FH Out Front Blog

Lesbians Optimistic About 2009 Economy

    The current issue of Curve has a very interesting poll* on the lesbian economic outlook for this year. Almost half of lesbians see the glass half full: 49 percent say “I’m making some cuts, but overall I’ll be Ok.” Fourteen percent said things are looking good from where they stand, and an 11 percent said “Recession? What recession?”

Based on this poll, about 75 percent of lesbians have a positive outlook on the economy. That is a promising number. So who is getting our attention? Advertisers in the magazine lean heavily on the travel and tourism side with Sweet and Damron among others, along with online dating and music festivals. The list seems pretty varied, however the majority are gay and lesbian companies. From the non-gay and lesbian business community: Bridgestone (yes, the tires), Visit Las Vegas and Subaru.

There needs to be a little more diversity within these pages. As pretty much the only nationally distributed lesbian publication, this is an important platform in reaching your optimistic, forward-thinking, brand-loyal female. The diversity in support will compliment the diversity of women that grace each page of the publication and our community.  In addition to celebrities, authors and musicians, Curve recognizes ten powerful lesbian politicians.

I’d like to take a moment to highlight two Latinas who made the list: Rosie Mendez, NYC councilmember and Mautner Project board member, and Sheriff Lupe Valdez – the highest ranking law enforcement officer in Dallas County, Texas.

I digress. Our community will only diversify as time passes and progress is made. There are plenty other ways to communicate with this audience as alternatives to advertising in publications; some ways even more credible. Ways of connecting with your audience have grown exponentially, mainly through the digital arena ( social networking, bloggers, Twitter, etc.) And as each dollar spent on your product is increasingly becoming more and more valuable, so should targeting a population which is most willing to listen and take action.

*Curvemag.com

The LGB Money Myth?

James Withers, over at the 365 Gay Blog, posted an interesting commentary today about the recently published study entitled, "Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community." The study, published by The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, sheds light on the presumption that members of the LGB community are, generally speaking, better off economically than their heterosexual counterparts and have more disposable income.

 The introduction to the study states:

"This report undertakes the first analysis of the poor and low-income lesbian, gay, and bisexual population. We find clear evidence that poverty is at least as common in the LGB population as among heterosexual people and their families."

The executive summary of the report continues:

 

"After adjusting for a range of family characteristics that help explain poverty, gay and lesbian couple families are significantly more likely to be poor than are heterosexual married couple families."

 

I must admit... up until reading this study (I'm not a researcher and can't comment on the validity of the study and the methods employed in conducting it), I have been prone to believe that members of the LGB community must be better off during these times of economic crisis than their heterosexual counterparts. Since the majority of LGB folks don't have kids, I've simply assumed that they must be able to dedicate more of their financial resources to themselves versus spreading them across a family that includes children.

 

Indeed, a piece of research from 1987 states:

 

"Many homosexuals may be more financially able to take early retirement than heterosexuals. Gays often have more disposable income than non-gays."

 

What to believe given the new Williams Institute study?

 

Regardless of the truth, I think this is one of those beliefs that is constantly reinforced through word-of-mouth.

 

As professional communicators, we often create and plan word-of-mouth programs for our clients. This new study is making me think about how many times I may have repeated the statement above... and the power of word-of-mouth in establishing awareness and assumptions.

 

What do you think about the new study and its findings?

 

photo credit

Suze Speaks

As the global economic crisis deepens, financial guru Suze Orman has been receiving even more attention than usual with her advice to consumers about how to weather the economic storm. This weekend, Suze took advantage of that bully pulpit to focus attention on the inequality of the nation’s marriage laws. Specifically signaling out Proposition 8 in California and Proposition 2 in Florida, Orman exhorted her viewers to understand just how unjust these anti-gay initiatives are in financial terms. 

As we’ve blogged before, the decision by public figures to come out and to be vocal can have an enormous impact on how society at large views our community and acts on the issues of concern to us. Suze Orman’s very public coming out in The New York Times and subsequent public statements on Larry King Live and elsewhere have certainly helped raise the visibility of our issues before audiences that might not otherwise be aware of them. 

You might argue that Suze could have and should have been much more vocal much sooner about Proposition 8 and the other state ballot initiatives, particularly given how often she speaks about the benefits of marriage. That’s a valid point, but I think it’s also valid to praise Suze now for so forcefully, and directly, making the case that LGBT rights are human rights by couching them in financial terms that are so easily understood by so many.

