Bonnie Weller, Philadelphia Inquirer Henry David at Philadelphia's Gay Fest on Oct. 8.

By Mackenzie Carpenter
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Key West? Of course. Provincetown, Mass.? A no-brainer.

But Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., are also listed as among the top 21 most "gay-friendly" travel destinations in the United States, according to a recent national survey by the Travel Industry Association.

Pittsburgh isn't there yet, although local tourism officials vow that will change, as they join other cities -- from the Rust Belt to the Bible Belt -- in seeking the increasingly lucrative gay and lesbian tourist dollar, estimated at $64 billion last year.

It's a shift that represents not just increased marketing efforts by those cities, but an increased tolerance of diversity in American culture, say experts.

		Gay-friendly Pittsburgh Here is a list of hotels, inns, bed-and-breakfasts and shops that have advertised in the Navigaytor, a local brochure put out by VisitPittsburgh touting gay-friendly accommodations/attractions: Places to stay The Priory, North Side The Inn on the Mexican War Streets, North Side The Parador, Allegheny West The Hampton Inn University Center, Oakland Embassy Suites Hotel, Pittsburgh International Airport Omni William Penn Hotel, Downtown The Hilton Pittsburgh, Downtown Holiday Inn Parkway East, Wilkinsburg The guide also lists other places to stay, the Arbors Bed and Breakfast on the North Side and the Holiday Inn Pittsburgh Airport Gay bars and clubs The following have advertised in the Navigaytor: Pegasus Lounge and Dance Club, Downtown Eagle Dance Club, North Side Sidekicks Video Lounge, Downtown The guide also lists 11 other gay bars and clubs that didn't buy advertising. Shops Bella Arte, Shadyside Eons, Shadyside Little Europe, Moon Helpful web sites Order a free copy of Pittsburgh & Its Countryside City Navigaytor. www.communitymarket inginc.com/demographics.cfm www.tagapproved.com/tag-accommodations.cfm www.gophila.com (go to Your Philadelphia then click on GLBT)

In the past, says Bill Gehr-man of Altus Group, a Philadelphia-based advertising agency that crafted that city's much-praised gay tourism campaign, gays traveled "to get away and be with people who were just like them, towns like Provincetown or San Francisco that were purely gay."

Now, however, "more and more gay travelers want and are able to go to a destination and enjoy the same things everyone else enjoys and feel more welcome."

Still, he added, "You can have the greatest attractions in the world, but if you're not known as being tolerant, it just goes down the drain."

That's where the poll by the Travel Industry Association comes in, which the group calls the first comprehensive study done on this subject.

Respondents identifying themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT) were asked to identify places -- from a list of 75 metropolitan areas, in the United States and Canada -- where they'd like to travel.

The three most important factors for this group were: whether a place is safe and free from intimidation and threats; whether it is culturally welcoming and known to support diversity and GLBT civil rights; and word of mouth.

By far, though, the "friendliness" quotient came first, with nearly half of those surveyed citing its importance, said Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications, which co-sponsored the survey.

"It's about whether you can hold your partner's hand in public, whether you're safe from harassment or physical violence," he said.

Pittsburgh wasn't included on the survey's list of places for respondents to choose from, Mr. Witeck said, mainly due to space considerations, although other cities that have more aggressively wooed gay tourists may have earned a spot on the list for that reason.

How does a city become gay-friendly, anyway?

The answer seems to be as much about culture and history as it is about marketing. San Francisco's reputation as a gay mecca has its roots in the 1849 Gold Rush, according to Laurie Armstrong, of the city's Visitor Information Center.

"Thousands of people, mostly men, came here to seek their fortunes," she noted. "What kind of people would do that? Risk takers, we know, and people who didn't have anything to leave behind, who were different and who came to California to make a new start."

While San Francisco's gays were as closeted as others in America during much of its history, the election of openly gay Harvey Milk as the city's supervisor in the 1970s encouraged others to come out. By the 1980s, a "gay-friendly" travel destination was born, with gay travel agents, tour operators and gay media helping to promote it.

"Can you become a gay-friendly destination overnight? I doubt it," Ms. Armstrong said. But pointing out things that attract gay visitors, from cultural activities to sports, -- "I can't tell you how many gay guys you see cheering at football games here" -- will go a long way to attract the gay visitor.

	Top 21 gay-friendly U.S. destinations 1. San Francisco 2. Key West 3. New York, N.Y. 4. Fire Island, N.Y. 5. Provincetown, Mass. 6. Los Angeles 7. Miami/South Beach 8. Las Vegas 9. New Orleans 10. Palm Springs/Palm Desert 11. Boston 12. Chicago 13. Fort Lauderdale/Wilton Manors 14. San Diego 15. Seattle/Bellevue 16. Washington, D.C. 17. Honolulu 18. Palm Beach/West Palm Beach/Boca Raton 19. Portland, Ore. 20. Philadelphia 21. (tie) Providence, R.I.; Rehoboth Beach, Del. Source: Travel Industry Association, Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications

Other, more surprising places are vying for gay tourists, such as Bloomington, Ind., and Dallas in the heart of the Bible Belt.

