"Victory for gay tourism dollars.(THIS JUST IN)

Publication: The Advocate (The national gay & lesbian newsmagazine)
Title Annotation: THIS JUST IN

Last year, Philadelphia moved to the forefront of gay travel marketing with the first-ever gay TV ad by a U.S. tourism board, adding to their already successful gay print campaign. But did the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. become a political target in the process? in June, Republican Daryl D. Metcalfe, a member of the state's house of representatives, in an attempt to defund the gay tourism promotional program, sent a letter to all Pennsylvania's house members announcing that state tax dollars were being spent to "promote immoral behavior" He went on to state that "We should not ask constitutes to fund behavior that is against their religious and moral beliefs." Rep. James R. Roebuck Jr., a Democrat from Philadelphia, blasted back a letter asserting that Metcalfe's accusations were factually wrong, since the gay and lesbian tourism budget comes from Philadelphia's hotel room tax, not from state taxes. In the end, no money was cut when the new budget was announced on July 5. Says Jeff Guaracino, an official of the gay tourism program: "I can see why some places don't want to do gay marketing programs because they would have to have the wherewithal to put up with this kind of insanity."