- Phillip Jones speaks to leaders of the gay community at the Winspear this morning (photo by Armando Gonzales)
Journos don’t like to get up early, but this morning I slapped on a tie and trekked over to the Winspear Opera House for an 8 a.m. “LGBT Leadership Breakfast” with about 40 others from the community. The event, hosted by Dallas’ Conventions and Visitors Bureau, sought to reach out and enlist the local gay community in pressing for more business in Big D.
Ever since the opening the new Arts District, Dallas as a city has been big on promoting itself as a world-class destination, but apparently that’s harder than we thought — especially in light of something that happened in another city.
“There are still challenges — the Rainbow Lounge incident did not help us, it hurt us a lot,” said Chris Heinbaugh, the gay chief of staff for Mayor Tom Leppert, noting that several conventions that had been booked canceled as a result of the raid and its aftermath.
CVB chief Phillip Jones echoed that observation (often, he said, people from out of town assume Dallas-Fort Worth is one big city), but also touted the 32 LGBT conventions that had been here in the past few years, generating $37 million in economic impact. CeCe Cox, one of the attendees, also brought up the Creating Change conference that starts next week, and is the largest of its kind yet.
Other factors are harder to control than the response to the Rainbow Lounge, such as the GALA Choruses using the excuse “Dallas is too hot in the summer” for not bringing their event here, and going instead to Denver. And Heinbaugh probably got the best line of the morning when he mentioned that The Advocate had recently listed the top 20 gay cities, and Dallas wasn’t on the list… but Austin was.
“Austin? Really?! It’s a great city,” he said, “but we’re WAY gayer than them.”
Gayer indeed.
Dallas is too hot in the summer? I hadn’t noticed.
Nothing like a gathering of a hand selected group of Dallas “A” gays in their cute little outfits and suits. Why not have events like this that include everyday people or a broader audience? Perhaps put something in the Dallas Voice briefs so others will know about the efforts.
The everyday folk might be able to help.
I would love it if Mr. Heinbaugh could get the mayor to do a PSA for gay tourism. The tagline, of course, “Dallas: we’re WAY gayer than Austin.”
@J Berry: As I was in attendance, clearly it was NOT Dallas’ “A” gays. 🙂
In any event, this event was not open to the public, so it would not have been appropriate to list in the briefs. And everyday folk being able to help? Well, that’s why I posted the blog item.
Dearest Arnold — This is what I meant…why not open something like this up to the public? Why a hand selected group? Why didn’t the CVB send to the Dallas Voice to include in the briefs so that more people could attend?
You were in attendance because you write about the arts. Everyone else was “A” gay.
Maybe these questions need to be asked by one of the reporters like Taffet or Wright. I am tired of the Dallas Voice always being so nice. The only glimmer of hope was the Rainbow Lounge coverage.
@J Berry:
I wasn’t invited to this event, and I didn’t even know about it until yesterday when a source happened to mention it. At that point I figured I wasn’t considered a leader and felt thankful for that, but not because I didn’t want to go to work at 8 a.m. Actually I arrived here in the office at about that time, which isn’t unusual for me considering I’m just an everyday folk.
So the question is… why such a selective group? Who were these people? Just the cute suite wearing boys?
Is this how the city is going to run in the future… and will the Dallas Voice let it happen?
Maybe ask for the guest list and see if it contains gay leaders that the Voice is familiar with?
There’s nothing to investigate. There’s nothing devious here. When the art museum opens a new exhibit, they invite art writers to write about it before it opens. When a play opens, drama critics are invited to the opening performance to publicize it.
Same thing today.
The Visitor’s Bureau invited a group of people they thought might help bring more LGBT tourism to Dallas. Several people from the Voice were invited to publicize that the Bureau and the mayor are welcoming the LGBT community to Dallas. American Airlines was invited because they transport people to Dallas and work with groups all the time. Leaders of a number of LGBT groups were invited because they run events that bring people to Dallas. Some LGBT business owners were invited because when LGBT tourists come to Dallas, they patronize their businesses. If some people were left out that should have been invited, if some groups were left out that run events that bring groups to Dallas (the LGBT sports teams, for example), that’s because the Visitor’s Bureau loves our business but doesn’t have a good handle on how they can really help.
I’m glad to hear the several conventions have cancelled due to the Rainbow Lounge Raid and its aftermath.
Economic impact is one of the best ways to put pressure on the cities.
It’s true that the Rainbow Lounge Raid didn’t happen in Dallas, but the Dallas mayor’s subsequent joining of a notoriously anti-gay church, First Baptist, shows that Dallas is not that much better than Fort Worth.
First Baptist’s anti-gay cursade and the Dallas mayor’s joining in with them should be reason enough for conventions to boycott Dallas.
NOBODY is going to the NGLTF “Creating Change” bs seminars next week. They couldn’t sell 40% of their tickets. The funny part? Nothing in the entire program about “change.”
One of my friends went to the “gay leaders” thing. He can really lead a group of people to a snobby party or a bar. Dallas Voice does not look into things like this because of advertising $$$.
mark g: i’m sorry you feel that way. when conventions don’t come to dallas, hotels aren’t booked, restaurants aren’t patronized and many glbt persons that work with conventions aren’t getting a paycheck. i’m gay and i do a fair amount of work in the corporate audiovisual field and conventions are my bread and butter.
lakewoodhobo: after seeing the “one more thing” video that was produced for the pcma event here in dallas (in which leppert played an especially creepy role) i beg of you, never encourage leppert to do another video! i’m still having nightmares about those eyes, THE EYES!!!!
Um, where are the women?