The LGBTQ+ community buys the same products as heterosexual couples do. But, some buying habits differ because LGBTQ+ shoppers have a preference for inclusive brands and that’s where gay affiliate programs take a different path.
The companies that are ambassadors for equality year-round are preferred over those who just sponsor events like Pride Month solely for commercial reasons.
With the Gayby Boom long underway, same-sex marriages are now legal in a number of States, and (logically) following that is the ability for same-sex couples to become same-sex parents.
A huge benefit for those in the LGBTQ+ space is that it is a large community. It’s ill-advised to go into the market blind because gay brands focus a lot on the welfare of their customers.
Some companies contribute to large charitable organizations that rally for change, more inclusion, and challenge discrimination. This is an industry where people really do need to come before profits so understanding the community at an emotional level will help your campaigns connect with your audience.
That’s where brands need the support of a strong affiliate team. At the emotional level to connect with consumers.
Don’t go into this just to market to a niche group. Mainly, because it isn’t a niche. It’s an industry that has niche brands within it.
Despite huge advancements in social acceptance of the LGBTQ+ communities, there remains some stigma and with that comes mental health issues.
In an effort to ensure this list of affiliate programs doesn’t stigmatize by leaning too much towards the adult sector, which is where there really is only one difference (sexual orientation), it’s compiled of companies in various sectors to include as diverse a range as possible.
Included are:
- Some singles dating sites,
- Gay fashion brands,
- An immigration law service for same-sex couples in Canada,
- Gay travel brands covering locations for same-sex weddings and honeymoons
- A few select adult gay stores with affiliate programs.
By no means are these the only sectors there are to partner with inclusive brands, but it is a good start and should show what’s possible to financially support LGBTQ+ bloggers, influencers, and Youtube channels.
Gay Website Ideas
- Men’s fashion wear is popular with gay singles, couples, bisexual men as well as women shopping for their straight partners. Just because a brand’s marketing is geared towards the gay community isn’t a reason not to include “some” of their products. Jeans, shirts, shoes, and certain styles of underwear are suited to all audiences.
- Other types of gay fashion that’s more out and proud (outloudnproud.com is available) could be a niche store or a category on a larger store.
- Events marketers can focus on Pride Events and other gay events by selling tickets and pride merchandise for attending the events, along with other gay merchandise the rest of the year.
- LGBTQ+ lifestyle sites could cover a variety of subjects from political columns, health advice including mental health, and a travel category detailing the most gay-friendly destinations and guides for visiting the cities or countries could be profitable.
- Build a homeschooling blog for same-sex parents
- For an adult-only audience, there are sex toy stores for singles and couples, gay apparel, VOD (Video-On-Demand) streaming sites, and dating websites or for any sexual preference.
12 Gay Affiliate Programs
- Pride Shack
- Top Offers
- Super Gay Underwear
- Out of Office
- Differio
- Book Yoga Retreats
- Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN)
- Buddy Profits
- ESMale
- So Dolls
- TN Visa Expert
- Passions Network
1. Pride Shack
Pride Shack is likely the largest LGBTQ+ merchandise supplier. The company is based in the US and ships internationally.
The store would be ideal for merchandise suited to a variety of gay niches such as gay bikers, gay jewelry, or for event listings websites or ticket affiliates to promote merchandise for the events.
The Pride Shack affiliate program is managed on the ShareaSale network, uses a lifetime cookie, and pays 20% commission. If you can send a lot of buyer traffic, they may bump your commission rate up.
They do allow cashback affiliates and they also work with experienced affiliates who use PPC marketing. If you’re going to use PPC, they need to approve your keywords before your campaign goes live.
Sign up at Shareasale.com
2. Top Offers
Top Offers is a CPA network with thousands of offers, but for gay affiliate programs, it’s the LGBT dating category that’ll be most suited.
The network covers seven adult dating platforms for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities. Those are:
- Buddy Gays
- Guys Go Dating
- Gays Tryst
- JH Live
- Jmec
- Lesbie Dates
- Lesbie Mates
Like many of the adult dating sites, they are country-specific. JH Live and Jmec are both for France, Lesbie Dates and Lesbie Mates are for the US and France, with others covering America, Canada, Britain, Australia, and some European countries too.
As topoffers.com is a network, the commissions will vary by program. They offer different payment structures including Pay-Per-Lead, Pay-Per-Sale, and revenue share.
Sign up at TopOffers.com
3. Super Gay Underwear
The underwear market is a huge industry and it has a crossover appeal between fashion and dating.
Singles on the dating scene tend to shop for underwear that flatters, compliments their personality and is of course, comfortable to wear.
Super Gay Underwear is the store for all types of mens underwear that’s not stocked on mainstream fashion retail stores. Jocks and thongs, fetish underwear, bikini styled bottoms, singlets and leotards.
The store would be ideal for gay fashion bloggers.
The affiliate program is run on the Refersion platform, pays 20% commission, and gives you a code to share that gives your referrals a 10% discount on their first order, and the cookies are set to 30-days.
Sign up at Refersion.com
4. Out of Office
Outofoffice.com is a luxury LGBT travel brand that caters to gay and lesbian group vacations, including cultural vacations and safaris as well as weddings and honeymoons.
They travel to far out parts of the world and take gay groups to countries that operate under Sharia Law, which can be difficult to find in travel operators.
To ensure the safety of travelers in their groups, they are partnered with Equaldex to provide the latest LGBT travel advice as well as information to stay safe when abroad as the laws are different and changing.
The affiliate program doesn’t have the details listed publicly. If you’re interested in promoting LGBT vacations, whether as a blogger, travel journalist, or a professional services provider like a wedding planner, send an email to affiliates[at]outofoffice.com asking about partner opportunities.
