Pleasant Grove City vs. Summum

This week the Supreme Court unanimously decided in favor of letting the city of Pleasant Grove disallow a monument by the Summum religion in the city's Pioneer Park. themostsearched has been monitoring this case and will continue to do so as it has local interest to us and far-reaching implications both with communities within and without Utah.

First some background. Pioneer Park is what I would call a small city park roughly the size of a half city block located in the downtown area of small-to-midsize bedroom-community town of Pleasant Grove. As a frequent driver in Pleasant Grove, I've driven by it several times but never really paid much attention (good drivers always keep their eyes on the road!) In light of the ruling, yesterday my sons and I paid a visit to the park as the Supreme Court's decision made national headlines this week. Amazingly they hadn't ever been to the park despite their relative proximity to their home (just over a mile). The park is dominated by some authentic pioneer log cabins including the first local school. While the buildings were closed for winter, a number of monuments had been placed in the park including a stone from the Nauvoo Temple. I photographed my sons with a monument located in the back of the park's southern half donated in 1971 by the Fraternal Order of the Eagles and quoting the 10 commandments; this is the monument cited by the Summum religion in their case against the city.

Summum is what I would describe as a religious cult based in Salt Lake City: cult because they are a small, non-mainstream religious organization which among things emphasizes sexual conduct including masterbation and homosexuality using a product they call Merh. Summum is one of a very few wineries in the state of strict-alchohol-regulation Utah and produces "Nectar" it claims to use in religious services within is pyramid-shaped religious edifice. Its leader and founder died last month. They follow a set of 7 Aphorisms unique to their cult (ie "everything vibrates") the way a Christian might follow the 10 commandments. While their is little commonality in themostsearched's values and Summum's I do admire their devotion to the mummification processes as has been documented by the science community including National Geographic. In summary, Summum has about as much to do with the history, culture, or values of Pleasant Grove as might Gnosticism, which is virtually none--for a wide majority of residents descend from Mormon pioneers to the area. To the residents of Pleasant Grove Summum is obscure at least and better said unknown, its followers few if any, and its value system at odds with theirs.


I can imagine the surprise from city leaders when in Summum requested in 2005 request for a monument equal in size to the FOE's Ten Commandments be placed in the park emphasizing their 7 Aphorisms: Summum who??? The city rejected the request and Summum began a court battle which was appealed to the Supreme Court.


In the court's ruling, the court recognized the right to "government speech" which is narrow and limited including restrictions against "offensive or partisan messages". However, it did leave open the question of whether the monument could be a violation of the establishment clause; under these grounds Summum vowed to continue the court battle.


What remains is the question why? Why did Summum choose to place a monument in Pleasant Grove of all places and then decide to back up the rejection of it in a court battle? My opinion is that they have extracted a plethora of funds from their sales of Merh and more importantly mummifications (pet mummifications cost $25K) and used the case as a way of advertising their cult. The decision to pursue the court case shows the mean-spiritedness of the cult and desire for self-aggrandizement which has, as pointed out, nothing to do with Pleasant Grove. Summum has received no grevience from Pleasant Grove: the city hasn't denied an application for religious building permit nor posted any form of anti-Summum communication. Summum has the right to post their Aphorisms in a monument on their own land. Yet Summum picked a fight and I applaud the leaders of Pleasant Grove for not caving in and spending the funds for this legal victory to preserve this small piece of heritage.

Community Marketing's GLBT Travel Marketing Symposium in London

Community Marketing and their team (Tom Roth and David Paisley) held yet another successful all-day series of workshops, panels and seminars, helping to educate companies as to the "how's and why's" of marketing to the GLBT community, in this case specifically for the travel market.

The turnout, despite the recession, was very good and incredibly, almost everyone stayed until the very end where myself, Thomas Boemkes and Serge Gojkovich spoke on GLBT online marketing in terms of more advanced social network marketing.

The presentations during the day came from an incredible roster of speakers, including Martine Ainsworth Wells of Visit London, and Andrew Stokes of Marketing Manchester.  In addition, we got to hear from Andrew Roberts of Amro Worldwide Travel on the success and increased PR achieved through the "So Gay" campaign they did in 2008, together with Ian Johnson of Out Now Consulting.

Attendees included tourism folks from Sweden, London and throughout the UK, as well as Switzerland, Ireland and other destinations from around Europe.

