Cleveland: Whaddya mean we're not gay-friendly?

February 18, 2007
Plain Dealer

According to the PlanetOut Travel Awards, Ohio ranks at the very bottom of the list of gay travel destinations, right along with Iran and Uganda. (And those places have better weather.)

The Convention and Visitors Bureau of Greater Cleveland announced last month that it wants to change that.

The bureau will start marketing the city to gays and lesbians, hoping to lure deep-pocketed travelers to the North Coast.

It won't be easy. The gay community is still sore about the 2004 election, which saw 62 percent of Ohio voters not only ban gay marriage, but also void any legal benefits for same-sex relationships. (We probably would have required the burning of rainbow flags if that had been on the ballot.)

With a hurdle like that, the campaign to lure gays and lesbians can't be made up of typical, tired slogans and advertisements. Here are some of the ads the PD printed for slogans.

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Maybe the efforts of the Cleveland Visitors Bureau to bring gay vacationers and tourism to the area will create a bunch of high paying jobs.

This has to be one of the best ideas I have ever heard - We are the poorest city in the United States, we were just named worst place for African-Americans to live, and have a crime rate double the national average.

With Ohio being compared with Uganda and Iran on acceptance of gay's, how can we not think bringing more gays to town would not be the start of Cleveland's rebound?

KING