I’m still a fan and I’m still hopeful that Suze will continue to leverage her voice and her position to advance issues of importance for all of us. Thanks to AMERICAblog and Towleroad for the tip on Suze’s comments (in the video below).
 

What do you think?  Let us know in the comments below.

Top Trends – Questions and Answers!

Many of us are curious about trends and trend spotting. We ask questions such as: how do we spot a trend? what is the life cycle of a trend?  and what are the upcoming trends for 2009? We have addressed trends affecting the LGBT market before. Well, a just published report on the website www.trendspotting.com has some additional answers for those of us who are trend spotting.

             

Checking out trendspotting.com’s Top 15 Questions (and Answers), they admit right up front that spotting a trend is a bit tricky, and a lengthy process. However, they offer a quick 4 step process to help us along the way. I decided to start with the first and most important question to kick off my curiosity; “How do I actually spot consumer trends? And then how do I apply them?”

          

Here’s their recommendation- Ask yourself if a trend you’re tracking has the potential to:

            

1. influence or shape a company’s vision
2. inspire someone to come up with a new business concept or brand
3. add a new product, service or experience for a certain customer segment
4. speak the language of those consumers already ‘living’ the trend; show them you know what they’re excited about in your campaigns, branding and your conversations with them

Think of trends in the LGBT community that began with us. LGBT-exclusive travel has been popular for many years –think Olivia Cruises, Atlantis or RSVP. We often are among the first to set the trends in fashion and routinely jump quickly into new technology. And as we age, we have LGBT retirement communities in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Fe and elsewhere.

                  

So, ask yourself what new trends you can spot in the LGBT community using the 4 step process above. You might just discover the next consumer trend.

Where will you be when you are 65? 70? 75?

We all hope you will not be aging alone. Recently I read an article on Boston.com about gay aging issues (“Gay Elders Distinctive Challenges Get Closer Look”). According to the article, an estimated 2.5 million gay seniors living and aging alone in America is a reality. It’s a scary statistic, isn’t it? We tend not to think much about it, as gays we like to think we are always young. And youth and good looks is what is celebrated, not an aging gay population.

                  

So where does that leave the older gay population? As Laura Nguyen pointed out in her recent post “Booming New Ad Campaign”, a recent Newsweek article highlights some alarming statistics about the aging gay boomer population. Among them, over the next 25 years, the number of Americans age 65 or older will increase by 12 to 20 percent. Out of those seniors, seven to 10 percent are predicted to be members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. This is truly an invisible population to many.

Why? Many of these persons never came out to family, friends or coworkers. They remain caught in limbo between the straight world and the gay world. Now that they are aging they don’t know where they fit. And they are afraid of bias and anti-gay treatment at senior centers or from the health care system. If they are alone, as many are, the problems escalate. Who to call with medical issues? Who can they turn to for financial advice or assistance? Their vulnerability is enormous.

   

For those gay couples who are aging, they face a different set of challenges. Lack of rights for same sex couples rises to the top of the list. You better be armed with the appropriate legal forms if you want to get in and see your partner in the hospital. Or if need to make some major medical decisions, you’ll need more forms! Recently, AARP decided to tackle the issue (full disclosure: they are a Fleishman-Hillard client, although none of our team works with them). The largest advocacy group in the world for persons over 50 years old, is going to focus on gay and lesbian aging at a conference organized by SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders) and sponsored by AARP this month. This is a huge deal! AARP sponsoring an event that features workshops on a variety of issues related to the older GLBT audience – a first! Are you over 50? YOU should sign up for AARP today and show your support.

                   

Issues of aging and the struggles are difficult for us all. For a generation that many of us don’t know, it can be devastating. How can you help? Find out more by checking out AARP, SAGE and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. They are all working to help support our elderly gay friends who face unique challenges we never imagined.

   

401k’s, IRA’s and our financial world

Where do we start with the recent financial mess we’re in? I watch my 401k sinking and wonder what should I do? Ride it out, right? It’s hard when that is your retirement wasting away. And with the financial world falling apart around us you have to ask what more could I be doing?

          

So, I looked at my finances. And thought about where I could start saving more to sock away a CD or two. One obvious place is my discretionary spending. Another way of saying shopping. I am a female, I love to shop. I can’t help it, it’s genetic I am sure! Anyway, one source I love and have begun to trust as well is Queercents from our friend Nina Smith. She has a fun, sometimes quirky but always humorous site that shares others' insights into the world of being gay and financially aware. See for yourself, by checking out the site. I love their recent post Turning Spenders into Savers; Why We Buy. And I love her motto; we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re not going shopping without coupons!

