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Post by High Priestess on Jun 16, 2016 15:32:37 GMT
Paul from Australia (paul) started a discussion on the Airbnb CC asking what hosts thought about stating in their listings that they were "XXX- friendly" where XXX would be any particular group the host wanted to specifically extend welcome to.
community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/A-more-INCLUSIVE-Airbnb-LGBTIQ-Racial-Diversity-etc/m-p/110929#M32491
Other hosts responded and intriguingly all would oppose that idea. What is your view on this? I would generally agree with what Louise and Daniel say. As societies grow more accepting, there seems less need to extend specific welcome to a group that was once subject to more vilification. For instance, in 1985 it would have been delightful to me to see someone state that a certain place (particularly a church!) was "Gay Friendly" or "LGBT friendly." But now over 30 years later in 2016, seeing someone or some group or organization, particularly one in an urban, generally progressive/liberal area, state that it is "LGBT friendly" would seem a little silly or redundant to me -- almost mawkish.
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Post by helgaparis on Jun 16, 2016 21:01:07 GMT
As you say, Deborah, it's 30 years to late. 15 years ago, we got a gay magasine in a bar a few steps from out home in Sète. Not a gay sex magasine, a tourism magasine directed at bars. Our bar was not a night club, it was serving coffee during the day to tourists and locals and had some special evenings. We checked the publication, to maybe put an advertisement in it, as 15 ears ago, in a small town full of fishermen, not everyone took gay couples gracefully. We did not put the add: the publicities were all veery kinky, not targeting normal people searching a normal holiday home. Douglas joked about offering a dungeon option, but that was about the only kind of guests it could attract.
The muslims are in Ramadan now, and every supermarket sells halal food. It's a marketing trick - I would not even say marketing argument. It's ridiculous. I suspect Paul looks for a way to boost his sales. It might backfire, as people are not such fools.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 16, 2016 22:11:37 GMT
Yes...generally it would give the impression of someone who is "behind the times", and yet, it could still be useful to state this in any area which is known for not being particularly "gay friendly". Such as Russia....but there, if one said "gay friendly" in an ad...maybe one could get in trouble with the state. I just saw on the news last night a man in a Muslim country where homosexual sex is still illegal -- I don't recall which -- had been handing out flyers denouncing homophobia, and he ended up getting beat up. In some areas one has to take care.
By the way, I was impressed to hear that homosexual sex was legalized in Turkey in the mid 19th century -- 1866 or something like that. That was almost 100 years before the same occurred in the USA.
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Post by maria on Jun 17, 2016 3:14:17 GMT
This reminds me a post I read in the 'new' Forum. One woman Host wanted to advertise her listing in some unusual way and asked AirBnB if it was legal. AirBnB took the time to reply and tell her it was acceptable (?). This Host wanted to show how inclusive and friendly she was to to african-americans. She wanted to offer a discount ONLY to african-americans.
People were dancing around the comments trying to tell her "maybe it was not a good idea" as how this could be perceived. Then another Host, an african-american lady told her plain and directly that she wouldn't be interested to stay with a Host that wanted to offer her this type of discount, just for being black. She would prefer a Host that would emphasize a listing that was clean and safe; she also stated that she was in no need of reparation. It was a very interesting exchange.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 17, 2016 3:34:42 GMT
THat sounds very interesting Maria -- did you happen to save the link to that post? I will search for it. To me, this kind of discussion is fascinating and thought-provoking and I would like to add the links to them here so folks can find them.
Oh -- happily I searched on the CC and found the post!! It's here:
community.airbnb.com/t5/Hosts/Non-discrimination-policy/m-p/105866/highlight/true#M31433
This part of the conversation was I believe what you were referring to Maria:
and:
The latter host also provided quite a long and helpful list of suggestions about how she thinks hosts could express welcome towards certain minority groups.
Actually I am not clear that it is legal in the USA to offer a discount to people of one race or one type of sexuality/gender identity -- while this may not violate Airbnb terms and conditions, hosts also have to observe the Fair Housing Act and this means not making discriminatory statements in advertising. A discount for people of only one race could possibly be interpreted as discrimination on the basis of race. Likewise with a discount for those of a certain gender identity. I'm not clear on that -- what would be illegal would be to show a PREFERENCE for people of a certain race or sexual oriention, etc -- and I don't really know if a discount would suggest such a preference or not. AN interesting question!
