By some accounts, gays and lesbians in Spokane number between 10,000 and 20,000. Add to that their friends and family members and you have a sizable market force. And that doesn’t even include the rest of Spokane and Kootenai counties.

What’s more, statistics show the gay population has generally more money to spend and higher education than the population at large. No wonder author Richard Florida believes what he calls the “creative class” is an economic development asset for a community.

Last spring, the newsletter of Gays and Lesbians In Planning, or GALIP, a branch of the American Planning Association, reported on Philadelphia’s $300,000-a-year campaign to attract a bigger share of the $7 billion gay and lesbian tourism trade. “The tourism boards of other cities are advertising in regional gay and lesbian publications and web sites in order to attract gay and lesbian travelers with their relatively high discretionary incomes,” the newsletter added.

Like Philadelphia, numerous cities – including Orlando, Kansas City, Las Vegas and Chicago – have recognized the same potential. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that talk is under way in Spokane about the concept of a gay business district. So far, the idea is loosely defined, but it has sufficient merit that it shouldn’t be derailed by the predictable amount of skeptical reaction.

How such a district might take shape is unclear.

A formal zoning endeavor? Not likely, although Chicago and Oakland have used that approach. Simple evolution is a more plausible pattern, according to Randall Gross, an economic development consultant based in Washington, D.C., and past chairman of GALIP.

“Many ethnic and cultural districts were already home to businesses that catered to that clientele,” he said. “They’re just using that ‘clustering’ effect to create a stronger marketing identity.”

That identity begins with a sense of comfort that gays and lesbians haven’t always felt in this and other communities. At a well-attended forum held last month on the Riverpoint campus, one participant said Spokane remains “closeted” because gays and lesbians don’t feel safe here.

District or no district, that shouldn’t be the case. And, indeed, a gay Gonzaga University alumnus, back in Spokane a decade after he graduated, said the enthusiasm at the forum surprised him.

If Spokane can make a significant but relatively invisible segment of the population feel welcome and accepted, it’s a step toward attracting tourists and convention-goers, not to mention business owners who understand that open-minded communities offer them a deeper pool of talented employees.

Moving in that direction will make us a stronger community, in terms of both our economy and our humanity.