Pink Money - or Gays on Wall Street, Part Deux - This the type of story to make a gay securities lawyer sit up and take notice. GSociety has become the first "publicly traded" gay business in the United States. Mind you, it didn't exactly have a big IPO, and I don't think they will be ringing the opening bell on the NYSE anytime soon. They "went public" through the backdoor (how appropriate) by merging with a struggling penny stock operation called Capital Development Group. My experience with this type of bulletin board stock (public in name only) is that they don't get any real access to additional capital, but just take on a lot of costly regulatory burdens, not to mention liability risks. It's a poor substitute for building your company with private funds and good financial housekeeping. Keep tabs on the up-and-comers at Yahoo! Finance - GSOC.OB.

The history of high profile gay businesses is not a pretty one. Just recently, GLBank closed its doors after what sounds like a nasty spat among its owners. (Typical drama and bitchiness, I'm sure.) And last year, the Australian company Satellite Group Ltd that debuted to much fanfare on the stock exchange there collapsed amidst accusations of financial skulduggery. Building a company that can succeed at the levels attractive to public investors is very difficult. It certainly doesn't happen because of warm fuzzies like "community" and "pride". Just ask Planet Out Partners about their troubles. There are, however, other ways to grow your business. Merger has been the watchword in the media industry generally. No reason to think it would be different for gays.