Niche marketing can be a tough nut to crack. How do you forge a connection with one very particular slice of the population, yet avoid alienating the rest? What happens when you push some of your product’s lesser-known, less popular virtues--especially when they seem at odds with its better-known qualities?

Such is the dilemma of South Carolina, whose Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department (SCPRT) recently participated in an Out Now ad campaign focusing on purportedly “gay” destinations, including Las Vegas, Boston, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C. The campaign featured ads with the tagline “South Carolina is so gay” posted in London tube stations--and has pulled the SCPRT into an international imbroglio.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member RoBoNC.

Last Thursday, May 15, a jolt of the non-earthquake variety struck California. In a four-to-three decision, the state Supreme Court struck down its ban on same-sex marriage, essentially upholding San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s controversial decision to allow gay marriages in February 2004.

A second jolt came this Tuesday, when Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a longtime opponent of gay marriage, remarked, “I hope that California's economy is booming because everyone is going to come here and get married.” Arnold is completely behind the decision.

San Francisco--check. Provincetown, Mass.--check. Miami--check. Gay and lesbian travelers have an increasingly broad--and exuberant--array of gay-friendly U.S. destinations to pick from. Internationally, we’ve also got “gay” Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam, Canada, and more. But tilt the globe in an entirely different direction, and the average lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) person might have no clue where to get their gay on.

Seeking outside-the-box destinations that are also easy on the dollar, many savvy American travelers have recently made Thailand their getaway of choice. But how do gay and lesbian travelers rate this tropical nation? I asked openly gay friends and colleagues James Harris and Mario Diaz for their thoughts on their recent Thailand trips.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member nova_chic.

Last year, I spent Christmas Eve getting packages in order, chattering excitedly about the big day ahead, and drifting off to sleep way past my bedtime. Come Christmas Day, though, you wouldn’t find me opening presents by a tree or singing carols with the folks. Instead, I boarded a plane with four friends and spent the holidays in Paris, thousands of miles away.

Although I wasn’t contemplating it while catching snowflakes underneath the spires of Notre-Dame, my choice of holiday was more typical of gay men and lesbians of my age and economic status than I had imagined. Google “gay Christmas travel”, and you’ll be inundated with ads pitching everything from Vegas getaways to tropical cruises. There’s a huge market catering to those of us who are often disinclined to spend the holidays with family--indeed, to those of us who often can’t.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member kwasiak.

Editor’s Note: It’s “holiday week” on The Window Seat, and our editors get into the spirit of the season with a series of articles exploring the many facets of this busy travel period.

If you’re anything like me, you’re used to hearing your family fuss over Thanksgiving details. From whose in-laws to visit to what kind of cranberry sauce works best (I prefer the chunky homemade kind), there’s always something piffling to stress about. But what if you were to skip out on all of that Thanksgiving hoopla for a relaxing getaway in the Bahamas instead?

For many gay men and lesbians around the country, there isn’t always much choice in the matter. Gay people often have strained relationships with their families, which makes attending--or bringing partners to--traditional holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or even Mother’s Day, a whole new can of worms.

Photo courtesy of IgoUgo member shepherd333.

I remember the first time I went to Guerneville. I was young, naive, and--perhaps most relevantly--freshly out of the closet. After a month-long road trip up to Washington and Canada, my then-girlfriend Amanda and I were hauling back down to our home turf in Los Angeles. We drove through thousands of miles of unknown, un-gay terrain. Amanda peeled the rainbow sticker off the bumper of her Saturn, and we both sunk low into our seats and tried to look less gay.

As more and more destinations around the world emerge as gay-friendly, one thing is clear: the gay community is not only one of the most avid groups of travelers, but they’re also among the savviest and most adventurous. Community Marketing’s 11th Annual LGBT Travel Survey revealed that 71 percent of gay U.S. citizens hold a valid passport compared to only 24 to 30 percent of all adult U.S. citizens, and almost half of those surveyed used their passport to travel last year.

I was able to catch up with Tom Nibbio with the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association to get his thoughts on what’s hot in gay travel.