"I know a lot people may be surprised," said Philip Jones of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, "but there's a whole movement in the travel industry reaching out to this market, and we wanted to make sure Dallas was well-positioned to take advantage of it."

Too many people had an image of this city of 1.2 million from the popular 1970s television potboiler "Dallas," he added, "where people with lots of money and big hair sat around drinking margaritas."

Besides having the sixth-largest GLBT population in the country, Dallas is also the site of the largest GLBT church in the country. There is an openly gay city council member, the city's elected sheriff is a lesbian, and there is a nationally recognized gay neighborhood, Oak Lawn.

Faced with the challenge of rebranding itself, the bureau hired a full-time staff person to position Dallas as a gay-friendly destination, and launched a Web site, www.glbtdallas.com/index2.php, specifically targeted at gays.

It hosted "fan" tours and gay-themed conventions and cultivated important GLBT travel publications and made sure that more than 20 hotels are listed as "gay-friendly" on a national database run by Travel Alternatives Group, www.tagapproved.com/tag-accommodations.cfm, which identifies accommodations "based not only on their desire for gay travel revenues," according to the Web site, "but on their employment policies, services, and support returned to the gay community."

But the city that has most aggressively pursued the gay travel dollar is Philadelphia, said Jerry McHugh, manager of market research for San Francisco-based Community Marketing, one of the top GLBT tourism marketing firms in the country.

"No city has done it as vigorously, and that includes San Francisco," said Mr. McHugh, citing a highly creative advertising campaign that skillfully wove the city's historical attractions and its nightlife into a compelling package.

"Philadelphia was the first city to actually do a television ad aimed at the gay community," he said.

The ads by Philadelphia-based Althus Group "didn't use drag queens or muscle boys," but, rather, featured local icons such as Betsy Ross and Benjamin Franklin. Instead of sewing the American flag, she worked on the rainbow flag, the symbol of the GLBT movement, and he flew a kite in rainbow colors to test electricity. The ad campaign's tagline was "Get your history straight and your nightlife gay."

While Altus Group also published Pittsburgh's City "Navigaytor," which was unveiled here in 2005, a brochure alone isn't going to have the same kind of impact, Mr. McHugh says. "You can have the greatest ad agency in the world but if the budget and political will isn't there, it won't happen."

"It's about leadership," added Mr. Witeck. "A city can't whisper 'welcome.' You have to say it out loud. The cities who say it out loud and get it are the ones that win."

Beverly Morrow Jones, a spokeswoman for Visit Pittsburgh, the city's tourism information bureau, says the city is prepared to do that.

"VisitPittsburgh is very interested in pursuing the GLBT marketplace," she said. "We've found tremendous acceptance from that community, who are amazed, once they visit, about how wonderful Pittsburgh is and how welcoming we are."

The "Navigaytor" has been well-received since its launch two years ago, added Mr. Gehrman of Altus Group. The 20-page brochure includes ads from the Pittsburgh Opera, the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, and several inns and bed-and-breakfasts on the city's North Side.

"We get more pro-active calls from people about Pittsburgh's guide than any of the others we've produced, maybe because people are so surprised and delighted to see it," he said.

Pittsburgh's image also has gotten a boost in the gay community by serving as the setting for the Showtime series about gay life, "Queer as Folk."

Even so, the city's reputation as "gay-friendly" remains relatively muted, says Mr. McHugh. "You're lagging a little behind other destinations," he said.

"Like the TIA survey indicates, Pittsburgh doesn't immediately come to mind when I'm thinking about gay-friendly destinations. Although I love your airport," he laughed.

Indeed, Travel Alternative Group's Web site lists only two hotels in Pittsburgh -- the Westin Convention Center, Downtown, and the Best Western in Green Tree -- as "gay-friendly," even though many more Pittsburgh hotels do list themselves in the city's gay travel guide, and many may simply not be aware of the TAG website.

Mr. Gehrman acknowledged there's more to do.

"The Navigaytor is a stepping stone," he said, noting that more marketing initiatives are afoot.

"I divide travel destinations for gays into three categories," he added. "There are those that have the 'gay product,' the nightlife, the gay-specific stores and the gay infrastructure, like San Francisco, in addition to all the other attractions. Then there are those cities that, no matter how much they may want to put their attractions out there, are just not ready for the gay tourist.

"Then there are the cities that have the attractions and the gay product, but they're not known. Pittsburgh is one of those cities. It may not be high on the radar, but it has what it takes to attract the gay tourist."

With its great neighborhoods in Shadyside, Lawrenceville and the North Side, with its gay-owned and gay-friendly shops, restaurants, inns and bed-and-breakfasts, "Pittsburgh is definitely ready to take the next step" to attract gay tourists, he said.

"Just watch."