I previously posted about the difference between an Ally and Advocate because it became apparent that not everyone knew what the difference was. In this post, I’d like to address two more similar words, Advocate and Activist. While researching my previous topic of ally and advocate I had troubles locating any blog that had previously posted …

This post stems from a conversation my wife was having with a co-worker. In my circle of friends and colleagues I am the go-to person to ask any LGBT related questions and my web appears to be expanding into my wife’s education world as well. We started talking about a conversation she was having with a …

So here is part 3 of 7 in the 7 part series titled: “The 7 Deadly Sins of Ineffective LGBT Communications.” I first introduced to you the idea that I believe 98% of miscommunication blunders occur for one of 7 reasons, which I’ve dubbed the 7 deadly sins. As a reminder – here are the …

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http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenntgrace/Episode_70_An-open-letter-from-a-self-admitted-homophobe.mp3Podcast: Play in new windowSubscribe: RSSThanks for listening to episode #70 of the podcast. Today’s episode of the podcast isn’t an interview, it’s a response to an email I received from a reader. It’s been a few months since I’ve spent a podcast just talking to you, my audience, so it was nice to get …

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http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenntgrace/episode_69_Melissa-Ferrick-Rock-Folk-Singer.mp3Podcast: Play in new windowSubscribe: RSS Thanks for listening to episode #69 of the podcast. Today’s guest, Melissa Ferrick, is a master of many trades – an acclaimed performing artist (currently listed as #20 of the top 50 women in indie music), a record label owner as well as a professor at Berklee College of …

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http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenntgrace/episode_68_michele_wierzgac.mp3Podcast: Play in new windowSubscribe: RSSThanks for joining me for episode #68 of the podcast. My guest today is Michele Wierzgac, who I’m so glad shared her story with me and now you. Michele’s journey is an interesting one; from the volleyball court to the main stage there’s never been a dull moment. She offers …

I feel it is very well documented that I have a wife whom I love more than words can describe. When it comes to spouses I seriously got lucky. However, she can be somewhat of a unicorn, a mythical creature if you will. Very few people have met her because she’s typically watching the kids …

Quite sometime ago I wrote a blog post titled How Intimate is too Intimate in a Business Setting and in it I discussed how it can be awkward when you are being asked ‘Who gave birth?’ by someone you don’t know, who is trying to do business with you. I encourage you to read the blog post in its entirety …

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http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenntgrace/episode-47-gay-business-and-marketing-made-easy-a-queer-question.mp3Podcast: Play in new windowSubscribe: RSSHappy Thanksgiving everyone! Today I’m pleased to share episode #47 of the podcast. In this episode I discuss what I am thankful for this year as well as tackling a listener question about the usage of the word Queer. It’s an interesting topic and one you should know about as you embark on …

Listen up. You know I love you. I appreciate you. I enjoy that you frequently read my blog and follow what I am doing. But sometimes I feel the need to pull a tough love moment with you. This is one of those occasions. A few months ago I was working on an event specifically …

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http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenntgrace/episode_46_gay-business-marketing-listener-questions.mp3Podcast: Play in new windowSubscribe: RSS Hi there podcast listener! Thank you for being here. I am delighted to share with you my plans for this podcast as I enter year 3 of doing so. I also discuss ways in which I will be improving my blog and products going forward as we enter 2015. …

A couple of years ago in Portland, Oregon an LGBT customer received his receipt from the local Apple store with the email address input as “fag.com.” As a business owner, professional, someone with employees – what is your reaction to this? If you are marketing to the LGBT community I would imagine you would be …

  I have two kids so the phrase crank pot comes up often in my house. A crank pot meaning someone who’s just cranky about something in general. In this post I want to point out a crank pot who reached out during my book launch. I have a very large network of people, which I …

This post is about an interaction I had with my Mother over the holiday. I was at my Mom’s with my wife and kids to celebrate the holidays. She had asked me how my book was selling so I started telling her and gave her a promotional bookmark. She leans in towards me and whispers “Do you only work with …

For new readers and repeat visitors, I write about business etiquette and the nuances of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.  In this post I address the phrase, “It’s just a phase…” Most of what is written here is aimed to educate you on what not to say in a business setting but there tends to …