Photos from the event can be seen at:

In addition, we're pleased to announce the launch of our new Flickr GLBT Business Photo group, found at:

New Webinar Series for 2009

Updated presentation adds more detail on “touch points” and the power of influential contacts in your network

Our company, Pink Banana Media, is taking our successful seminar series we’ve done in various cities over the past few years and bringing it online throughout 2009.

Our presentation has changed these past few years, focusing on the various aspects of Social Network Marketing and helping to define just what is Web 2.0 and how does it fit in with a company’s overall marketing mix.  There are so many perceived options, including blogs, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and more, and our goal has been to both demistify this environment as well as break it down into what is most important for a company today when trying to promote their product or service in this new online frontiers.

Key concepts have been “speaking with” your customer base rather than “speaking to.”  This is a big one, and underlies the fundamental shift in marketing overall, as the goal is now 
to “enter into our customers conversations” rather than simply “broadcast to.”

Our main seminar points, still included in our presentation today, cover the basics of a blog, a Facebook group and photos, and how to utilize those tools to get the word out in the best way possible.  Topic highlights include photo tagging, a blog’s RSS feed, and the basics of Facebook key word advertising.  

Setting up the blog and the photos in some of the various social network “touch points” including Flickr, Plaxo, LinkedIn and MyBlogLog have been the cornerstones of more modern social network marketing, allowing content to spread virally in some of the key social networks online that have some of the strongest overall traffic.  It is this topic that has been expanded in our updated seminar and webinar series for 2009.  Delving into more detail, we’re able to help companies understand how to take their social network marketing to that next level.  Now that it is becoming more easily understood that the Internet is the new operating system of the future, the concept of placing photos in one location, content in the form of a blog in another location, and allowing that content to spread far and wide through preset social network connections a company has set up exclusively for their needs, is the primary topic that has been further elaborated on in our presentation.

We also touch on the more advanced, and in some ways more labor-intensive aspects of social network marketing, presenting examples which should allow a company to decide if ramping up their social network marketing efforts is right for them.  Working a customized social network using Ning.com, for example, or watching various blogs and other niche social networks from which to both participate, post and comment on ongoing conversations, can work very well in taking a company’s online marketing to that next level.

The power of networking in Facebook Groups, as well as focusing on the key “influencers” in social networking including Facebook group leaders and administrators, power Twitter users, Yelp reviewers and key industry bloggers is expanded upon in a way that should hopefully demistify this level of online marketing taking hold in 2009.

Watch for our upcoming webinar schedule in our next Gay Business Report in March 2009.

February 2009 Gay Business Report

New Webinar Series for 2009
Updated presentation adds more detail on “touch points” and the power of influential contacts in your network

Be sure to watch for our freshly updated seminar and webinar series for 2009, covering the world of Social Network and Web 2.0 marketing to the GLBT?community. With almost 50% new material, focusing on new topics such as Power Influencers and how to connect with them, as well as expanding on the best Touch Points your company can have when making outreach in this new frontiers, this seminar/webinar series will show you both how to do it all in-house, as well as help bring some new concepts to your overall online marketing mix....


Recession, but no depression: LGBT media organizations are cutting costs, but weathering the economic downturn

The current economy’s impact on the media industry has been well documented. In December, for example, Detroit’s newspapers cut home delivery to three days a week, printing smaller editions on the other days. In January, the Chicago Tribune repackaged itself into tabloid format for distribution at newsstands, while subscribers will continue to receive the paper in traditional broadsheet format....


NGLCC Leaders Attend White House Discussions on Economic Stimulus Plans

The leadership of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) joined other leading U.S. business executives and organizations on Jan. 28 to discuss President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package with his top advisors, including Jason Berman, the White House's economic policy director....


Other Highlights


  • 5 Types of Posts to Feed Your Business Blog
  • Survey Shows Inbound Marketing Becoming More Important to Small Businesses
  • U.S. Gays and Lesbians Continue to Travel Despite Economic Downturn
  • Massachusetts Launces GLBT Tourism Site

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Spotlight on Boston

Boston is ground zero for gay rights in the United States thanks to the Massachusetts legalization of gay marriage in May 2004; the GLBT community here is politically and socially active, and continues to grow. The epicenter of activity remains the picturesque South End, which enjoys the reputation of the country's oldest Victorian brick rowhouse district; pretty and distinctly quaint, it houses growing numbers of gays and young families. As real estate prices rose through the early 2000s, however, an increasing segment of the community has moved just south of the city to the burgeoning district of Dorchester. To the north of the Charles River, which wends its way from Boston Harbor westward, lies Cambridge, housing the state's two most famed universities, Harvard and MIT, along with the lesbian-ppopular residential streets of Somerville.

