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GLBT Expo: The Good, the Bad, & the Fab
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GLBT EXPO
The Good, the Bad, and the Fab
by Ric Kasini Kadour
At
one time in America, your identity was shaped largely by what you did.
America has changed, however. It is no longer what you do, but what you
buy that is important. Access to social enfranchisement comes not from
producing but from consuming. As such, be you an immigrant or a queer
person, driving the right car, vacationing at the right destination, buying
the right food, or wearing the right clothes signals that you are an American
and tells other people to accept you.
"Advertising to gay men and lesbians
has often promised that full inclusion in the national community of Americans
is available through personal consumption," observes Alexandra Chasin
in Selling Out: The Gay and Lesbian Movement Goes to Market.
"In other words, consumption has been held out as a route to political
and social enfranchisement."
The nexus of this cultural, political, social
phenomenon is the 11th Original Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Business
and Entertainment Expo held this past March at the Jacob Javits Convention
Center in New York City. Over the course of a weekend, the Expo put 21,000
"affluent, brand-loyal, well-educated, and business-minded"
consumers in front of 500 vendors hungry for the "perfect market
niche."
At its heart, the Expo is like any event
where you wander around checking out vendor booths. Think really gay Home
Show.
I was in heaven at the Expo - and
a little aroused by the promises of the rainbow-draped booths and other
assorted pretty, gay stuff. As I descended the escalators and passed through
the enormous rainbow-balloon arch, nostalgia for the time I lived in Seattle's
gay ghetto overwhelmed me. Having been back in Vermont for three years
now - where the worlds of queer and commerce rarely meet - I crave that
place where sexuality and pocketbook blend together like two colors in
a painting, where one can purchase mutual funds from a guy whose advertisements
showcase the rock-hard abs of a potentially available, but just out-of-reach
Adonis; where the horny urges of lust can be satiated with a quick trip
to the gay bookstore. What fabulous new thing have I been missing?
Heteros in Homoland
The Expo is produced by the RDP Group,
a Connecticut-based marketing firm. Vendor booths are organized under
various themes: The Passport Travel Pavilion, #1 Entertainment, a small-business
area, and (my personal favorite) the Same-Sex Wedding Expo's Loveland,
which helps attendees "discover the hottest trends in weddings and
commitment ceremonies" because we must "now more than ever support
same-sex marriage rights."
The Expo is a showcase for businesses wanting
a piece of the estimated $35 billion gay market. Some businesses were
gay-owned and operated; some were mainstream American companies. Genre,
Provincetown Tourism, GLNation.com, A&U, Pride National Network, Cybersocket.com
and other recognizably gay companies sat side-by-side with Fleet Bank,
Prudential Finance, JP Morgan Chase, Bud Light, Hair Club for Men, Washington
Mutual and a host of other major U.S. corporations. They sent representatives
to staff booths, handed out key chains, and talked about how much they
love gay people.
When asked why they attended the Expo,
most bragged about their company's track record on diversity or said nice
things about the queer community.
"They're a great community to
work with," said Alba Cera, director of catering at the fancy W-Union
Square Hotel. "W is a brand - pushing the envelope. For us, it's
a natural thing" to reach out to gay and lesbian people.
Jennifer Jordon, Marketing Manager
from Okamoto USA, the makers of Crown and Beyond Seven condoms was less
subtle in her reasoning for attending the Expo.
"We hope to get a market we haven't
had before and increase our sales," said Jordon. "We're here
to market to the gay community because they use a lot of condoms."
Yes, we do.
I generally find apple polishing and other
sorts of sycophantic behavior off-putting, but not here. One of the things
I learned about myself at the Expo was that I enjoyed being a target of
sophisticated marketing. Is there anything special about Piper-Heidsieck
cozying up to me in the hopes I'll buy their champagne? Not really. If
I get a seven-colored knickknack or a lemon-scented aromatherapy candle
out if it, so be it.
So what makes the Expo different from any
other event of a similar nature? Why did 21,000 queer consumers from as
far south as Florida to as far north as Maine pay twelve bucks to descend
the escalator and walk through the rainbow arch?
"It's a great opportunity to learn
who's marketing to the gay community," said New York City resident
Sandra Thomas. "It's nice to know who wants our business."
Stanley, who didn't want to give his last
name, came down from Connecticut. He was enjoying seeing the "big
companies next to the little companies all trying to make us happy."
His friend, George, was liking all the free stuff.
Most simply, the quid pro quo being
offered by companies at the Expo is "You scratch our back; We'll
scratch yours." But I'm not sure it's that simple.
In a letter to the "Faithful and Fabulous
Attendees" in the Expo's program, Steven Wesler, President of the
RDP Group, casts attendance at the Expo in political terms.
"You have shown Mainstream America
the economic and political power the GLBT Community wields," writes
Wesler. "I encourage you to utilize the companies that support our
cause and support them with your purchasing power."
Despite the potential for a complicated
social and political context here, the power dynamic between queer consumers
and big corporations is such that queer people are really second-class
citizens, dependent on the whims of institutions to accept or not accept
us. In my view, the exchange at the Expo is, "You buy our stuff and
we'll treat you like a human being."
This is the secret to the Expo's huge number
of attendees. No big surprise, queer people desperately want to be treated
like human beings. The Expo is an exercise in being accepted. It feels
great. All these companies, some with names you know, some with names
you don't, act like they like you. It's refreshing to just put it all
out there and say, "I'm here. I'm queer. Sell me something."
But this isn't social change. It's just good retail.
Shopping can feel like acceptance.
What we buy often tells us something about ourselves. Buying my first
home felt like adulthood in a way for which I was completely unprepared.
