'South Carolina Is So Gay'

I agree. This has nothing to do with religion. It has to do with a hatred of certain people. It's just as bad as racism. The fact that someone can be told that they cannot stay somewhere because they are gay is just ludacris. That is violating the rights of being a HUMAN BEING- gay or not. Why do we hate each other? It does not make sense. I believe that Jesus said to love thy neighbor as thyself. I would never want to be treated in this way and I would never treat another person in this manner. Let's get it together instead of creating more hatred.

WHY DOES RELIGION ALWAYS COME INTO TO THIS?It really has little to do with it.

Too bad that South Carolina hasn't the insight or foresight to recognize a huge possible windfall in tourism revenue. In this sagging economy in which fewer and fewer people are traveling for vacations, the income from gays and lesbians from other states and countries could be a boon the state's depressed travel industry. It is sad that the conservatives who followed and still emulate the likes of Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms are so filled with hatred and bigotry that they would destroy the SC economy rather than embrace other human beings.

Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now here.

We were not contacted by your journalists, but we do have several media releases already out where you can easily read Out Now's comments on this situation.

Key amongst those remarks would be the fact that with 5% of South Carolinian taxpayers likely to be gay or lesbian - who each year account for more than $500,000 of the State's total taxpayer funded $10.5 million annual tourism budget - this 'outrage' over spending less than $5,000 of taxpayer funds to target the gay travel market seems not at all about money, and more about politicians chasing conservative votes.

The major problem here was that politicians decided they were not going to let their tourism agency staff do their jobs - to increase tourism to South Carolina. The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association values gay travel as being worth more than $60 billion in the US market alone.

The ads work extremely well to attract the attention of those passing by on the escalators in the two or three seconds an ad gets to do that.

Most importantly, Out Now's "So Gay" campaign for Amro Worldwide has been very strongly received by its target audience -- lesbian and gay travelers, and can be expected to strongly increase tourism revenues for those destinations participating. Though South Carolina's politicians have now largely taken that chance away from businesses in their own State, many of which would have appreciated increased gay tourism revenues.

Your readers may learn more on the campaign background, and Out Now's views at Gay Market News http://www.gaymarketnews.com .

One important point, we did not approach South Carolina -- they approached Amro Worldwide and asked to be included. They were the last tourism body to sign on and additional advertising space had to be bought in specifically to accommodate them. The original campaign plans did not include that State.

Thanks for covering Out Now's campaign for Amro Worldwide.

Ian Johnson
CEO, Out Now
http://www.outnowconsulting.com