Advanced Search The Blue Ridge Business Journal publishes a biweekly news magazine, The Book of Lists, and information guides for small business. Dan Smith is managing editor of the Journal. Start by determining the percentage of gays that are in your population. The ' gay index ' is the leading predictor of a city's ability to attract and retain knowledge workers, claims Richard Florida, founder and director of the Software Industry Center at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University and professor of regional economic development. It's not that gay employees themselves are critical for building a tech-savvy base of operations.
Diversity is the surest sign that communities and companies really get it .
That's why there is such a high correlation between cities that are making it in the new economy and those that have a significant gay population. My guess is that when bigotry bumps up against the bottom line, it gets quashed by the boss. This guy, against international law, airline regulation and common sense, used his phone on an airplane during the period when you are asked not to and Saudi Arabian officials stopped takeoff, hauled him off and gave him 70 lashes. A severe spanking for childish behavior. Grammar is appalling, punctuation desultory, spelling haphazard.