I just wanted to start a topic and perhaps a motion to modify things a bit here at GCU.  I had a birthday card that I put in the Birthday>>Gay/Lesbian category which was returned for edit because there was no Gay/Lesbian wording used to identify the card as such.
 
Now, I am not gay/lesbian however of all my friends and family who are, I know them to be perfectly normal wonderful loving human beings who are absolutely no different than I am.  So if it were me, I would be frustrated and offended that a birthday card had to have some Gay/Lesbian verbiage on it or in it in order for it to be that category.
 
The card in question for me says on the front:  Happy Birthday to the Man I Married
 
The inside text reads:  "Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for the day you came into my life... For the day you became my husband and... For the day you were born ~ Happy Birthday Darling"
 
Now, the reason I bring this up is two-fold.  One, if you go to the Birthday>>Gay/Lesbian category you will find many cards on that front page, which like mine, have no specific gay/lesbian wording...so why are they there?
 
Secondly, I think GCU needs to be a bit lenient in some of these categories.  I would like to offer beautiful cards to gay/lesbian community through GCU, cards that don't single them out from the rest of us.  Birthday cards, unless the artwork calls for it, should not have to have the word gay or lesbian on it for it to be allowed in this category.  
 
I am just opening this up for discussion, I am not complaining or demanding any change.  The reviewer was absolutely correct to bring this up and I would just like to chat about it before I make a decision to change this card.
 
What's everyone else think?

Thanks for bringing this up Doreen
We  have many Gay/Lesbian Cards and have had the same thing happen many times on GCU. On a few occasions we removed  the card rather than having to add gay or lesbian to the wording when it was not necessary and sometimes almost insulting . On a few occasions after adding what we considered inappropriate wording  to get a card approved,  we went back and deleted the gay or lesbian phrase and on a couple of cards we made them private to get around this problem.  
 
Like mary said If this was the rule, cards should be required to say "Heterosexual birthday" if designed for them  
 

Hi Doreen,
Don't know if this helps  
I have in the past designed cards using the American flag as my central design aspect. My intent and motivation in these cards was to design something that supports the military, a patriotic theme.
My cards were rejected from the military category and having any military keyword references which I felt was wrong since I intended it for them and I thought it fitted perfectly.
When I thought about it further I realized although my intent was military, if I found this card in a store nothing about it was specifically military, patriotic yes, but military no.  
I think the same principal may apply in this case.
 
Would either of our cards work well in the categories we intended, absolutely, but that is a with inserting our intent into the tangible product.
It sounds like your card speaks to romance and love and that is universal to all.
I don't think GCU is trying to separate any one group from another.I think they are simply trying to only have very specific cards in a category which is very specific.  
So sorry to be so long winded- hope it makes sense.
 
Pamela

In the same way that someone shopping for a birthday card for their brother might buy a card that simply says: "Happy Birthday" from the Birthday-->General category, so might someone shopping for a birthday card for someone who is gay or lesbian. But if we're going to have a G/L category, those card should in some way be specific to gay or lesbian. The customer has that expectation. This is a touchy topic for some but if you substitute gay/lesbian for anything else -- relationship specific or hobby or occupation or flowers, etc -- you'll see that it makes sense.  
 
Pattiann

I have been arguing about this since i started at gcu over a year ago...
 
some people are sensitive to this issue... me included...  what exactly makes something gay enough?  what qualifies as gay?
 
does it have to have big rainbows all over it - thats BS - and insulting
 
i believe if someone makes a card and wants it to be shown in the gay/lesbian category that should be their choice.... less people may ultimately end up seeing it - but it stays true to what the artist intended the card to be  
 
i have however, reluctantly added "to my partner", "my lover" etc... to my cards so they would "FIT" gcu's definition of 'gay enough'  and still at times have to fight to get the cards into gay/lesbian categories
 
i hope this is as far as gcu expects people to go to be 'gay enough'...  
 
 
...