CHICAGO, IL — Given Hugh Hefner’s natty dress sense, extended bachelorhood, and tendency to spend time with considerably younger women of nearly impossible physical perfection, it should come as no surprise to anyone that his venerable “pro-sex” magazine is thinking about going gay.Well, not entirely gay, of course. Plenty of heterosexual men still pick up the slick lifestyle mag with its high gloss centerfolds and information about trendy products, services, and events for adults. But with gay cowboys capturing the attention of the Academy Awards, gay parents making progress in custody and adoption battles, gay marriage increasingly appealing to the mainstream, and Ford Motors thumbing its metaphorical nose at the religious right while romancing the dollars from gay auto buyers’ pockets, it was only a matter of time before Hefner’s sense of hip culture clicked with his realization that there’s market share to be had in the rainbow demographic.

Chief executive officer Christie Hefner explains it succinctly by stating that the Playboy company has “extended the Playboy brand to women, and where there is a meaningful gay market, launching under a different brand is something we are very comfortable doing.”

Feel good extension to the under-represented gay marketplace aside, Playboy Enterprises is hoping to boost its revenues, which managed to barely be profitable last year at $239 million. Apparently not quite enough straight men are interested in new stereos, cocktail recipes, and pore-free bunnies with racing stripe pubic hair, although the publication circulates 3 million copies of its super gloss monthly.

Instead, couples are watching the company’s softcore televised porn and women are cashing in on the Playboy brand; purchasing lifestyle focused items such as clothing and accessories, which gives the various Hefners hope that adult mobile-phone clips and gay content will contribute to the company’s salvation.

The senior Hefner remains in control of the company, although it was New York listed in 1971, the 79-year-old industry elder was able to steer the company out of internet expansion related financially losses last year, with a pre-tax profit of $14 million. Worth an estimated $466 million, the 53-year-old femme Hefner, who has run the company since 1988, explains its appeal as a result of “valuing sexiness and style” while providing “entertainment for grown-ups.”

The Hefners and their stock holders are hoping that, along with the success of the company’s televised softcore, extending that same sexiness, style, and entertainment into the gay consumer market will make it increasingly easy to pay the bills on the lavish Playboy mansion which, presumably, might be graced by the likes of scantily clad twinks and muscle boys if things go gay enough.