Personally, the experience of buying leather affirms my own acceptance
of sexuality, of being a sexual person who is interested in going beyond
the limits. Imagine how many queer people's first act of coming out was
buying their first gay magazine.
But this only explains half of what
was going on at the Expo.
Economic
Organizing: A Very Brief History
Queer people have been organizing
around economic issues since the beginning of the movement. In the mid-twentieth
century, queer people consolidated economic power by forming neighborhoods
in urban areas. Gay bars, restaurants, and other businesses served as
focal points and places to meet for the community. While many of these
businesses weren't gay-owned or operated, a mutual, if silent, agreement
often maintained a delicate balance between the community and the business.
As the movement progressed, economic organizing
took on new shapes. Queer people pulled resources together to produce
publications: ONE, Mattachine Review, Gay Community News, Ladder,
and a slew of other queer presses and publications.
In the Seventies, queer people discovered
the power of boycotts. From refusing to purchase orange juice in protest
over its spokeswoman's support of an anti-gay initiative in Florida to
giving up the products of Coors Brewing Company because of the conservative
politics of its owners, queer people sometimes were successful at changing
corporate policy. More recently, the queer history of boycotting made
it easier for groups like the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
to target corporate sponsors of homophobic radio and TV shows by Dr. Laura
and Michael Savage.
AIDS distracted gay men from any Leftist
agenda the movement may have had and in the intervening years, some radical
lesbians had children and formed families. The movement changed. Some
say it grew up.
We have worked toward assimilation by fighting
for laws to protect us against employment discrimination - laws of great
symbolic value, but of limited real benefit primarily to middle-class
and wealthy working gay people. In any case, our move toward assimilation
and a larger reorganization of the source of American identity from function
to consumerism opened the door for a new form of economic organizing:
the market niche.
It wasn't until the Nineties that
savvy marketers and assimilationist gays promoted queer people as an untapped
market. With an estimated $35 billion up for grabs, businesses jump through
hoops not to upset queer people. Corporations spend millions of dollars
advertising in our national publications, supporting our organizations,
or sponsoring our events to get our attention. Many have adopted more
inclusive human resource policies. Businesses that accept and support
queer people are in; those that discriminate or work against us are out.
The Coors Brewing Company, once the target of boycotts, now provides millions
each year to sponsor theme nights at gay bars or advertise in national
gay publications.
Today, playing up the gay market niche
is the dominant form of economic organizing in the gay movement. We do
little-to-no economic development within our own community. We do not
encourage individuals to start their own businesses and work towards self-sufficiency.
We do not have mentoring programs for queer-owned small businesses. If
we support gay-owned businesses, we do so because they also support our
community institutions, and not because advancing the economic interest
of our gay brothers or sisters is inherently a good thing. We have not,
as other oppressed minorities have, organized funding cooperatives or
community financial institutions (national banks posing as 'gay banks'
don't count).
These forms of economic organizing would
undermine the value of queer purchasing power and, ultimately, an assimilationist
agenda. If we can stand on our own as a community, employ each other,
support each other's businesses, then why would we need to hetero-model
ourselves into the straight world?
What Makes Us Stronger
And yet, one of the interesting things about
the Expo was how many queer people were there to support or build up queer
businesses. The straight companies competed side-by-side with traditionally
gay companies in a way that democratized commerce.
Aaron Leventman was at the Expo representing
Provincetown, where he's the assistant town clerk, and Provincetown Tourism,
where he’s the administrative assistant.
They were there to "promote tourism
because tourism is our main industry," said Leventman. "Because
of gay marriage and the high court ruling, we're here to answer questions
about getting married in Provincetown."
Provincetown, a small Portuguese fishing
village and summer arts community on the tip of Cape Cod, has been a gay
tourism destination for the better part of a century. While vowing to
remain a party town for gay singles, Provincetown is positioning itself
as, in the words of Provincetown Tourism Director Patricia Fitzpatrick,
"A Gay Niagara Falls."
A number of gay entrepreneurs went
to the Expo to network with other businesses. Jonathon Corish saw the
Expo as "a platform to launch this business and get our name out."
Based in Florida, his company Forever Now produces greeting cards for
the gay and lesbian market that are "high-quality and tasteful."
"It was an excellent place to meet
key people in this industry and have fun at the same time," said
Corish.
Susan Siegel attended to promote the Children's
Alternative Media Project, "a business dedicated to increasing lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender acceptance and visibility by developing
and marketing quality children's media with accompanying curriculum materials."
That's gay-themed children's books, if you weren't paying attention.
Wachovia Corporation, the U.S. Postal Service, DiversityWorking.com, and
others offered career information. Starbucks brought their mobile latte
van and set up an elaborate booth that stretched over three spaces.
"We're committed to neighborhoods,"
said Jack Rakes, regional recruiter for Starbucks Coffee Company, who
attended the expo to recruit workers. Rakes stressed that Starbucks was
deeply committed to promoting diversity. The company offers domestic partnership
benefits and focuses its philanthropy on literacy and AIDS issues.
The goal of economic organizing is not the
reformulation, recasting, or revision of queer people to serve the needs
of corporate America. It's about changing America's economic and commercial
culture so that it meets the needs, whims, wants, and desires of queer
people. As a tool to this end, the Expo offers a place where queer people
can network and exchange ideas; a matchmaker for employers and queer workers;
and a venue for gay businesses to compete directly with mainstream businesses
and let the natural tension between capitalism and identity work its magic.
Ric Kasini Kadour is a freelance writer and consultant who lives in
Shoreham, Vermont. The 12th Original GLBT Expo, "Blending Business
& Entertainment for Over a Decade," is scheduled for April 15-16,
2005 in New York City.