I am very fortunate, we are all very fortunate, that when we travel to amazing destinations, we as gay travelers have places to go and places to stay that know how to show hospitality to diverse markets like us. This was not always the case. We talk about gay destinations out in the open and with pride and praise as great places to vacation, return to, and to recommend to friends.
We do dare to say the heartbeat of gay tourism and increased accessibility to great destinations was magnified more than 1,000-fold by the work and dedication of one man, Richard Gray. His position in the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce ends this month, January 2025, but his legacy will live on state-wide, nationally, and internationally. Instinct Magazine’s relationship with Richard extends to well before his start at the Chambers so seeing him step down from his current role is seeing a good friend change gears and we wish him the best. What follows is a reflection on Richard, his history, and what he has done for our community.
Who is Richard Gray?
When one gets the chance to chat with Richard Gray, they’re in for a treat. They’ll leave with so much more knowledge, more hope, a smile on their face and heart and the hope that they can talk to him again real soon.
Who is this British New Yorker Floridian? He’s a man of many hats and talents, but the role you may know him for the most is the leader in LGBTQ+ tourism. If you Google Richard Gray, you will see he is the Senior Vice President of Inclusion and Accessibility for Visit Lauderdale. You may also see other titles like Accessibility Champion, Champion of Diversity and Inclusion.
My first interaction with Gray was back in November of 2014, one of my first interviews for Instinct Magazine. Here’s some of what I learned then about the man and his charge:
Richard Gray back in 2014 when I first met him.
In 1995, Richard Gray proposed to the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) a business plan for marketing Fort Lauderdale as a gay destination. It was accepted and starting in 1996 with a $35,000 gay marketing initiative, Gray went to work promoting the city and what it had to offer tourists. Within a half a decade the number of gay resorts in the area grew to 30. His work and the work of others in the CVB has been so successful and the returns so great that his position of LGBT Managing Director for the Fort Lauderdale CVB was made fulltime three years ago and now has an annual budget of $1 million. The budget is impressive, but what also needs to be mentioned is that Richard Gray is one of a kind. He stated that there are no other Convention and Visitors Bureaus in North America or Internationally that he knows of with an employee whose sole responsibility is the LGBT market. His beginning title then – Managing director of LGBT Tourism.
So in 1995, he was a one-of-a-kind and if you ask anyone 3 decades later, he still is. Before his time at the CVB, Gray had visited Fort Lauderdale before, in the late ‘70s.
“It was a rusty beach town, kind of crumbling, falling apart, dead in the summer. There was nothing fancy or glamourous about the city or lodging at the time, but there was still something that struck a chord. It was very much still attractive with the ocean right there, A1A running parallel, the intercoastal waterway. I don’t know why, but then I knew it was to be a world class destination.”
In 1983, he was involved in investment banking as a liaison between London and New York City and moved to the United States, which provided easier opportunities to travel to Fort Lauderdale, spend more time, and fall in love with it even more. When he came in the late ‘70s, Marlon Beach Hotel was just about the only gay option.
Burnt out from banking, he chose to get into hospitality world and wanted to open a gay accommodation. He had experienced them in the past but too many were seedy, not classy. A friend introduced him to the Oasis Guest House in Key West (now no longer open). He was amazed and wanted to do the same in Fort Lauderdale, found a building, and created the Royal Palms Hotel in 1991 with a desire to go after the deluxe traveler. He wanted something gay people could be proud of. With his zero experience in hospitality, but knowing he was good with people and good with relationships – good customer service skills, always having a knack to work with the right key people, Richard left banking behind and leaped into gay travel and tourism.
From Rainbow to Inclusion
Richard confesses, he always wants to make ripples, and some of his ripples were waves. Looking at Richard and talking to him, you only have respect for this sweet youthful man with a British accent. How could this man make waves? Well, they were not waves as in tsunamis, not destructive but disruptive, alterations in the way we all should be thinking, acting, and interacting that resonated outward from what he does best, lead by example.
An oldie but goodie, one of the first pics I saw promoting an inclusive / gay-friendly Fort Lauderdale
“I feel I have pushed boundaries, I have created paths for others to follow, if they choose to or not. Some have followed and not as bravely.”
Jump to 1996 when his first campaign at the CVB was launched, gay was not used. The word rainbow was present and that was our community’s representation. The gay would soon be added to following campaigns, and then his wonderful stance on the transgender community and travel. He was promoting the T in LGBT long before we knew who Caitlin Jenner was and was educating our community and the straight community about transgender inclusion. His work with the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB was so astounding/groundbreaking that the United Nations used it as a case study in transgender destination leadership.
Richard agrees that he is most definitely British and he is not American, but he lives here and loves it here, but he reiterates that the center of his universe is the world. He is also not a fan of these little labels. He is British, but it is about being a human being. He has a global outlook. Those waves, they were not meant to stay here in southern Florida but were to resonate far and wide.
