Pink vote

The pink vote refers to the use of voting rights by the LGBT community to achieve equality via the ballot box during general elections. Therefore, every vote that a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender member of the electorate can cast is referred to as the pink vote. Most prevalent in Britain, the concept has already spread to US and Canada with many other countries like South Africa, Australia and even Singapore starting to acknowledge it.

=United Kingdom=

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 1.00% of the total population in UK is homosexual and so, 480,000 people consider themselves gay or lesbian.

Political parties in Britain now aim at the pink vote bank and leave no stone unturned to persuade the homosexual community to vote in their favour,,.

The significance of the pink vote has increased considerably with the changing times. Charles Kennedy of The Liberal Democrats pitched for the "pink vote" and even promised a package of ways to boost homosexual rights. The Labour party assured that the laws against homophobia will be reinforced and the rights of same-sex couples to adopt children will be reassessed if they win next state election. Even the PM and the Conservative leader took desperate measures to win over the UK's three million pink voters.

=United States=

According to the research report by Gallup, Americans interviewed estimated the gay population to be around one in every fifth person in the US which would account for almost 20% of the overall population, while actual numbers are estimated to be 10% or less. This percentage does play a big role in the elections and political parties try every way to attract these pink voters,.

=Changing times=

With the visible impact of the pink vote in Britain, Canada’s political scenario also caught up with the pink vote politics. This new idea has also been a topic of debate in the Australia's political system.

There are countries like South Africa where the pink vote is yet to acquire such importance and the homosexual community is yet to be given any added importance in elections.

=In focus=

There have also been debates about the impact of pink votes and their existence in politics. In spite of such debates, fever of the pink vote even caught up Oscars as well.

= See also =
 * Pink Money
 * Gay
 * Lesbian

= References =