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It gives one a warm fuzzy feeling to be
wanted and the DC Convention and Tourism Bureau wants you. According to
the Washington Business Journal the GLBT travel market is a $54 Billion
a year business. Of course, when one looks at us that way, who
wouldn’t want us.
But I believe that cities like
Washington, DC, not only want our money but like us for who we are. As
Sally Field would say, “They really, really, like us!” And why
wouldn’t they? We make good citizens, often live life to the fullest,
and require fewer services than many other defined demographic groups.
Considering that, it’s amazing that not everyone loves us yet.
The DC Convention and Tourism Corporation
is putting their money where their hearts are and advertising to get us
to come to DC in big numbers. The Bureau recently announced a new
website and advertising campaign and introduced a new brochure all
dedicated to getting the GLBT traveler to visit DC. They have budgeted
$130,000 for the first part of the campaign and have promised to
continue it for the foreseeable future.
This effort has been in the planning
stages for over a year and I think it’s important to look at how it
came to fruition. Those of us who are long-term residents of the
District know that the GLBT community here has made great strides over
the past years. Beginning with the infamous Marion Barry’s first
election as Mayor in 1978, the credit for electing many of our current
politicians has gone to GLBT voters. We are an organized, active and
vocal community. We have moved forward on many fronts including electing
two openly gay City Council members. But more than that, we have been
civic minded and full participants in the public life of the City. We
can now lay claim to having our community members serving on just about
every Board and Commission in the district, and speaking to and for all
the citizens of the District. We are Mayoral Agency Directors, and
chairs and vice-chairs of such varied boards and commissions as the
Human Rights Commission, Board of Trustees of the University of the
District of Columbia, School Board, Latino Community Development
Commission and Commission on Community and National Service.
We have moved into the District in
growing numbers over the past five years and often have incomes higher
than our heterosexual counterparts. We demand less in services with most
of us not having children in the schools and not needing public
assistance. We do demand clean and safe streets, a booming nightlife,
and varied cultural opportunities as well as affordable housing. As we
age, we will demand more services for the aging, and insist that some of
the unique needs of our community are recognized and met by government.
But we do make model citizens and that is one of the reasons that Mayor
Anthony Williams has said he hopes at least 20,000 of the 100,000 new
citizens attracted to the District over the next ten years will be from
our community. And he said if that percentage goes even higher he will
welcome all who want to come.
Well, what better way to get people to
think about moving here than to get them to visit first. The new website
and brochure talk about life in DC and the welcome mat we put out to
GLBT tourists. You can find listings of restaurants, bars, nightclubs,
hotels and even a recent history of the GLBT community. Want a softball
game, circuit party or just a relaxed dinner, you can find it in DC.
Want to party on Capitol Hill, U Street, 14th Street or 17th Street, you
will find a list of places where those in the know hang out. Want to go
to the Kennedy Center, the Source or Shakespeare Theatre, you can find
the numbers and see what’s playing. DC is truly a vacation spot to
enjoy and remember, and maybe even find great enough to move to.
That’s what our City fathers and mothers want.
As we as a community have come into our
own across the nation, more and more cities will reach out and invite us
to share what they have to offer. This effort by DC will lead the way.
We are truly a city that welcomes diversity and not surprisingly, the
driving force is economics. We have finally reached the mainstream when
our money is as good as anyone else’s. As all those groups striving
for recognition and equal rights, be they black, women, Latino or Asian
have found, participation in and contributing to the economic prosperity
of a community is the greatest equalizer. Even the most bigoted among us
usually recognize that all money is the same color and has the same
value.
Let the GLBT community come to DC. The
City and the community have lots to offer each other. As we move to
bring the Gay Games to DC, strive to make civil marriage legal, and
remove the last vestiges of discrimination in our community, we’ll
show the way to the rest of the world. Watch out Amsterdam, DC is going
to be the place to be if you’re GLB or T.
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