Gay marriage proponents incensed by California’s passage of Proposition 8 are calling for a potentially crippling statewide tourism boycott — not of California, but of neighborhing Utah, where the Mormon church supplied much of the money and muscle required to pass the amendment.
“At this point, honestly, we’re going to destroy the Utah brand,” says John Aravosis, a blogger never known for his subtlety. Aravosis calls Utah “a hate state” where the Mormon hierarchy “just took marriage away from 20,000 couples and made their children bastards. You don’t do that and get away with it.”
A widespread boycott would certainly hurt a state like Utah, where tourism provides some $9 billion in annual revenues. But the pain would be felt mostly in Salt Lake City and Park City, two popular tourist destinations with lots of gay-owned and gay-friendly businesses.
Scott McCoy, an openly gay state senator from Salt Lake City, says the idea of a boycott is wrong-headed. “I would rather have every gay person in the country come to Utah and show the people of Utah what genuine wonderful people and families we have, and to help educate them that we deserve the exact same legal rights and protections they and their families are afforded under the law,” he told the AP.
Travelgaygents could have a big impact in creating momentum for the boycott — or stopping it dead in its tracks. So what do you think is the best strategy: Avoid or engage? What will you tell your clients?
5 responses so far ↓
Willard // November 10, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I am sad you feel it has come to this. There are more effective ways for gays to obtain the rights they deserve than lashing out at a diverse group of people, many of whom bear no malice towards gays.
Gary // November 11, 2008 at 4:09 am
Of COURSE boycott Utah! I can’t understand why any self-respecting gay person would have gone there even BEFORE this stupid California vote. Utah has been on my personal list of no-go states for quite some time — along with Idaho, Wyoming — you get the idea. I simply have NO desire to be in a place that doesn’t WANT ME. At least, NOT WHEN I AM ON HOLIDAY! There are SO MANY places begging for the gay tourism dollar .. and they treat us like kings (and queens).
So, MY boycott of Utah began long ago. But PLEASE, spread the word! Utah is NOT gay friendly. If you must ski, go to Santa Fe. Now, THERE’S a gay friendly city.
libhomo // November 11, 2008 at 11:54 pm
There is no possible way that anyone can travel to the Hate State without financing the bigoted jihads of the Mormon Church against a wide variety of minority groups in our country.
Any lgbt person who travels to Utah is financing his/her own oppression.
Kelly James // November 13, 2008 at 12:46 pm
As travel agents, it is our responsibility to sell what people are trying to find in a destination.
If our identity is as gay travel agents–yes, I am–then we need to simply redirect “our” efforts to show support to those states that are gay friendly and supportive.
It will be nearly impossible to direct people away from a domestic ski resort vacation, when those outside Utah have limited capacity and rooms.
–Don’t take it the wrong way, I’m for either repealing or having Prop. 8 declared unconstitutional and have been married for 3 weeks, but it will be impossible to financially break the CoJCoLDS (Interesting series of letters) given that they require their members to tithe 10% of their income, and with their income coming from around the world, literally–not just Utah members (The Catholic Church should have it so good!), this type of boycott is just not a effective enough means of communicating our collective displeasure.–
Mitchel Shapiro // November 22, 2008 at 11:40 am
As a travel agent, that happens to be Gay, I feel it is my job to qualify my client and send them to places that best fit their needs and desires. If that happens to be Utah, so be it. It is not entirely fair to boycott Utah…if you go on that way of thinking then we should also boycott California as well. I do agree with previous posts about not wanting to be where people blatantly make you feel uncomfortable, but one cannot also make hasty generalizations and assume that everyone in Utah, Wyoming, or wherever feel the same way. I also agree with a previous post that stated that we should travel everywhere and show people that we, as gay men and women, have a desire to travel and spend money and be with our families..qualities that everyone (gay or straight) have. The bottom line is that as travel agents, we need to give our clients as much information as possible to help them make the best choices and decisions for their needs. Afterall, a happy client will return.