the financial interests of a city to get its LGBT on. Per Tom Nibbio with the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association: "Chicago is now stepping up a nice campaign to market to gay and lesbian travelers. And many of the major communities across the country and around the world are doing the same: corporation-wise, business-wise, various hotels. It has opened the eyes of a lot of people that there's really a great value not only financially but in the loyalty of the gay and lesbian market." I don't know...Chicago is great and all, but I'm thinking of planning my next vacation for Des Moines....

Hawaii: Earlier this year, efforts to pass civil unions legislation in the Hawaii state legislature screeched to a grinding halt, when the bill deadlocked in a Senate subcommittee.  Now, LGBT rights advocates are suggesting a reworded piece of legislation that would still grant civil unions, but would specifically add that the goal of civil unions are not to revise the definition of marriage under state law (which Hawaii has constitutionally defined as between one man and one woman).  This new version would have to be considered mighty quick though - bills in the State Senate need to be scheduled by this Thursday if they have any hope of getting a hearing.  As Honolulu lawyer Jo-Ann Adams told the Honolulu Advertister: "The main push is to distinguish civil unions from marriage, because that line has been blurred.  So we have added an introduction that makes that clear. We have eliminated the word 'marriage' to make that clear. And we have now opened it up so that any two people can enter into a civil union, whether they are same-sex or opposite sex, which makes it clear that that's not marriage, because marriage is currently one man and one woman."

Nevada: Rev. Dave Krueger-Duncan, a pastor in Las Vegas with the Northwest Community Church, shared what some of his recent prayers are with the Las Vegas Sun: "I pray for the day when I can do legal weddings here in Las Vegas for gay and lesbian couples as well as straight couples."  In the wake of Iowa's Supreme Court ruling last week legalizing same-sex marriage, the Sun is profiling where various religious leaders fall  on the issue of same-sex marriage in Vegas.  Rev. Krueger-Duncan is one of the religious leaders profiled, as are a few of the other congregations in Vegas that are completely welcoming to LGBT parishioners.