This question from a friend comes from a lively discussion I was having with a handful of colleagues. As you may know by now I often dedicate blogs to answering questions that some may find uncomfortable to ask for fear of being judged or afraid they may offend someone if they do ask. In my circle of …

This blog post comes from a conversation I was having with a fellow lesbian. I was interviewing her for my 30 days – 30 voices – stories from America’s LGBT business leaders podcast project. I was telling her about my first book called “But You Don’t Look Gay…”, and explaining how I came up with the title of the …

For the few years I have written blog posts that are related to effective communications with the LGBT community (and it’s turned into so much more! I’m not sure all of you are aware that this blog actually started off called “LGBT Questions from a Friend,” and I was answering questions from friends and colleagues who had good intentions …

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Previously I talked about one small change you can make in your LGBT marketing to be more inclusive of LGBT clients and potential LGBT clients. The one small change was to add LGBT imagery to your existing website or marketing materials. If you missed that post …

I had the pleasure of previously speaking at the Travel Gay Canada conference in Niagara, Ontario. I had a great time presenting to a crowd of travel professionals who were eager to know how to communicate more effectively with their current and potential LGBT clients. Towards the tail end of my presentation a woman in …

I’m a firm believer that the phrase “those people” should be banned from your vocabulary regardless of what group of people you are talking about. But since my blog is focused on the LGBT community we will talk about “those people” today. Did you see what I did there? All sarcasm aside the phrase “those …

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http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenntgrace/GBM_Episode_021_Jodi-Savitz.mp3Podcast: Play in new windowSubscribe: RSSHave a listen to episode #21 of the Gay Business & Marketing Made Easy podcast! You’ll hear the story of filmmaker, Jodi Savitz. You’ll hear her story as an invisible feminine lesbian and her current documentary project, “Girl on Girl.” Below are the items mentioned in this episode of the …

Annually, I attend the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce conference. I write about it, talk about it on the podcast and meet many of you there. The conference never disappoints, in fact each year I’m not sure how they are going to top the previous year, but somehow they do.  (Check them out here). …

By now you know that most of my blog posts comes directly from experiences in my day-to-day life. As a very out lesbian and owner of a business catering to education about the LGBT community, I have an endless supply of things to write about, which I am very grateful for. After hundreds of blog posts and counting …

As with almost every post I write, this topic comes out of a direct conversation I had with an old friend and colleague. She has been a proud supporter of the LGBT community for many years and has been very active and successful in doing so. We were talking about equality and she made a comment …

This question comes from a conversation I was having with a friend in San Francisco. I was in the Bay Area working on a client project and while I was at lunch one day we got to talking about the differences of the city and the suburbs. I think I live in the epitome of the quintessential …

It seems like forever ago that I wrote a blog talking about the ‘Gay Lifestyle.’ In that post I boldly exclaimed ‘There is no such thing as a gay lifestyle!” I stand by that statement but feel the need to elaborate. There is no such thing as a gay lifestyle because by saying lifestyle you …

Comparing gender identity and gender expression is like… Comparing Granny Smith apples to Macintosh apples. They’re both fruits and part of the same family. In a previous post I talked about the differences between sexual orientation and gender identity. I made the comparison that they were like lemons and grapes. They’re both fruit but they …

Comparing sexual orientation to gender identity is like… Comparing lemons and grapes. They’re both fruit but they have little to do with one another. Awhile back I wrote a blog titled “If I’m not lesbianed, then you can’t be transgendered…”  One of my main points of this post was the grammatical incorrectness of saying ‘Transgendered’ …

Previously I wrote a rambling blog post titled, Deconstructing gaydar: Why do I know she’s a lesbian? I am really happy with the readership and comments spawned from this post. My intention was to create a dialogue around the mystique of gaydar but also point out that it does exist as well as ask questions about …

This post around business etiquette within the LGBT community comes from a direct experience I had not so long ago. I am going to start off with the moral of the story, then share the actual story. Moral: If you are offended that someone would assume that you were part of the LGBT community (in …

I spent time in the gayborhood in Dallas, Texas. When I mentioned I was in the gayborhood it prompted a few people asking me what exactly that meant. Here is how Wikipedia defines a gay village; “A gay village (also known as a gay neighborhood, LGBT district, gay district, or gayborhood) is a geographical area …