News and Notes

Here’s a quick summary of information we’ve received from our friends in the blogosphere about relevant news coverage and new blog series. We hope you’ll check them out for the latest and greatest on gay and lesbian communications:

• Our friend Dana Rudolph at Mombian let us know about an Entrepreneur story on marketing same-sex weddings that was recently picked up by msnbc.com. As Dana said to us, it’s nice to see stories like this getting picked up in so-called “mainstream” outlets.

• Our friend Nina Smith at Queercents sent us an announcement about a new series they’ve launched called “How to Stretch Your Food Dollar.’ It’s an informative (and helpful) look at creative ways to eat well on a budget.

• Our new friend Jacque Wing at The Trevor Project gave us a heads-up (after reading Eddy's post on the organization) on a new program the Project is launching this year to combat LGBTQ youth suicide. We’ll have more on this program in the coming weeks, but for now check it out on their Web site.

Do you have other relevant gay and lesbian communications news? Let us know and we may feature it here in the future.

Gay Media Matters Redux

Last month, I blogged about the importance of gay media and discussed the potential sale of The Advocate and Out to a new publisher in light of current owner PlanetOut’s financial difficulties. At the end of last week, we learned (thanks to the Gay & Lesbian Leadership SmartBrief) that Mediaweek and other publications are reporting that a unit of here! Networks has signed a “binding letter of intent” to buy the magazine and book publishing arm of PlanetOut for a reported $6 million. According to the article and a press release on the the PlanetOut Inc. Web site, the deal is expected to close by August 31.

I hope this announcement is good news and that here! will continue to promote the power of our voices in these important print publications. here! seems to be a on a tear lately, with growing success in broadcast and online ventures so I’m hoping that means their “deep pockets” will be put to good use in bolstering these gay print media icons.

I was also interested to see the circulation and ad page figures for both The Advocate and Out mentioned in the article. Apparently, although the circulation figures are up for both magazines, the ad pages were down last year. The article cites several reasons for the slide (lack of a publisher for part of the year, a decline in entertainment and pharmaceutical advertising, etc.), but I wonder what you think. We’ve talked a bit lately about advertising and various new campaigns aimed at our community. At the same time, we’re hearing about the decline of gay print advertising in two leading print publications. Is this evidence of a trend or just a symptom of PlanetOut’s troubles? Share your thoughts in the comments below.   

Market Mashup

Nina Smith at Queercents recently alerted us to a guest blog by Sarah Dopp on how people  who "reject traditional gender roles" throw a wrench in today's marketing machine. In doing so, though, those people then have to deal with an excessive amount of messages that don't apply to their non-traditional lives.

It's an entertaining read to start the week. 

Communications Resources Around the Web

We receive a steady stream of emails updating us on events, activities and feature stories on various Web sites. We also get notes from our blogger friends about new series and features on their blogs. We thought we'd share a few of our favorites with you today to give you some insight into what we find most interesting and relevant to advancing the conversation about gay and lesbian communications:

• Dana Rudolph of Mombian regularly features information and resources of value to lesbian moms (and to all gay parents, really). If you're wondering how best to communicate with gay parents as an audience, visit Mombian to learn more about what motivates gay parents and the issues they care about. Check out her most recent "LGBT Parenting Roundup" for background on the latest developments across the country affecting LGBT parents.
• Joe LaMuraglia of GayWheels.com needs no introduction to regular Advocate readers who have noticed the regular auto review features Joe and his team have been writing. Gaywheels.com covers the auto industry like no one else in our community and provides information about the auto industry leaders doing the most to reach our community. Check out their regularly updated list of top 10 researched vehicles to gain an understanding of the cars our community is most interested in.
• Nina Smith and the team at Queercents focus on finance, accounting and personal budgeting for LGBT people (I love their site tagline: "We're Here, We're Queer and We're Not Going Shopping without Coupons"). Reading their posts gives you a great sense of how to communicate with our community about money and financial issues and just what we care about the most when it comes to our wallets and pocketbooks. And don't miss their ongoing 10 Money Questions series which features insightful interviews with well-known gay people about their views on money: the newest interview with Mariah Hanson (founder of The Dinah) is really interesting.
• Michael Lamb's Echelon Magazine bills itself as "the source for GLBT business professionals" and features news and information about business communications efforts relevant to our community. They're a good resource for the latest news on business initiatives, consumer and other survey results and related activities. Check out their recent story on the Air New Zealand "Pink Flight" if you're interested in the latest on this marketing effort that we covered extensively last fall. 