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Post by maria on Jun 17, 2016 3:44:21 GMT
Yep, that is the post Deborah! BTW, sorry I was MIA. 3 hour-appointment at the dentist today, but now I can smile (temporarily LOL). Life always getting in the way.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 17, 2016 3:48:17 GMT
3 hrs at the dentist????Ouch!! I hope things got better ...
By the way I edited my post above...read the last paragraph I just added. It occurs to me that the "discount" this host wanted to offer MIGHT be construed as discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. I have no idea if that would be true or not...but it is possible. It's an interesting question
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Post by maria on Jun 17, 2016 4:10:50 GMT
Makes sense. The discount is discriminatory in nature, but maybe harmless? i.e. Ladies' night, where women do not pay to enter a Club? Don't know, maybe I am wrong, but it rubbed me like "patronizing" the guest.
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Post by helgaparis on Jun 18, 2016 18:31:01 GMT
It might work as a filter. If he advertises "white friendly" I would take him for a racist and not book, and if he is white and advertises black friendly, I would take him for someone patronizing or having culpability attacks and stay away from him too. He might attract strange people by it. Your idea is much better, Andrew, but it works for you, as you know the bar scene, or someone could add such info after a bit of reasearch. But people who are patronizing or want a marketing glamour, are not interrsted inso much research.
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Post by linda on Jun 19, 2016 18:20:29 GMT
Deborah -
There is a guy in area near me who has as the name of the listing "We Are Good People". Everytime I do a search and it pulls up his listing I think of how creepy it sounds.
As they say, "thou protest too much".
I sent him a note via Airbnb email saying that I noticed he had not had any guest reviews and suggested he change the name of his listing and offered a few suggestions. You know, just trying to help out another BnBer.
He did not change it, but instead, added to the description, For Females Only (which I didn't suggest).
All I can say is CREEPY and I'll just mind my own business.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 19, 2016 19:22:49 GMT
Gross...a male host who is listing "For females only" That has a bad ring to it! I hope he isn't also advertising for a shared room. I have actually seen one with that type of listing before...I think I might have posted it on here somewhere.
Yes sometimes it's best to not try to help some people, but just let them fail. FAIL
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Post by CC on Jun 20, 2016 5:22:45 GMT
Speaking of saying, hey, you're black (duh) & no one will mind.... When I had that blind girl as a roommate for a year, I was always saying really stupid things, not meaning to. I told her once that since an outside light had burned out that it was pitch black behind the house. "I mean, you cannot see ANYTHING!" I stupidly said. In her whole life she had never seen anything at all. Why do I need to describe darkness to her? Once I told her not to go to this cheap grocery because it was so "dreary." Turns out it's really, really hard to wrap your head around blindness.
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Post by CC on Jun 20, 2016 5:35:10 GMT
And as for LGBT, I had this one couple stay in a shared house once. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out either one's real sex. (Or maybe that's the wrong thing to say, but....) Anyway, I got in a kind of contest with the these guys who were also staying there & who had transcended being guests and become friends, to see if we could figure it out definitively. After being 50% either way for 4 days, I finally bet the one was a guy. The friends got a kick out of this; not only was it a girl, but they also knew it all along. Oh well. But the couple were amazing people in many ways & I certainly couldn't imagine discriminating against them.
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 20, 2016 15:10:01 GMT
CC One tip for insight into someone's gender -- it isn't foolproof but can help -- is to look and see if the person has an "Adam's Apple" on their throat area. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam%27s_apple Both genders have the Adam's Apple but it is more prominent/visible in men.
However, sometimes it's nice to not know someone's gender, but be left in a "mystery" about it. Similar to something a friend of mine once said -- she was becoming more farsighted with age, as many of us do, and when I pointed out that she didnt' often wear glasses, she said, "I dont' want everything to be completely clear. I like the world a little blurry."
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Post by High Priestess on Jun 20, 2016 20:39:03 GMT
Also -- I have at times reflected that instead of specifying "____ friendly" listing, it could actually be more welcoming and representative of the broad reach of one's hospitality, to say instead, something like:
In other words one could tout one's experience with having a record of "diversity" in one's guests.
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