5. Differio
Differio is a menswear brand that appeals to a broad range of audiences. They stock fashion lines from designer labels and independent up-and-coming designers.
The majority of their clothing lines are gay menswear that’s also appealing to bisexual guys and there are women who shop at the store for their partners. Why? Fashion-savvy customer service!
Customers can call, email, or reach support on social media for advice on sizing, style, or fit.
Similar to outofoffice.com, Differio keeps the details of the affiliate program out of the public view. They are interested in working with fashion bloggers, lifestyle bloggers and those with a fashion-based social media following.
For more information, email affiliate[at]differio.com
6. Book Yoga Retreats
Yoga retreats are best enjoyed when everyone in the group is comfortable together. That’s part of what Book Yoga Retreats do.
Organize yoga retreats at international locations and put like-minded people into the same groups to create a relaxed and comfortable environment.
The website is one of a network that’s run by Tripaneer.com, an online travel experience business. For gay travel, or gay meditation groups, the BookYogaRetreats.com affiliate program would give you more targeted promotions specific to the LGBT community than what Tripaneer.com has available.
The affiliate program is privately run and pays based on revenue share as Tripaneer is only the booking site. What they’re paid for the booking, affiliates earn a percentage of it.
Starting rates are 35% rev share and they use a 14-day cookie. You can promote any site within the Tripaneer family so it’s worth searching through their sites to see what else you could be promoting.
Tripaneer provides you a list of sites they operate, but they don’t make it easy by listing out the gay vacations so you’ll need to do some digging to find what’s best for your audience.
Do that by using the site search function on Google for each of their domains. Like this:
site:booksurfcamps.com gay
… more gay affiliate programs you can promote.
Sign up at Tripaneer.com
7. Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network
The Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network was started as an internet porn company in 1999. In the past decade, they’ve gained a lot of traction in the gay porn market through mergers.
In 2007, they merged with Naked Sword. In 2009, Raging Stallion Studios, a gay adult movie production company. In 2010, they acquired Falcon Studios. You get the picture. They’ve amassed a sizable gay porn network.
On offer are thousands of titles for customers to choose to either rent the movie, pay to download it, or buy minutes to view scenes.
The affiliate program pays between 30% and 50% commission based on your sales volume and several tools are provided to help with your marketing.
Sign up at AEBN.net
8. Buddy Profits
Buddy Profits is part of the Gamma Entertainment network. But, they’re the only one that focuses on only gay porn. That strategy won them awards and earned them a reputation of being a premium gay affiliate platform.
In total, there are 37 gay porn sites on the network, each with thousands of titles covering various niches and fetishes and there are some gay cam sites affiliates can promote too.
They pay affiliates up to $40 per new signup, 60% revenue share and there’s a 2nd tier affiliate program that’ll pay you 10% of the commissions your referrals make.
Sign up at BuddyProfits.com.
9. ESMale
Esmale is an adult sex toy store for men. The company is based in London, UK and they ship internationally.
The store has hundreds of items spanning various categories including solo sex toys and toys for couples as well as enhancers, stimulants, and gay clothing including fetish wear.
You can partner with ESMale either directly or through the Paid on Results network.
Direct partners are paid a 10% base commission rising to 14% for sales of £500 and upwards in a month. Their affiliate details page only states that the cookies are long-lasting but they don’t share how long that is.
The alternative and strangely better option is to partner through Paid on Results. They pay you the same 10% base commission but a higher rate of 15% for sales volumes over £500 per month and that’s using 90-day cookies.
Sign up at the Paid on Results Network.
10. So Dolls
SoDolls.com is adult sex doll store that stock a range of men’s sex dolls.
The So Dolls affiliate program runs on the Affiliatly network and pays 10% commission and the cookies are set to 30-days.
These are very niche products so the order value is higher than most, averaging around $1,500 per order.
Per sale, that’s $150 per sale.
For LGBT sex toy stores, a doll category is something to consider adding. SoDolls.com are one of only a few to supply gay dolls and clothing ranges to fit too.
Sign up at Affiliatly.com
11. TN Visa Expert
A TN Visa can expand the job prospects of Canadians by letting them travel to the US for work. It is for professionals and there is a list of professions that are eligible for it. (see here)
The service could be a good fit for a Canadian careers website.
As it does involve immigration law, lawyers are usually the first step to start the visa application process. That’s an expensive way to go. A cheaper option is to buy the DIY TN Visa Application kit from TNVisaExpert.com.
They also offer assistance for marriage visas for same-sex couples so there is a couple of niches the affiliate program would fit into.
- Same-sex marriage visas for Canadians relocating to the US
- Gay professional Careers needing a TN Visa to work in the States.
The affiliate program is managed by the eAffiliatez.com network, pays 20% commission and uses a 60-day cookie.
To apply, sign up with the eAffiliteZ.com
12. Passions Network
The Passions Network is a social online dating platform for singles. They have hundreds of niche topics where singles can mingle based on their interests.
For the LGBTQ+ dating scene, the ones you’d be interested in promoting would be:
- Gay Passions
- Bisexual Passions
- Lesbian Passions
- Trans Passions
The social network is free to sign up for one platform and a paid membership needed to access more. They have over 260 networks though so the best approach to sell the membership options would be slant two interests together.
As an example, GayTrekkers.com could be used to build a community hub for gay hikers.
The premium membership gives access to every social platform within the Passions Network group of sites for a monthly or annual fee.
They use CCBill as their payment processor and that has affiliate management capabilities so to promote the platform, it’s a CCBill affiliate account you’d use.
The Passions Network pays $4 per paid membership and uses a 255-day cookie.
Getting started isn’t as simple as usual as you need to merge two accounts.
Step 1) Register an account at CCbill.com
Step 2) Use those login credentials to merge that account with the Passions Network Affiliate program.