Note that you can visit these sites and blogs anytime by clicking on the links to the left. If you visit any of our friends, come back and let us know what you think. And please let us know your favorites, particularly if they include sites that we don't list: we're always interested in learning about additional LGBT communications resources on the Web.

Recession Questions

With media coverage of an impending recession mounting, I’m waiting for the predictable wave of “how will we get out of this situation?” coverage that generally follows such coverage. Generally, these follow-on stories address the sectors of the economy that will “rebound” first, the companies best positioned to emerge in the strongest position, etc. Predictably, the stories don’t generally address the role of specific audience segments like gays and lesbians in helping boost the economy with spending and other behaviors that contribute to economic recovery. 

As we’ve discussed many times before, gays and are a powerful economic force. With our large buying power and loyalty to marketers that genuinely engage us, we are – or should be – a prime audience for companies looking to engage key audiences to weather the impacts of uncertain economic conditions. 

To that point, here are my suggestions for the top three market sectors that could/should consider direct engagement with gay and lesbian consumers now and in the future to help survive the expected economic downturn:

The well-dressed bear

I was listening to my local NPR station’s broadcast of Marketplace on my post-work drive home recently. Amid the news on falling interest rates and stock prices, I was not surprised by the  story introduction noting the big-and-tall market in menswear is worth $5 billion and growing.

Just when it seemed I was in line for another real-life example of a sliver lining in today’s economic forecast, the story took an interesting turn. This seemingly mundane introduction led to a pretty keen marketing lesson in knowing your audience and more importantly knowing how to reach them.

Reporter Jennifer Collins introduces the listener to a California-based clothing designer Dave Friedman who is aiming to bring style to what he terms “Soprano Wear,” dark clothing with vertical stripes.  In his journey toward making a name in a niche market, the founder of Colossal clothing is delving deep into the niche market, very deep as in this route: clothing/men/big-and-tall/gay men/bears.

Down and Out

PlanetOut Inc. and it’s financial troubles are back in the news these days.  We’ve posted on it in the past, and both gay and mainstream media has been following the story for some time. 

Today comes more financial troubles that pushed the stock prices of PlanetOut Inc. down 23 percent to $4.75 per share Tuesday after the LGBT media giant made statements that it may sell itself.  This comes after the owner of gay.com, planetout.com, The Advocate, Out magazine and Out Traveler, among other properties, saw stock prices drop dramatically in May after reporting 1Q 2007 losses widening due to low ad sales and increased operating costs. 

Suze Says

I don’t normally watch Larry King Live on CNN, but the TV choices last week were slim and I found myself channel surfing on Wednesday night. When I saw that Suze Orman was Larry’s guest, I decided to sample a bit of the show. 

As you may know, Suze came out in a New York Times Magazine interview last year in what had to be one of the biggest non-story coming out stories of the year. Although our friends at Queercents blogged about it, I think a lot of folks missed it, and I doubt that many of even her most ardent fans are aware that she’s a lesbian and has apparently been in a committed relationship for some time. The coverage of that announcement was pretty low-key and there wasn’t lots of follow-up after the fact.

I haven’t followed Suze’s career that closely since that announcement, but from what I have observed, she has kept a fairly low personal profile since the story appeared. In keeping with the matter-of-fact way that she seems to address most things, she has just been working and talking about personal finance issues as usual.

That changed on Wednesday’s Larry King Live broadcast. In a conversation about politics and the presidential candidates she prefers, Suze said “it’s no secret that I’m in a same-sex relationship and have been for a long time” and proceeded to talk about how important it was for her personally to have a president in the White House who would make it easier for her to have the same rights to leave her estate to her partner without paying estate tax. It was a moment of candor made all the more remarkable by how matter of fact it was. No fanfare, no big announcement, just a statement about who she is and why the issues matter to her personally within the context of a broader "non-gay" conversation. 

It's not just a game anymore

What may be only a blip on media radar this week is actually a monumental mark in gay and lesbian history – at least as far as gay and lesbian sporting events and the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) are concerned.  Yesterday, Chicago Games Inc. announced that the 2006 Gay Games financially had broken even. 

