Pink app to help end anti-gay bias in HK
Source: AFP |
October 1, 2012, Monday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Paul Ramscar believes his Pink Dollar app is a lot more than just another snippet of smartphone software: it is a social game-changer that will help end discrimination against gays and lesbians.
The smartphone application aims to put members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in touch with businesses deemed friendly to sexual minorities in Hong Kong.
"It's not just an app, there is a bigger cause here," said the former investment banker who hails from Britain and moved to Hong Kong in 2007.
Ramscar believes the software - soon to be launched on Apple iPhones and eventually Android devices - will break down cultural barriers in a city where homosexuality was decriminalized only two decades ago.
More than 100 cooperating firms will participate in Pink Dollar, from gyms to restaurants and real estate agents.
Users will rate businesses' LGBT-friendliness with a scale from light to hot pink. A hot pink rating is the friendliest.
Those that receive bad reviews may get a "please explain" visit from Ramscar himself.
With the "pink dollar" LGBT market worth around US$2-3 trillion globally a year, Ramscar said the app will benefit businesses as much as consumers.
"The gay community keeps spending. They don't stop their spending habits because they don't have the commitments of kids, school fees and having to put extra food on the table, so they keep spending," he said.
Hong Kong is relatively safe for the gay community, but rights groups say local laws are discriminatory and prejudice is widespread.
Survey author Amanda Yik, from Community Business, a non-profit group that promotes corporate social responsibility, said the Pink Dollar app itself is a sign that discrimination exists in the regional banking center.
"It shows there is definitely a business opportunity and market share that companies can tap into if they are able to demonstrate they are inclusive and welcome the LGBT community," she said.
Evan Steer, who has listed a restaurant and a bar with the app, believes it will make a difference. "At the end of the day, money talks and people will start asking which businesses are not on the app. Where money flows, it can influence policy," he said.
The smartphone application aims to put members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in touch with businesses deemed friendly to sexual minorities in Hong Kong.
"It's not just an app, there is a bigger cause here," said the former investment banker who hails from Britain and moved to Hong Kong in 2007.
Ramscar believes the software - soon to be launched on Apple iPhones and eventually Android devices - will break down cultural barriers in a city where homosexuality was decriminalized only two decades ago.
More than 100 cooperating firms will participate in Pink Dollar, from gyms to restaurants and real estate agents.
Users will rate businesses' LGBT-friendliness with a scale from light to hot pink. A hot pink rating is the friendliest.
Those that receive bad reviews may get a "please explain" visit from Ramscar himself.
With the "pink dollar" LGBT market worth around US$2-3 trillion globally a year, Ramscar said the app will benefit businesses as much as consumers.
"The gay community keeps spending. They don't stop their spending habits because they don't have the commitments of kids, school fees and having to put extra food on the table, so they keep spending," he said.
Hong Kong is relatively safe for the gay community, but rights groups say local laws are discriminatory and prejudice is widespread.
Survey author Amanda Yik, from Community Business, a non-profit group that promotes corporate social responsibility, said the Pink Dollar app itself is a sign that discrimination exists in the regional banking center.
"It shows there is definitely a business opportunity and market share that companies can tap into if they are able to demonstrate they are inclusive and welcome the LGBT community," she said.
Evan Steer, who has listed a restaurant and a bar with the app, believes it will make a difference. "At the end of the day, money talks and people will start asking which businesses are not on the app. Where money flows, it can influence policy," he said.
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