Gay Salem! Your Gay Guide to the Witch City!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Robert Murch, (978) 979-1969
www.gaysalem.com
bob@gaysalem.com

Gays Coming Out of the Broom Closet in Salem, Massachusetts

Salem, MA -- April 19, 2006 – Salem, Massachusetts, long known for its Witches, ghosts, vampires, and other things that go bump in the night, is about to become known for another segment of its community—gays and lesbians. Local gay activist Robert Murch, who has helped lead the battle for marriage equality in the Bay State, has launched www.gaysalem.com as a way for gays and lesbians living in Salem to be recognized as a contributing factor to the culture of the city. The theory behind the Web site, says Murch, is that “every city and town in America has its gays and lesbians. This site is a way for us to stand up and be noticed as participants in our local community.”

A wink and nod to Salem’s kitschy Witch identity, the site—designed by Salem Witch, event promoter, and Web designer Christian Day—is inspired by the television show Bewitched, a series that filmed in Salem in the late 1960’s that depicted its own non-traditional couple in the form of a Witch married to an ordinary man. Salem’s link to the show was recently honored with a bronze statue of star Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens. Bewitched was a favorite among gays and featured a number of gay actors and suggestively gay characters. More recently, Salem has become a destination for upscale dining and shopping, as well as home to a number of chic condominiums just right for the gay or lesbian urban commuter. Murch notes that a number of local merchants have recognized Salem’s appeal to the Gay community with an ad campaign that included a long running two-page spread in Metro-Boston gay and lesbian publication Bay Windows. Both Murch and Day felt that this combination of camp and class, culture and kitsch that makes up the Witch City was just the right potion to attract more gays and lesbians to visit and even move here, as well as encourage those already in Salem to make their presence known.

Murch hopes that his site inspires other cities and towns to launch web sites exploring their own gay culture. His love for Salem is well known. Murch and his husband Gary Halteman were the first same-sex couple married in Salem and had previously launched www.civilmarriagecivilright.com.

Gay Fabulous!
(These places are especially welcoming to gay and lesbians. We are in the process of evaluating every listing on our site to determine their "fabulousness." Let us know if you feel a listing should be designated as Gay Fabulous or to suggest a listing we might have missed entirely!)