Orlando welcomes gay service members
OutServe, the association of actively-serving LGBT military personnel, has chosen Orlando as the host city for its 2012 national conference.
The Second Annual OutServe International Leadership Conference will take place October 25 to 28, 2012, at the Shades of Green at Walt Disney World Resort (pictured), an Armed Forces Recreation Center.
The OutServe conference is a big win for Converge Orlando Inc., an LGBT tourism and conventions bureau that was formed last year by Central Florida’s LGBT chamber of commerce the Metropolitan Business Association.
“Orlando is now firmly established as a major destination for gay and lesbian visitors—and the OutServe Conference just proves it,” said Paul Queen, Converge Orlando’s director of marketing. “The city of Orlando is home to one of the nation’s highest proportion of LGBT people—7.7% of the total population. For the past decade Central Florida has been in the top ten in the number of gay visitors contributing, according to three major studies, in excess of $3 billion to the local economy.”
Converge Orlando’s goal is to attract more gay travelers to Orlando. A recent survey by Community Marketing Inc., which specializes in gay tourism, found that Orlando ranks among the top 10 to 20 destinations in the U.S. for LGBT business and leisure travelers.
More information on gay-friendly Orlando is available here.
Get Elsewhere in your inbox. Join our mailing list.
Support Metro Weekly’s Journalism
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
