LGBTQ Support
Love To Travel And Want To Support The LGBTQ Community? Here’s How
Travel and support the LGBTQ community at the same time? It’s possible. Learn 5 ways your travels can improve the lives of LGBTQ people in Las Vegas and beyond.
Here at Travel Gay Vegas, we’re passionate about two things—travel and LGBTQ support.
Like most people, we view travel as an opportunity to unwind and see new things. But we believe it can be more than just a break from daily life. At Travel Gay Vegas, we think it’s possible to do what you love and support the LGBTQ community at the same time. In fact, giving back to our community through travel is why we started Travel Gay Vegas in the first place.
Although we’re still in the beginning stages, our goal is to develop an on-site booking platform for LGBTQ travelers. By booking through Travel Gay Vegas, a portion of your purchase will go directly to LGBTQ organizations doing incredible work for our community.
Donating money from your purchases is just one way travel can improve the lives of LGBTQ people. Keep reading to see others.
1. LGBTQ Travel Changes Hearts and Minds
You can change people’s ideas about what it means to be LGBTQ just by doing what you love.
It’s still illegal to be LGBTQ in 70 countries. And you could be given the death penalty in 12. What’s more, in countries like Lebanon, Kenya, and Nigeria, over 80% of people say that homosexuality should not be accepted by society.
It’s pretty obvious that we still have a long way to go before LGBTQ people gain full acceptance and respect in many parts of the world. And while LGBTQ travelers can’t fix these issues alone, they can certainly help to change hearts and minds through their voyages.
Indeed, John Clifford, president of International Travel Management, a company specializing in LGBTQ travel, says “there’s no way for these countries and these people to evolve if they don’t see and experience gay people. The only way that can happen is by being ambassadors, not necessarily just for the gay community, but for humanity in general.”
Clifford goes to describe travel as the great equalizer. It brings people together, it gets them talking, and in many cases makes them realize they’re not so different after all.
In other words, when you travel as an LGBTQ person, you may have the opportunity to meet people who have never met an LGBTQ person before. This opens the door to meaningful conversations and perhaps even real change.
2. LGBTQ Travel Stimulates Genuine Corporate Engagement
LGBTQ travelers demanding more culturally-sensitive services requires corporations to evolve and improve their outreach.
While there will always be companies that jump on the rainbow bandwagon just for Pride month, there are some that really want to connect with and serve LGBTQ travelers. When you use services from LGBTQ-friendly companies, you have the opportunity to share your experience as an LGBTQ person and help companies improve.
If you’re pleased with an airline, hotel, or tour company, be sure to tell them. If not, let them know what they can do to make their services better suited for LGBTQ people. By offering genuine feedback, you can encourage companies to better understand and support LGBTQ people.
3. LGBTQ Travel Creates Better Representation In Advertising
More LGBTQ travelers means more diverse advertising from travel companies.
Prior to the 1970s, there were hardly any explicit representations of LGBTQ people in advertising. Thankfully things have changed since then. Now it’s possible to see LGBTQ people in advertisements for travel companies like Virgin Airlines, Hilton Hotels, and the Las Vegas Tourism Board.
It’s exciting to see more LGBTQ people in mainstream ads, but there’s still work to be done. As an example, a considerable majority (72%) of LGBTQ people believe their representation in advertising is tokenistic.
What’s more, the majority of advertisements featuring LGBTQ people put gay white men in the center of campaigns. As a result, more marginalized members of the community who would benefit from increased visibility and awareness often go unnoticed.
But it’s not all bad news. As more and more LGBTQ people travel and use travel-related services, corporations are empowered to come up with more diverse advertising. As proof, we’re already starting to see ads with more trans people and more people of color.
4. LGBTQ Travel Supports Queer-Owned Businesses
Whenever possible, spend money at LGBTQ-owned businesses.
Wherever you go, you have an opportunity to support local LGBTQ businesses. Do a simple Google search and you’ll find all kinds of queer businesses to support when you reach your destination. By keeping money in the community, you’re literally helping LGBTQ people survive.
You can also visit the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce to learn more about how to support queer businesses. In addition, check out the International LGBTQ Travel Association (IGLTA) to find LGBTQ-owned travel businesses. Finally, to find LGBTQ-owned businesses in Las Vegas, head to Pink Spots or check out this map.
5. LGBTQ Travel Aids Organizations
Part of every dollar you spend with Travel Gay Vegas goes to helping LGBTQ organizations.
We think there are tons of ways LGBTQ travel can improve our community. But the one we’re most passionate about is donating a portion of your travel purchases to LGBTQ organizations.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, things are still in the works right now. However, our plan is to give a portion of our proceeds to a different LGBTQ organization every three months.
But that’s not even the best part. When you book through our site, you won’t pay anything extra to donate. That means you can do good and stick to your budget.
Let’s Make Las Vegas The #1 LGBTQ Travel Destination
Come see what makes Las Vegas such a great destination for LGBTQ travelers.
If it wasn’t clear before, we’re huge fans of Las Vegas. Like a lot of travelers, we love the mesmerizing lights, the delicious food, and the world-class entertainment that you find around every corner in Las Vegas.
But as LGBTQ travelers, Las Vegas has an extra something that keeps us coming back year after year. In Las Vegas, we feel safe, open, and free to be ourselves. No one bats an eye when we hold hands with our partner and no one looks at us funny when we walk into a gay show.
And we’re not the only ones under Vegas’s spell. Out Magazine recently ranked Las Vegas 3rd on its list of the Top 20 Gayest Destinations In The USA, while USA Today ranked Nevada as the best state for LGBTQ people.
Here at Travel Gay Vegas, we want to share the magic of Las Vegas with as many LGBTQ travelers as possible. What’s more, we hope to see Las Vegas become the #1 LGBTQ travel destination.
To that end, we’re hard at work creating our on-site booking platform so that LGBTQ people can support their community while having fun and doing something they love.
