Airbnb celebrates Pride with touching video for LGBTQ travelers

Wed. June 24, 2015 10:00 AM by Jan Bernabe

"love is welcome here: our #hostwithpride film"

photo credit // airbnb
Chicago, IL - With the Chicago Pride Parade just around the corner (Sunday, June 28), now would be an ideal time to arrange your lodging needs. Over a million people are expected to celebrate the Pride Parade, and many of the revelers are surely going to be folks from outside of Chicago. Booked-up citywide hotels should be expected. But there are alternatives to hotel bookings. You may even get to stay closer to the parade if you book your accommodations through Airbnb.

Airbnb just released its support of Pride in a touching video called "Love is Welcome Here: Our #HostWithPride Film," featuring five LGBTQ couples. In the video description, the company states, "We look forward to helping create a world where all love is not only accepted, but welcomed, everywhere we go."

In its celebration of the joys of traveling, the video captures some of the challenges and questions faced by LGBTQ couples. A queer woman states, "Planning a honeymoon as a queer couple, we have to be really careful where we go." A gay man in the video reveals the obvious truth about traveling abroad, "Traveling as a gay couple, some countries are less friendly than others." A transgender man asks, "If these people knew we were queer, would these people talk to us, would they be kind to us?"

"We celebrate Pride and strive for a world where we all can belong anywhere," Airbnb states. For LGBTQ travelers, concerns about traveling revolve about comfort, safety, and being out. As one gay man says in the video, "Having to hide this aspect of ourselves does sort of feel like taking a step back or hiding something that we worked so hard to achieve."

As the Chicago Pride Parade approaches, we welcome the LGBTQ folks coming from outside of Chicago. "Travel breaks down barriers because people see you," a gay man says in the video, "You are no longer a mystery." 

We want to see all of you on Sunday! Check out Airbnb to make your lodging accommodations—and to all the hosts in Chicago, #HostWithPride.


 

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