Signs of the Times: Hallmark Introduces Gay Marriage Cards
Thursday Aug 21, 2008
AJ Burton



Now that more than 1,000 newspapers across the nation accept wedding announcements from same-sex couples, it only seems right that Hallmark should make a card specifically celebrating that happy occasion.

And they have, prompting a boycott by one of the country's most prolific anti-gay lobbying groups (more on that below).

Hallmark added the cards after California joined Massachusetts as the only U.S. states with legal gay marriage.

"It's our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can," Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg Kolell told the Associated Press.

It's not just an attempt to stay relevant, though. By not speaking directly to gay unions with their cards, the company was missing out on an ever-growing piece of the gay marriage pie, an industry that continues to boom.

By some estimates, gay weddings and commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples generate about $1 billion a year in revenue, according to media and entertainment company PlanetOut. A survey conducted by PlanetOut shows "gay consumers earn 20% more than their straight counterparts, on average, and spend about 10% more on nuptials."

Although Hallmark doesn't offer cards that specifically cover other legally sanctioned forms of gay relationships -- like Civil Unions or Domestic Partnerships -- the language inside the cards makes no specific mention of wedding or marriage, so the cards could be used to cover any kind of gay union. The images on the outside, however, are clearly geared toward same-sex relationships, as the cards feature graphics that show two tuxedos, overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers that are unmistakably for gay couples.

Hallmark began offering coming-out cards last year.

The introduction of the gay marriage cards makes Hallmark the first major greeting card company in the country to make such an offering. And for the moment, they've got a lock on gay marriages: Hallmark's largest competitor, American Greetings Corp., says it has no plans to enter the market, saying its current offerings are general enough to speak to a lot of different relationships.

'It's just that right now there's not enough of a need," Amanda Todorovich, a spokeswoman for American Greetings, a publicly traded company with annual sales of $2 billion, said after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts. ''We have cards that can be applied to those situations. It's not like we're doing that because we're trying to make some political statement."

The trade group, Greeting Card Association, reports that it does not track how many companies provide same-sex wedding cards but believes the number is increasing.

"The fact that you have someone like Hallmark going into that niche shows it's growing and signals a trend," Barbara Miller, a spokeswoman for the association, told AP this week.

Independent card makers, however, have addressed the occasion for some time. Rob Fortier, founder of the New York-based Paper Words, added same-sex wedding cards that are both touching and humous to his card line after contemplating what he would want to receive.

"A lot of people think a gay greeting card needs a rainbow on it," Fortier told AP. "I don't want that."

Hallmark has a history of being sensitive to the response of card buyers when it comes to gay issues, last year pulling a Father's Day card many consumers found offensive.

The cover of the card featured a photo of an idyllic, upscale picnic spread with the caption, "Dad, how about a Father's Day picnic?" The punch line inside: "Too queer? Yeah, I thought so too."

The Advocate magazine brought the card to the attention of Hallmark's media liaison, Deidre Parkes, who said that the company would pull the cards from shelves immediately.

"We are stopping the shipping of the card, and we will not produce it again. Hallmark's intent is never to offend, and we're truly sorry if that is the case here," Parkes wrote in an email to the magazine.

Earlier this year Hallmark introduced a line of 176 cards called Journeys, intended to address issues typically ignored by mainstream greeting cards, like coming out, anorexia and divorce.

UCLA's Williams Institute expects nearly 120,000 same-sex couples to wed in California over the next three years, boosting California business profits and providing some nice windfall tax revenue to help Sacramento square the circles in future budget negotiations.


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Update: From ThinkProgress.com -- the day after Hallmark announced their new line of gay marriage cards, the Virginia affiliate of the Far Right lobbying organization, American Family Association, has purchased the domain name: boycotthallmark.com. On Friday, the AFA Website began directing its readers to an "action alert" attacking Hallmark, which reads in part:

"[Promoting] same-sex marriage for profit is not the very best for families or our nation. Hallmark is a private company obviously driven by greed. Let them know you do not appreciate Hallmark promoting a lifestyle which is illegal in 48 states."

The "action alert" advises readers to "Ask them to stop promoting a lifestyle that is not only unhealthy, but is also illegal in 48 states."