In 2003, local organizers promised to make Chicago’s version of the seventh quadrennial Gay Games a financial success, largely based on an innovative and aggressive business plan that eventually netted a record 400 corporate sponsors. 

There were any number of obstacles for the Windy City committee, not the least was having two fewer years of planning after being selected in a re-bid after FGG parted ways with original 2006 event host city Montreal just three years before the scheduled event.  There also was the negative financial legacy of past games, with Sydney’s 2002 games hitting a seven-figure loss, which threatened the future of the Gay Games themselves. 

Look Who's Investing In PlanetOut

Yesterday, I wrote about PlanetOut’s success in securing new financing to avoid insolvency. Today Jeremy Hooper’s Good As You blog reports that Bill Gates is one of the investors who participated in PlanetOut’s “private placement financing” announced yesterday. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer had the story first and you can read it here.

I don’t think one investment should classify as a trend, but I do think Mr. Gates’ investment is a sign that respected business leaders understand the value and importance of the LGBT community as an audience. And I hope it means that the LGBT business community is becoming recognized as more than a niche market. As our community’s spending power increases, the companies in our community that serve us should grow as well.

Now that PlanetOut has new funding, I look forward to hearing more about their next business moves. For example, I just read an article in Mediaweek about the company’s plans revamp The Advocate and Out. The company’s plans are consistent with the ongoing growth of the market and I hope they indicate growing interest in our community from a variety of audiences. 

What do you think?  Give us your comments below.

PlanetOut on the rebound? Let's Hope So.

The folks at PlanetOut Inc. might be experiencing a Mark Twain moment today with rumors of the company’s demise circulating leading up to a weekend deadline for new funding required to keep the media conglomerate solvent. According to published reports, the company needed to secure $7 million in financing by June 30 to avoid insolvency. 

Although it’s not getting much news pickup yet today, the company announced this morning that it had successfully raised more than $26 million in “private placement financing.” That apparently means the company has what it needs to continue moving forward in the reorganization plan that CEO Karen Magee has been discussing in media as of late.

This is good news for many reasons. PlanetOut was the first LGBT media company to be listed on the NASDAQ (it trades under the ticker “LGBT”) and is the owner of many iconic names in LGBT media including The Advocate and Out. The company also owns RSVP Vacations and a host of Web sites and other media outlets. But more importantly, the company is an example of the increasing power and relevance of LGBT marketing. PlanetOut’s existence demonstrates to the business world that our community is comprised of more than just locally owned newspapers and small businesses targeting specific niches or audiences. As our community grows in size and more marketers recognize the value of reaching out to us, I hope that PlanetOut will grow and prosper and that it will be joined by other examples of LGBT business leadership.

There’s been a lot of discussion online in the past several months about the future of The Advocate and Out given PlanetOut’s rocky financial situation and about the relative value of these publications given their publication history. I can make just as many comments about specific reporting in each publication too, but the more important thing is that we continue to have LGBT voices in media representing our community. We need these outlets to provide the independent news voice that we don’t get in so-called "mainstream" media. There’s a lot that PlanetOut could do better, but I think our community (and the country, for that matter) is much better off with them than without them.

DC Gay Pride - Corporations Come Out

Yup, that's me... Out Front blogger Pete Klaus!  This past weekend I took to the streets at the 32nd annual celebration of DC's Capital Pride parade and street festival.  I was particularly excited to see so many associations, corporations, and media entities taking an active role in reaching out to and communicating with the LGBT community this year.

I actually walked in the parade on Saturday on behalf of Ganymede Arts, DC's premier LGBT arts company whose goal is to foster social and cultural awareness of and for the LGBT community.  I should note here that in addition to my career as a strategic communicator for Fleishman-Hillard, I'm also a classically trained actor and have performed in several productions for Ganymede (formerly known as the Actors' Theatre of Washington)... including Jean Genet's Deathwatch, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses.  Anyhow, enough about me...

The street festival, which took place on Sunday, gave me the chance to stop by the booths and pavilions set up by corporate heavyweights including:

Accenture, Adams Bank, Alpha Drugs, AOL, Bank of America, Fannie Mae, FIGI Water, Hard Rock Cafe, HGTV (above, see pic of me playing their Plinkoesque prize game at Capital Pride), KPMG, Marriot, Northrop Grumman, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Southwest, Stacy's (pita chips) SunTrust, Travel Gay Canada, Wachovia, Yuengling, and Zipcar.