Most of the bars and clubs still cluster around the city's popular Theatre District just east of the South End (Popular nights include Dedo on Tuesdays, Club Cafe on Fridays, Buzz and Fritz on Saturdays and Chaps on Sundays), while the mixed area surrounding Fenway Park and the entertainment-laden Landsdowne Street include popular nights as well (Embassy on Thursdays, Machine/Ramrod on Fridays, Pink on Saturdays, and Avalon on Sundays). Other venues include Paradise in Cambridge (the puritan Boston equivalent of a strip club), Toast in Somerville, levi/leather bar The Alley in downtown, and renowned drag bar Jacques on the fringe of Chinatown. Boston's only after-hours venue is Rise, a two-floor, non-alcoholic membership club that is popular on Saturday nights.

There are currently no parties on the circuit hosted in Boston, but the annual Pride Week is highly attended by individuals from all over New England. The city enjoys two print publications - Bay Windows and in newsweekly (an HX Magazine publication). Online, EDGE Boston (EDGEboston.com) enjoys a large regional readership and hosts regular nightlife parties in town. 

A few hours from Boston by ferry, plane or car lies Provincetown, MA, a popular gay resort on the tip of Cape Cod. In the summer, most GLBT Bostonians frequent this welcoming little fishing village to enjoy one of the country's top ten beaches, and a range of exciting restaurants and nightlife. More information on Provincetown can be found online at EDGEprovincetown.com or at the local business guild's website, Ptown.org.


PRINT
Boston Phoenix: www.phx.com
Bay Windows: www.BayWindows.com
Boston Spirit: www.BostonSpiritMagazine.com
Pink Pages: www.pinkweb.com
Rainbow Times: www.therainbowtimesmass.com
Golden Rainbow Times: www.goldenrainbowtimesnewspaper.com
INTERNET
www.EdgeBoston.com
gayboston.blogspot.com
www.LGBTMassVacation.com
EVENTS
Boston Pride: www.BostonPride.org
BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS
www.gbbc.org
www.centralmassbusinesscouncil.com
ORGANIZATIONS
AIDS Action Committee: www.aac.org
Boston Gay Men's Chorus: www.bgmc.org
Boston Alliance of GLBT Youth: www.bagly.org


For the full-color PDF, please go to:
http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/gmg2008-boston.pdf

Spotlight on Atlanta

Just about everyone along the East Coast of the U.S. knows Atlanta is the queer 'Mecca' of the South. Gays and lesbians have flocked to this Southern metropolis over the years in droves - and for good reason. 

Atlanta has one of the most progressive and largest gay & lesbian communities in the entire South, excluding Florida.  Anchored by Piedmont Park, north of the city, we start with the Midtown area of Atlanta.  In Midtown, the gay community is spread out all throughout this region, with clusters of bars, restaurants and other gay retailers including Blakes on the Park and Outwrite Books; Ansley Mall, north of Midtown on Piedmont and Monroe with Burkhart's Pub, Brushstrokes, a number of other bars and the famous Cowtippers restaurant halfway between Midtown and Ansley Mall; Cheshire Bridge Road with The Heretic and other bars; Woofs even farther north; east side of Piedmont Park with Big Red Tomato and Red Chair; and the Midtown Promenade with Hoedowns and other bars.

Atlanta has two strong gay & lesbian business associations, and both their pride and film festivals are some of the largest in the country.  In addition, their local Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) has begun marketing Atlanta officially to gay & lesbian travelers and has a section of their website dedicated to this sector.  Delta Airlines, based in Atlanta, has also begun to make outreach to the gay & lesbian community and has marketed itself in event, print and Internet advertising in 2004.


PRINT
David Atlanta Magazine: www.DavidAtlanta.com
Southern Voice: www.Sovo.com
Labrys Atlanta: www.labrysatl.com
INTERNET
www.Gay-Atlanta.com
www.AtlantaBoy.com
www.ProjectQAtlanta.com
EVENTS
Atlanta Pride: www.AtlantaPride.org
Black Pride Atlanta: www.inthelifeatl.com
Out On Film: www.OutOnFilm.com
BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS
www.aen.org
www.AtlantaGayChamber.com
ORGANIZATIONS
Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus: www.AGMChorus.org
Gay Atlanta Sports: www.gaytlsports.com


For the full-color PDF file, please go to http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/gmg2008-atlanta.pdf

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