Pink Money - in The United States

In The United States

Known as the pink dollar or "Dorothy dollar" in the United States, estimates of the US LGBT market put its value at approximately $790 billion in the year 2012. In addition, many of these households are known by demographers as "DINKY" — which generally have more disposable income. In the United States, gay people are on average economically advantaged, with 28% of gay households reported as having an income in an excess of $50,000 a year.

Some US industries have tried to focus on these markets with specific advertising campaigns; for example, American Airlines saw its earnings from LGBT people rise from $20 million in 1994 to $193.5 million in 1999, after formation of a team devoted to gay and lesbian marketing.

In politics, pink money has been viewed as controversial, mainly due to pressure from conservative groups promoting traditional values, — for instance, Presidential Candidate Michael Dukakis publicly disassociated himself from pink money during the 1988 US presidential election. However, more recently pink money has become politically acceptable, especially as a major source of liberal funding for the Democratic Party — in 2000, contributing $5 million to the Democratic National Committee alone, "a total that puts them among the top tier of Democratic givers, along with unions, trial lawyers". Major candidates such as Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, John Kerry, and Joe Biden have actively campaigned for the gay vote.

According to Witeck-Combs Communications, Inc. and Marketresearch.com, the 2006 buying power of U.S. gays and lesbians was approximately $660 billion and is expected to exceed $835 billion by 2011. Headlines later claimed "'Gay Buying Power' to hit $2 Trillion by 2012."