Thinking outside of the box about gay rights issues

Kealoha

I'm doing a research project for my info gathering class (it's as lame as it sounds) about gay marriage, rights, or same-sex adoption. It gets more specific than that, but that's not really the issue.

The problem is that I need to find two for profit/businesses that are related to the issue, and every single one I can find it a non profit organization, which I only need two of.

As an aside, whenever I look at organization profiles it usually refers to them as "foundation." For instance, the Human Rights campaign. When it mentions that it is non profit it as the "Human Rights Campaign Foundation is a non profit organization." Is the "foundation" just there to complete the formal name (maybe it's what's used for non profits?), or is it a separate entity?

Anyway, I'm not looking for you guys to find me organizations--that would just be lazy. Just for ideas of types things I could look into. I plan on asking my professor the same thing, but he's slow to e-mail and class isn't till Wednesday.

Thomamelas

Have you looked at media sources? Ones like http://www.advocate.com/ which is a for profit magazine?

AtomBomb

Would it be okay to use businesses that cater to a gay clientelle? I know my town has a for profit gay bar/drag show place that is also involved in gay rights (they hold benefits and stuff).

Kealoha

Stuff like the Advocate is what I was completely forgetting about--and I'm using several articles from that magazine as sources. So yeah, that kind of thing.

And if that bar/whatever is reputable seeming, and has done anything worth note, that would be a very interesting thing to use, as it highlights a completely different type of activism.

Frog

What about Disney? They have somewhat official gay days and are very good at making money. I also believe that Absolute Vodka bought the first 50 back page advertising for a gay magazine, maybe it was the Advocate or even Out. Been a while since I picked either up to look.

Improvolone

Gay Days are quite official, I do beleive Disney even allows gays to purchase their marriage package.

Frog

I was not sure if they made it official yet. I know a decade ago they allowed gay days to take place at their parks but did not actually endorse it officially. I really hope I can make it to Florida this year for the grand event, but that is contingent upon my friend moving down there and being willing to pay for everything.

Improvolone

Yea, it's always a big to do. Downtown Disney is nuts.
You know, what with all the nuts on display because some guys wear bike shorts out.

But yea, very official. There are even billboards advertising it.

kaliyama

why dn't you find a large corporation that supports partner benefits?

Theungry

What about Logo, the MTV channel dedicated to GLBT culture?

Forbe!

Yeah, I thought there was a TV station or two dedicated to 'GLBT' culture. Those are going to be for profit.

corcorigan

There are loads of clubs here that are aimed at the GLBT scene. I'd imagine it's the same anywhere, with varying degrees of transparency.

Frog

Forbe! wrote: »

Yeah, I thought there was a TV station or two dedicated to 'GLBT' culture. Those are going to be for profit.

Logo TV... good call.

Kealoha

Yeah, I think I'm doing The Advocate and Logo. Logo is actually offered on the university's cable network, so that's a plus.

I researched gay days and I'm fairly sure it's not run by Disney, but it takes place there. And apparently it does not do very much to further the gay rights cause, either, though that's not to say I'm trying to only cite things that do. It's just kind of "meh."

Forbe!

Frog wrote: »

Forbe! wrote: »

Yeah, I thought there was a TV station or two dedicated to 'GLBT' culture. Those are going to be for profit.

Logo TV... good call.

Can't tell if you're being sarcastic...but anyways.

There is also here!

Frog

I am not being sarcastic, I just overlooked television stations since I hardly get a chance to watch them. Hence the "good call."

Nitsuj82

I just read an article on Autoblog this morning about automakers extending benefits to same-sex partners. I don't know if that's the kind of issue you're looking for, but there's a topic right there.

Andrew_Jay

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LewieP

This company came up during my marketing seminars this year.

This time article on 'gay marketing' may be of some use.

Pheezer

Andrew_Jay wrote: »

Related to Frog's mention of Absolut - there are other companies that have featured same-sex couples in their advertising. I can think of Ikea as an example.

Note also that what a brand does in a mainstream "straight" publication vs. a gay centric publication are often two very different things. You'd be surprised at the companies that put out gay targeted ads if you looked into the right lifestyle magazines.

Andrew_Jay

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