Pro-gay is good for business

I've always said: Who do you think has more money, and spends more: poor rednecks or yuppie urban liberals?  From MSNBC:

With its “Legalize Love” campaign announced this week, Google became the latest in a growing number of companies to publicly take a position in support of gay rights.
Far from being simply feel-good initiatives, these moves are highly calculated, marketing experts say. Companies may be embracing the rainbow, but the motivating color is still green.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community is a huge market with buying power of some $790 billion annually in the U.S. alone, according to Witeck-Combs Communications. And gays have influence among the straight consumers who are their friends and relatives.

For many marketers, that is too much to leave lying on the table, even if they risk some backlash from consumers opposed to expanding gay rights. Companies “have to satisfy shareholders at the end of the day,” said Bob Witeck, founder and president of Witeck-Combs, a marketing firm.

And the market is even larger than that. It's not just gay people. It's friends and families of gay people who appreciate companies that appreciate us.