When money is tight and Elton John needs to spend another $40,000 on flowers,
he simply finds a new pot of gold to raid.

At least that’s what I gleaned from these survey results about straights and gays of both genders and how they’re reacting to the economy going down the drain. And, hey, as long as they can afford it, good for them! Stimulating the economy is a dirty job (someone like Michael Lucas should probably make a movie about just how dirty such stimulation can be), but someone’s gotta do it. Me, I’m more the financially conservative type. My last big purchase was about $30 worth of books from Amazon, and even that I wouldn’t have bothered with if I hadn’t had a gift certificate to use.*

You might recall that back in June, gay and lesbian consumers were surprisingly unconcerned about the state of the economy. Around the same time, business owners and politicians in California were rubbing their hands in glee when a study projected that gay marriage, if it remained legal past November 4, would bring hundreds of millions of dollars into the state in a span of only three years. Ah, June. It was only five months ago, but we were all so innocent then.

* The books, by the way, were David Simon’s Homicide, Nella Larsen’s Passing, and Andrey Platonov’s Soul: And Other Stories. I’m sure this knowledge has enriched your life in unimaginable ways. If you want me to come back tomorrow and tell you what I had for lunch, I’d be happy to do so.