By John Mack Freeman. Thanks to Carolyn Caywood for the tip!
Richmond, Virginia is outing itself. In fact, it’s sending letters to other cities across America, letting them know the news:
The letters are part of the OutRVA campaign which seeks to turn Richmond into an LGBT travel destination. Via the Times-Dispatch:
Estimates of the size of the U.S. gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender population vary.
LGBT consumers make up 5 to 10 percent of the U.S. market, according to Community Marketing.
About 3.5 percent of adults in the United States identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and about 0.3 percent of adults are transgender, according to the Williams Institute, a think tank at UCLA’s School of Law focused on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
Based on the 2010 population count, the federal Census Bureau estimated there are 131,729 same-sex married couple households and 514,735 same-sex unmarried partner households in the United States, or about 0.6 percent of all households. The bureau put the number of same-sex couples living in Virginia at 14,243.
By comparison, the total U.S. population is about 318.8 million and Virginia’s is nearly 8.3 million, according to Census Bureau figures.
[…]
The OutRVA campaign fits into Richmond Region Tourism’s overall marketing message highlighting the metro area as a vibrant and sophisticated place to visit, said Katherine O’Donnell, the tourism organization’s vice president of community relations.
“I don’t think anyone would be surprised if New York or San Francisco or Key West ‘comes out,’ †she said. “Richmond coming out as LGBT-friendly will surprise a lot of people.â€
In doing that, OutRVA marks a shift in the tenor of life in metro Richmond since the city’s first tiny gay and lesbian pride gathering in 1984.
“It’s been an amazing change in a relatively short time
For more information, visit the campaign website here.
