3% of Gays and Lesbians Intend Child Adoptions in Next 5 Years

    (OUT NOW Gay Market News / MPG)

/24-7PressRelease/ - LONDON, UK, January 22, 2007 - Research released today reveals the extent of UK lesbians and gay men saying they intend to seek the adoption of children.

Regulations enabling the Northern Ireland provisions of The Equality Act 2006 passed the House of Lords in Westminster two weeks ago.

Debate is reportedly taking place in the UK Cabinet about whether to exempt the Catholic Church from the operation of similar regulations being considered for England, Wales and possibly Scotland later this year. Child adoption is shaping up as a key battleground on the new government regulations.

Tony Blair and Communities secretary, Ruth Kelly - a devout Catholic and member of the Opus Dei sect, are thought to be in favour of exempting the church. Many other cabinet ministers are reportedly opposed to this, as is the Scottish parliament which recently passed its own laws allowing for gay adoptions.

3 percent of lesbians and 3 percent of gay men who responded to the 'Out Now Diva and Gay Times Readers Surveys' stated that they intend to seek adoption of children during the next 5 years.

A further 5 percent of gay men intend to father a child themselves, and 18 percent of lesbians by giving birth.

One in five lesbians (20 percent) are already mothers and 11 percent of gay male respondents indicated that they are already fathers.

Findings of the 'Out Now Diva and Gay Times Readers Surveys' also reveal that more than 135,000 British lesbians and gay men were refused goods or services last year because they are gay.

"This is the first time these issues have been measured in the UK," says Ian Johnson, managing director of Out Now Consulting -- a specialist gay marketing consultancy that undertook the research. "We believe UK society in general needs to regard such discrimination as unacceptable for these new regulations to make a significant impact on these issues. Of course not all those intending adoption will eventually do so, but 3% say that that is their current intention."

"These survey results show that far too many UK lesbians and gay men know about the hard edge of the discrimination that has led to the enactment of this new legislation," according to Kim Watson, Deputy Managing Director at MPG -- publisher of Diva and Gay Times magazines.

Official UK government Whitehall figures put the total number of gay and lesbian people in the UK at 6 percent of the total adult population, or 3 million people.

Notes to editors:

Publication of this information must be credited as the "Out Now Diva and Gay Times Readers Surveys", for copyright reasons.

6 percent of UK adults are believed to be lesbian or gay. Source: Whitehall, December 2005.

The report by Out Now Consulting, was undertaken following independent research with more than 1,000 readers of Diva and Gay Times magazines between March and October 2005. Sample size is 1,118 respondents.

Gay Times and Diva (published by Millivres Prowler Ltd.) are Europe's best selling gay and lesbian glossy news stand magazines. Gay Times was launched in 1984 and Diva in 1994, both titles are distributed by Seymour Distribution Ltd. Millivres Prowler Ltd. is Europe's largest media business targeting the gay and lesbian market and celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 2004. In that same year the company registered as a Stonewall 'Diversity Champion' and achieved 'Investors In People' accreditation.

The calculations above are based on the UK gay market comprising a total of 3 million people, and reported levels revealed in this research being typical across the market. The data reflects the reported figures from readers of Diva and Gay Times magazines -- the UK's best selling lesbian and gay magazines.

Established in 1992, Out Now Consulting is a leading source for gay marketing research and strategy, and is a global gay market agency relied upon by organisations involved with lesbian and gay people. Services include market research, training, advertising, public relations and strategy development.

Out Now clients include Relate, Barclays Bank, IBM, Toyota, German National Tourist Office, Qantas Airways, Visit Britain, Lufthansa, South African Tourism and Citibank.

For further information please contact:

Ian Johnson, Managing Director, Out Now Consulting

UK landline: +44-(0)20-8123 5288
UK mobile: +44-(0)7906 553 990
BE landline: +32-(0)2-514 6443
BE mobile: +32-(0)4737 60886
Web: Gay Marketing Agency - Out Now Consulting
Latest gay market news, by Out Now:
Web: Gay Market News

Kim Watson, Millivres Prowler Ltd.
Mobile: +44-(0)7813 475402
Direct Line: +44-(0)20-7424 7460
Web: Millivres Prowler

About Out Now Consulting
Out Now Consulting is a team of specialised marketers with high levels of expertise in understanding the gay and lesbian market. Our more than 15 years experience means we are now the world's most experienced specialists in marketing to lesbian and gay customers. Gay Market News Gay Market Agency - Out Now Consulting

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