Openly or not, some Marion County businesses reach out to gays, lesbians.

Publication: Ocala Star-Banner (Ocala, Florida) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Ocala Star-Banner

Byline: Rick Cundiff

Aug. 14--OCALA, Fla. -- For Realtor Jonathan Cruz, marketing his services to Ocala's gay and lesbian community is just good business.

"A lot of them deal with some degree of prejudiced people. They have money and they spend it," he said. "From a business point of view, it's a community that's out there, and nobody's willing to help them."

Cruz isn't the only hoping to reach this market. Although exact numbers are hard to come by, local gay and lesbian consumers and business owners say they have an impact on the Marion County economy.

Lesbian and gay couples tend to be more affluent than average.

According to the 2005 Gay and Lesbian Consumer Online Census, a joint project of Syracuse University and OpusComm Group, the median household income for gay and lesbian households is between $60,000 and...

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