Senator Thomas to the World: STAY HOME.

While Wonkette is being wicked about it, you gotta hand it to the boys at Amro WorldWide and OutNow, the agencies that put together the "So Gay" ad campaign that has South Carolina blogger The Palmetto Scoop ("Millions for police, not one cent for RuPaul") and the state's usual suspects all in a dudgeon: they know how to deal with a problem. Out Now CEO Ian Johnson has been posting responses to every mention of the brouhaha in blogs, and WebWire has a joint press release that the mainstream media- and, more particularly, Palmetto Scoop- has pretty much ignored. The key quotes:

Ian Johnson, CEO of Out Now, the gay marketing agency that designed the campaign said that the amount of money paid was miniscule compared to the value the campaign brings to the local South Carolina tourism industry.

"Before today I would have said that many of the 3 million gays and lesbians in the UK making travel plans would now have been adding South Carolina to their list of travel possibilities as a result of this campaign" according to Johnson. "That number will drop dramatically from here because the SCPRT seems to want to side with those who are anti-gay, against a campaign designed to sell tolerance and respect, as well as sell gay travel. From the perspective of the many hundreds of South Carolinian businesses that rely in part on gay tourism for their survival, this is not a moral issue in any way. It is a business issue. Pure and simple"

Johnson added: "Latest research suggests that around 5% of the South Carolina taxpayers can be expected to be lesbian and gay. I can’t help wondering what they would make of this campaign. It seems almost bizarre to suggest that spending a handful of dollars -- less than $5,000 out of a total taxpayer budget of $10.5 million -- to attract UK gay travelers to consider visiting South Carolina is somehow too much . By rights, the amount allocated to gay tourism spend in the annual budget should be over $500,000 were all these South Carolinian gay taxpayer dollars to be allocated proportionately in the budget to attracting gay ’fellow travelers’ to visit..."

"I did find one remark reported to be made by Sen. David Thomas (R-Greenville) to be of great concern" said Johnson. "He says that the Amro 'So Gay' campaign goes against South Carolina core values.' Given that the campaign is all about attracting business to the State, through furthering principles of equality and respect, his comments leave me wondering just what types of core values' Senator Thomas thinks South Carolina stands for."

Amro Worldwide is one of the world’s market leaders in selling travel for lesbian and gay people, and was established in 2001 at a time when the general market for travel was at an historical low.

"We really do hope people will still feel able to travel to South Carolina" said [Amro CEO Andrew] Roberts. "I think the destination has so much to offer any traveler, and that was all we wanted to do -- to let gays and lesbians in the UK know that there is much to see and enjoy in the State. It will be a shame if the actions of SCPRT today causes people to stay away causing their local tourism industry to suffer as a result..."