For 2014, Gray and the GFCVB shuffled the letters around to TLGB, a simple alteration to show that we are all family.
It takes a village, we all agree on that, but it takes someone to lead that village, someone to make those decisions. Richard always felt that he made some gutsy moves, they paid off, and he’s flattered when other destinations and corporations copy his work, which they have repeatedly. He states, “you have to go from a safe place to a brave place.” Like with the transgender campaign, “it made sense to me, I did not doubt it, it was the right thing to do. When I look back, it was courageous, no one had the guts to embrace a transgender person.”
Here Comes 2025…
Richard has been in the hospitality business for over 3 decades. And now we are going into a new year with a new administration soon. I just mentioned those facts and let him respond to those statements. He shared:
“What we are going through now with the issues in the nation, trans, Black, gay, we have some serious challenges ahead of us, those definitely concern me. We might be going back in the next few months. I feel optimistic, not pessimistic, travel and tourism bring people together, travel builds businesses and economies. Jobs are created, corporate America will support us because of the economic numbers. We are not going to change because of a new president, we reflect our community, our LGBTQ, our allies, we are going to continue to speak out in our marketing, support drag, trans, non-binary. We would speak out against the governor [Ron DeSantis] about don’t say gay, no other destination would speak out. Communities across the nation and globe are taking the pink dollar, but what were they doing to support our community?”
And his numbers do not lie. In 2023, Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB welcomed 3.375 million LGBTQ+ tourists and that translated into $1.35 billion. Those are some good ROI numbers as his budget is $1 million a year and he helped to generate $1.35 billion. For the whole year of 2023, there were 22 million travelers total, 2 to 3 million were international travelers. Lots of numbers and lots of people, and through Richard Gray’s tenure at the Greater Fort Lauderdale CVB, he has most likely brought in $20 billion. Read that again.
But it is not about the monetary impact. Well, yes, it is if he wanted to keep his job, but it was always about inclusivity, taking risks for the human race to enjoy being with each other in paradise. And he has placed Fort Lauderdale on the LGBTQ+ map as one of the, if not the gayest destination for queer travelers.
What’s Next for Inclusive Travel?
“Less segmentation, more inclusion and accessibility,” Richard states, that is what is next. “Dealing with visible or invisible disabilities is the most important platform now as 1 in 4 people have a visible or invisible disability. That translates into $58 billion for disabled travel in the US.”
“Three years ago, I wanted to create a video about a blind person coming to Fort Lauderdale. If I made it 3 years ago it would not have been as impactful. I took that time to build content, building an accessible presence in our approach, and then bring in the seeing impaired video campaign. Henry was from Costa Rica, living in Brazil and we flew him in for 4 or 5 days. I was Involved in the shoot and the messaging. He did mention to me that it is harder being gay than it is being blind. I feel we have one of the best accessible videos out there. “
Visibility and being seen is what Richard does the best. He recalled a couple of other campaigns. He was one of the models in a campaign as one was stuck in an airport. Another one of the models was a Latino with one leg, which was groundbreaking in itself. During the shoot, the idea came up to have Richard kiss the model. It was of course his idea. He just heard himself say, “Would you mind if I kissed you.” He elaborates, “I wanted to show it was okay to kiss somebody that had a disability.” You won’t see that in any travel magazine out there.
What’s Next for Gray?
We asked Richard, what made you say, “I’m done”? He will be taking the next three to four months off. He loves to travel, shocker, so he will be doing that. And personally, he was diagnosed with cancer last August. He still has passion for his community and to still work in the community so he will look at taking on some assignments.
“I feel I need time for Richard Gray, to take a break. I do a lot of multitasking” so to take some time to focus on me is a good thing.”
Gray’s retirement party was held at Hunter’s Night Club in Wilton Manors. So many were present. We were honored to be invited by Richard to attend. He said he individually invited everyone in the room as they had touched him through his journey. In this picture, Richard sitting in the well-deserved throne. To the right of Richard is Mark Hunter, owner of Hunter’s in Wilton Manors, Palm Springs, and Richard’s best friend, and Stacy Ritter, President/CEO of Visit Lauderdale (Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention and Visitors Bureau) and Richard’s (former) boss.Richard closing out the evening with thanks and a moving speech. “Cheers to 33 Years” was the theme where invited guests were to dress in green, as their favorite OZ character, or fine attire. There were a couple of spectacular Glendas, but we did love Gray’s red, excuse me, ruby shoes.
See You Soon
When we get the chance to chat with Richard Gray again, we will love that treat. Richard, you have been a great friend of Instinct Magazine’s, you’ve been a great friend to those that live in and visit Fort Lauderdale, you’ve been a mover, a shaker, a wave maker in LGBTQ+ tourism, LGBTQ+ acceptance, LGBTQ+ representation. We cannot wait to see what you do next.
