According to Joel Garreu’s article “E-village people” in The Washington Post, there is preliminary research to indicate that, “gays help fuel an area’s high-tech growth.” It was discovered that, “the number one thing that correlates with a region’s high-tech success is the concentration of gay people living there.”
The article goes on to say how they did their research, and point out the flaws of the study, and aren’t sure which follows which, but there definitely seems to be some correlation.
Some excerpts:
So the more forward-thinking a community is (i.e., tech folk who are always looking for newness), the more accepting they are of a certain Bohemian factor.
Others in the gay community have their own theories:
They also talk about gay-positive high-tech companies such as IBM, AOL, etc.
Anecdotal evidence exists about the tolerance of straights in these areas:
Then they explore the whole DINK thing.
Thoughts? I kind of like the idea that we spruce up the neighborhood…
It all sounds quite reasonable to me, at least as presented. However, if you are going to turn “Got Gays?” into an ad campaign, you would do well to distinguish it visually from the “Got Milk?” campaign. (Then again, perhaps if you make it visually the same, Falwell and Phelps may have aneurisms!)
Cool,thanks. One of my coworkers has a theory about that same subject(I mentioned it once in a Ask the Gay Guy post a while ago). I’m sure he’ll be interested in reading the article.
It would tend to reconcile with most theories regarding how homosexuality can be credited with societal advancement throughout history.
It would seem that all of the really great changes and advancement you have a very strong gay element at the center.
[hijack] I’m wondering if I would get promoted faster in my field (computers) if I was gay. I’m willing to learn if it will help, and I do have 30 years experience with the equipment.[/hijack]
There’s something I see time and again with a great many gay people, myself included. We have the ability to see things from a different angle than other people, and we can often see alternatives, the ability to think “outside the box.”
Most of us are survivors of a pretty rigorous coming-out process, in which we were forced to examine long-established ideas, and possibly reject them in favor of new realities.
This ability eloquently plays into the hand of anything innovative. Why do you think gays have always been on the creative cutting-edge? And yes, it also involves the ability to think with both hemispheres of the brain.
I don’t believe the article attributes the success of the tech industry to gays; it merely notes a correlation between the two. If you read the article, it specifically states that it can’t determine whether gays attract technology or vice-versa.
Any other way you’d like to stuff your foot in your mouth?
You should do this. Two cute boys with, uh, moustaches in front of a trendy techy building. I’d laugh my ass off.