Pink Banana Media & LGBTBrandVoice.com

A new National Gay Media Association (NGMA) has formed to bring together the top regional newspapers serving the U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. The LGBT market controls more than $600 billion in annual spending, and NGMA will work to coordinate advertising spending in effective local LGBT media markets. “The regional LGBT media continue to serve their communities with strong newspapers and online content,” said Tracy Baim, spokeswoman for NGMA and publisher of Windy City Times. “The LGBT movement is driven by a very local model. Many of our issues are different from city to city, and state to state, so our strongest media are the ones attuned to issues in their communities.” The more than 150 regional LGBT media reach more than 3 million readers combined through weekly, biweekly and monthly newspapers and magazines. The annual Gay Press Report notes that the combined advertising spending in LGBT media was $307 million in 2011, with 95% of that sp

Las Vegas has long been known as "The Entertainment Capital of the World," but these days this desert destination boasts much more than strippers and Cher concerts - especially for both its growing LGBT community, as well as for those traveling to Las Vegas for pleasure, for business… or both. Driving Las Vegas' steady economy is the confluence of tourism, gaming and conventions, which in turn feed the retail and dining industries - industries that employ much of the city's residents and keep tourists busy. Among LGBT travelers, Las Vegas is consistently the second most visited U.S. destination for gay and lesbians after New York City, according to the 16th Annual Gay and Lesbian Tourism Study conducted by San Francisco-based Community Marketing Inc., a gay market research and development lab. While gay life in Las Vegas has not developed into a single geographical community in this city, its unofficial gay district near Tropicana Blvd. and UNLV serves as one s

Making news around the globe, the legal rights and recognition of gays & lesbians is becoming manifested in the definition of marriage.  More and more companies and communities across the US are recognizing the union of two gay men or women in terms of civil unions or domestic partnerships, granting them the same basic rights as heterosexual married couples. Health insurance benefits, estate planning and more are becoming commonplace in many gay & lesbian lives, but not all. The right of marriage, however, along with all of its legal and tax implications, is the final goal for many gays & lesbians.  It would be society's way of showing that once and for all gays & lesbians are now deemed equal in the eyes of the law, and with President Obama’s formal support, gay marriage is now front and center in American politics this year. Several countries around the world have already legalized gay marriage for their residents including Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands,