CNN correspondent wants ‘pink market’ tapped

MANILA, Philippines - It’s called the “pink currency.” And gay people have the power to spend their hard-earned money in places and endeavors that do not discriminate against them.

CNN’s international business correspondent Richard Quest, who outed himself last year, told The STAR that “gays have economic power.” He said gay people should spend their money in places that do not discriminate against them.

Quest was recently in the country to cover the APEC summit and to film his monthly program “Business Traveller.” He is also the presenter of “Quest Means Business,” a program that airs on CNN on weekdays. It was in this show two years ago that he “publicly admitted that I was gay” while doing a commentary on Steve Jobs.

Ever since his public admission of his sexuality, Quest said he has always been invited to become a resource speaker in gay-related functions around the world. 

“When I speak, I ask the people, particularly since there are many of us, ‘Where will you spend your hard-earned money? Why spend it where it is not gay-friendly? Why should you spend your money in countries that are not gay-friendly just because they have beautiful beaches’?” he said.

He added, “If there are countries that discriminate against the gay community, they are the countries that I will not spend my own personal money. I will go for work there but I will not spend my own money there. Why would I?”

He said that at 53, he is comfortable being gay. “If I am not comfortable about it now, there’s something wrong.”

Quest said he has been “out” most of his adult life. It’s an open secret but he said he never talked about it.

“I am blessed to work for a company that basically says, ‘We don’t care who you sleep with; we care that you are not discriminated about because of who you sleep with.’ I recognize that there are people in the world who have a very different road to follow and that’s why I talk about it more.”

In 2008, Quest was arrested early morning at the Central Park in New York, where he is based, for illegal possession of crystal methamphetamine, a controlled substance.