Have you all been following Prop 8?  I'm sure the Californians among us have been immersed in Prop 8 this month--it's a huge issue, and Prop 8 may well become the test case for an eventual Supreme Court ruling on the Constitutionality of  gay marriage in the U.S.

I am NOT seeking to comment--or to hear comments--on gay marriage as a social or moral issue here.  But, because my brother is gay (and a speaker/trainer on diversity issues for a major corporation), I get regular "newsfeed" and analysis on the developments.  Here are some aspects that may be interesting to all you marketers.

1. Many gays and lesbians have begun to think it inevitable that the Supreme Court will be ruling (in their favor) on gay marriage over the next few years.  (Many straight people have too, of course--but for the purposes of this blog post, let's just stick with how the LGBT community is viewing things.)

2.  The expectation that the legal rights and privileges are in the pipeline affects different people in different ways, of course.  But for many (according to my brother) there is a feeling of "Why not go ahead and have the symbolic ceremony now?"  Don't sweat it over which state to head to--just make the public vows, have a grand celebration, and wait for the other pieces to fall into place at the national level.

3.   There is a market waiting to explode here, whether the Prop 8 ban on gay marriage becomes that momentous SC test case or not. Many pundits and sociologists have commented that there is a decided idealism and hope about marriage--as celebration and as institution-- among the LGBT community.  Sentiments that, on a broad scale at least, have been waning among heterosexuals in the U.S. and other industrialized countries.

4.  This market will steer marriage products and services in profound ways.  Just think about it.  This is, for gays, both an exchange of vows AND a proclamation of pride.   This is also, for many, a sticky wicket--a maze of uncharted etiquette, mixed feelings among family members, and an interesting mix of tradition and newness.

So, consider the market for gay wedding invitations.

For different sorts of wedding rings and engagement rings

For photographers who are sensitive to the potential swirl of issues and feelings surrounding the event.

For destination wedding packages in places sympathetic to the marrying couple.

The list could go on.  gayweddingrings.org is available, by the way.  I checked.  Traffic isn't fantastic, but I predict it will be--so there's my little piece of bonus material for today.

What other stuff in the news is predictive of new markets opening up?  While I don't want to get into a debate over gay marriage, I'd love to hear from the news junkies here what market tie-ins they see in the big issues of this summer.