I have to say, the financial and consulting companies really impressed me in particular.  I remember when I first graduated from college and was considering a job with a well-known investment bank.  As I researched the company, I came across an article from a major daily newspaper that discussed the financial world being particularly unfriendly, in general, to LGBT employees.  True or not, that article's headline really discouraged me from pursuing the opportunity. 

To see these major financial and consulting companies out in force at Capital Pride somehow restored a little bit of my faith in the ability of people and society to evolve... and all it really took was for me to realize that they were, in fact, attempting to communicate with me (and us).  I'm even more impressed with those companies that share their support of diversity front and center, day in and day out, on their globally accessible Web sites.

Northrop Grumman's homepage actually has a dedicated section entitled "Diversity."  The page dedicated to diversity features a picture of and statement from the company's Chairman and CEO, Ronald D. Sugar.  One word: WOW.  PricewaterhouseCoopers also does a fantastic job with its dedicated diversity section, specifically describing its support of the LGBT community.  Way to go, PwC!

Below, just a few more pictures I took of the various corporations participating at DC's Capital Pride. Click the pictures to expand them to full size. Enjoy...

 

We're Here. We're Queer. Advertisers are used to it.

It’s no news to us that advertisers and marketers are targeting our community now more than ever; however, the scale of ad buy growth may surprise us as consumers and even astound us as communications professionals.  Ad revenue at gay and lesbian publications expanded at almost triple the mainstream rate over the past decade, according to a report issued earlier this week by ad agency Prime Access Inc. and Rivendell Media.

Over the past 10 years, ad revenue for all consumer magazines grew at a compound annual rate of 4% versus an 11.8% pace for gay-targeted media, according to the study data.

The net number of companies advertising to our community is even more impressive.

The Power of One, Part II

Yesterday I posted Part I of my conversation with Deb Dillon, president and founder of Muses Legal Products. We talked about the inspiration for her creation of the company and her own personal experience. In today’s conclusion to our conversation, Deb talks about communicating the need to plan for the future and her company’s next steps.

Ben Finzel: I think there's a certain laissez faire attitude about planning for the future in the gay community, which is odd given how few protections we actually have. How do you convey the importance of planning for the future to gays and lesbians?

Deb Dillon: The best way I can answer that question is to share with you a recent telephone call I received. A long time couple, Richard and Mike, were vacationing in Oregon when the unthinkable happened. Richard, who was a very fit and healthy 43 year old man, suddenly collapsed and was rushed to a hospital in Portland. They learned the devastating news that Richard had a rare disease and he had collapsed because his kidneys had failed – he had merely weeks to live and perhaps only days of conscious alertness. Mike called Muses because they had been to our website and talked about needing to plan for the future but hadn’t gotten around to doing anything about it yet – they thought they had plenty of time. Without going into great detail, once Richard’s family learned of the illness, they began emptying out the house that Richard had inherited and shared with Mike; assumed all medical decisions while keeping Mike in the dark, etc.  Mike asked Muses if there was anything we could do to help. After we determined which documents Mike and Richard wanted to use as well as the state of their residence, we were able to e-mail the documents to the hospital and the hospital had a notary on staff so they were able to keep the tragedy from becoming even more disastrous. As I know all too well from my own brush with death, these sorts of things don’t always happen to someone else.

The Power of One

My partner Mark and I have spent a good deal of time talking about how to protect our relationship and the steps we want to take to ensure we’ll be okay should the unthinkable happen. I’m not sure if it’s the news stories I’ve seen about partners being denied access to each other in the hospital or the experience of some of my friends, but this an issue that really resonates with me. 

Earlier this year, our FH Out Front practice had the opportunity to begin working with an inspirational business leader on the launch of a product that directly addresses this issue. Deborah Dillon is a 50-year old married woman living in Louisville, Kentucky (photo at left courtesy of Deborah Dillon). She’s developed the first legal software package for gay and lesbian (and unmarried straight) couples. The package allows the user to customize legal documents that fit their particular needs: whether it be hospital visitation or joint ownership of property or myriad other daily issues.

Deb developed the software tool, and launched a new company (Muses Legal Products), after being diagnosed with a brain tumor that caused her to reexamine her priorities and consider new perspectives about life and living. Deb’s own experience included the frustrating realization that her husband didn’t have access to her medical records meaning she’d need to take special steps to ensure he could care for her and make decisions should anything happen to her. This realization was expanded when a gay friend reminded Deb that gay couples experience these kinds of challenges every day.