This blog post comes from a conversation I was having with a fellow lesbian. I was interviewing her for my 30 days – 30 voices – stories from America’s LGBT business leaders podcast project. I was telling her about my book called “But You Don’t Look Gay…”, and I was explaining to her how I …

In this post I would like to talk about the differences between an ally to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and an advocate for the LGBT community. It hadn’t occurred to me that some may confuse the two until recently. I had a conversation recently and in it I referred to the person …

In the past, LGBT people were not at the forefront of society like we are today. It just wasn’t talked about. Now, LGBT rights and equality is something everyone is talking about. Democrats, Republicans and everyone in between is talking about it. Some in a positive way and others in a negative way. Years ago …

There are always those expressions that can get under your skin. For me, one of those phrases is “That’s so gay.” It definitely seems to be more of a young adult and adolescent phrase but I’ve caught an adult or two or three saying it as well. I would equate hearing “That’s so gay” to …

During a meeting the question “What is your knowledge and experience with the LGBT community?” came up. In the middle of this person’s response a reference to the ‘gay lifestyle’ was made. I had an immediate reaction. When I hear the term ‘lifestyle’ it sends a red flag that the person I am speaking with …

I was in a meeting a while back reviewing candidates for a specific position we noticed that ‘cisgender’ was an option on the application form. I personally knew one of the applicants and hadn’t heard the term cisgender before so I was immediately thinking… I’ve never heard her describe herself as that. The person across …

By now you may know that I pull the content I write about from recent interactions I’ve had. There never seems to be a shortage of information to write about in terms of educating people on how to do business with the LGBT community in a non-offensive way. This blog comes from a conversation I was …

I sat down for a cup of coffee this weekend with a friend and colleague. She recently went from being in business for herself to jumping back into the corporate world. Within just a couple of minutes she began to tell me about the person who is training her in this new position. She was …

So what is the Pronoun Game? I was pleasantly surprised to see Wikipedia had a definition – “‘Playing the pronoun game’ is the act of concealing sexual orientation in conversation by not using a gender-specific pronoun for a partner or a lover, which would reveal the sexual orientation of the person speaking. Lesbian, gay, and …

In a meeting I was talking about pride parades and made a comment about rainbows. One of the people I was sitting with said “I had no idea rainbows are a sign of gay pride.” It never occurred to me that people wouldn’t know that rainbows were a symbol of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender …

There is never a right time to use the word homosexual. Ever. This week’s post comes from a conversation I was having where we were talking about a person who is not so pleasant to deal with. In the middle of the conversation the person I am sitting with says “Well he may not be …

I want to share with you a conversation I had on LinkedIn with a connection of mine. He asked a whole host of questions about being a certified LGBT owned business. While I was answering them for him I figured I would answer them for you as well. He asked the following: “How does one …

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http://traffic.libsyn.com/jenntgrace/GBM_001_IntroToTheShow.mp3Podcast: Play in new windowSubscribe: RSS Listen to the episode by clicking the play button below!   This first episode of the podcast is short just about 11 minutes. It’s really just an introduction to what the Gay Business & Marketing Made Easy Podcast is all about, a brief intro of who I am and …

The question I answer in this post comes from a lively discussion I was having with a handful of colleagues. As you may know by now I often take time in this blog to answer questions that some may find uncomfortable to ask for fear of being judged or afraid they may offend someone if they …

This website came to be after I found myself answering LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) related questions from a variety of friends of mine. Since I consider myself a Professional Lesbian TM (educating people around LGBT topics is what I do every day) I’m often the first place friends come to when they have a question …

This question comes from a friend who is a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and has encountered a similar situation a couple of times when treating her lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) patients. To best understand the situation she provided me with a document from the Rhode Island Department of Health. It is a simple …

This question comes from a colleague who runs the full service staffing firm 925Hire. 925Hire is unique because they focus exclusively on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. An awesome niche to serve (I may be biased)! She saw this conundrum in a recent staffing magazine and wanted to hear my thoughts. “I …

I have a friend who has inspired me to start this blog based on questions she brought to me. She asked me LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) related questions on a fairly regular basis. She knew that she can ask the sensitive questions she needed to ask without fear of me getting upset because …