It may seem like a marketing ploy, but the original founders of LGBT + Secrets said they wanted to use the community’s economic power to “change the world”. Maricoin, a Spanish word for “gay”, kicked off on Friday with a week-long trial involving 10 businesses in the Spanish capital, Madrid, in the Lugbit + neighborhood.
Marijuana sponsors plan to launch the virtual currency early next year, paving the way for LGBT-friendly businesses and international events.
“Since we run this economy, why doesn’t our society help LGBT + people more than banks, insurance companies or big corporations?” Juan Belmonte, co-founder of the 48-year-old, spoke to the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone.
Belmonte, a hairdresser and entrepreneur, said the idea of LGBT + came to him while he was having a party with his friends at a Madrid event in July this year.
But he did not know the origin of the project. Following in the footsteps of the project in 2017, HazteOir, a conservative group, sent a bus around Spain to launch a campaign against transgender rights: “Men have a penis, girls have a penis, do not be deceived.”
The conservative Christian group campaign was quickly blocked by Spanish authorities, but Belmonte said he was aware of the need to “do something” to boost the LGBT + community by fighting homosexuality.
Big market
Global LGBT + Market is Large A study by Credit Suisse Bank of Switzerland found that it is the fourth largest purchasing power in Japan after Japan.
According to a 2018 study by Canter Consulting and LGBT + Social Network Hornet, the purchasing power of the community in the United States alone in 2016 was $ 1 trillion (approximately 74,51,400 Rs. Crore) – equal to African-American or Hispanic consumers.
Maricoine is backed by Venture Capital Borderless Capital in Miami, and the movement’s chief executive, Francisco Alvarez, said 8,000 people were on the waiting list to buy marijuana before it could be traded.
Under their plan, LGBT + Confidentiality will be accepted by businesses – from restaurants and cafes to shops and hotels – as payment for signing the “Equality Manifesto”.
Among other things, the manifesto protects the people of LGBT + and “all those who suffer from stigma” as well as “social, ethical, transcendental and open economy”.
“The institutions that accept our coins are listed on our map, which serves as an LGBTI guide for anyone visiting any city in the world,” said Alvarez, 48.
“If they violate any of our anti-discrimination manifesto, for example, if a pregnant woman is expelled because of her pregnancy, she will be expelled from marijuana,” he said.
The money will also have its own LGBT-related language – the transition between marijuana users is called “trans”.
Alvarez and Belmonte also hope that the venture will be a source of funding for LGBT + businesses and community initiatives around the world.
“We can provide micro-credit to support projects to help people set up a small LGBTI-friendly cafe in Colombia or flee countries where refugees have been stoned,” he said.
“We look forward to changing the world.”
© Thomson Reuters 2021
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